I’ve had a few days off work for the school holidays and the boys & I ended up out at the airport two days in a row. Not a bad thing.

There are 30 new photos on the photostream, a selection of which are included below.

As seen on Rodney’s blog, this is the only Cessna 320 registered in New Zealand.

Also seen on Rodney’s site is RNZAF Iroquois NZ3805, seen here shortly after arrival.

I had seen Air2There‘s Cessna Caravan ZK-MYH briefly before I boarded my Auckland-bound flight in March, but had forgotten that it now sported a bright green tail, matching (to some extent) their Piper Navajo.

Once again noted by Rodney (who is obviously a lot quicker getting his photos online!) was visitor ZK-JGP from the Waikato Aero Club.

Another visitor was “KiwiAir” Reims/Cessna 406 ZK-XLF. I can’t find any online references to this operator, though they are listed on the CAA register.

And finally in the visitor stakes, Air Manawatu air ambulance ZK-TRC – a Cessna 421 Golden Eagle. A nice looking aircraft that (in my opinion) used to look good in RNZAF colours.

This is my final post of photos from my recent Auckland trip. These are from a two and a half hour stint at Auckland Airport prior to heading home, and a couple from the airport and the plane.

There was a typical selection of airliners including this Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER.

There were some slightly more interesting types such as this Air Pacific Boeing 737-700, clearly illustrating its shortened fuselage.

Of course, there was the star of the show. In fact, the aircraft I had planned to be there to watch. The magnificent Emirates Airbus A380. Wow!

Having checked in nice and early, I got a chance to snap the boarding process for Pacific Blue (this being a flight prior to mine). Two doors!

And finally, en-route to Wellington I snapped a few pics of the scenery including this, perhaps clichéd, shot of the wing of the aircraft.

More photos on the photostream starting here.

It is time for more photos from my Auckland trip in March. On the Sunday, before meeting up with friends, I took the time to pop down to Ardmore to see what was going on. Predictably there was a lot of GA traffic buzzing around the circuit and the ever-present helicopter training. Also as usual, there was a varied selection of GA types on the ground plus a few warbirds. What just struck me about the below 4 photos is that they are almost like the family album.

Papa, a venerable Cessna 150.

Junior, a Stoddard-Hamilton SH-2 Glasair RG.

Two of the cousins, an Airtrainer (left) and Airtourer (right). (And an uncle Chipmunk in the rear.)

And a feisty grandpa in the hospital being ‘fixed up’ – namely what I believe to be a Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk under restoration.

There are 18 photos from Ardmore. As they are just in the photostream, I suggest you start from this picture and click through.

There are 11 new shots that I took the day before the Whenuapai air show. They’re not part of any set and will soon slide off the front page of my photo stream, but you can click on one of the photos below and then move back and forth from there.

The first shot is of Air National’s new BAe 146-200. Well, not new as such, but new to them. I’ve read several reports from people who have seen it in operation but alas it sat in the hangar the entire 4 days I was up there.

This shot, to me, sums up Auckland International Airport nicely. Car parking building, pedestrian bridge, Air New Zealand terminal, control tower and Air New Zealand Boeing 777 ZK-OKC crossing the threshold of RWY23L.

More photos will follow soon, from the Monday after the airshow, when I spent a good few hours and managed to capture an A380 arriving.

Last weekend Wellington Aero Club had its annual open day on the western apron of Wellington airport. For such a ‘small affair’, there was quite an impressive array of aircraft present including even a few warbirds. On the negative side, it was disappointing that the 737 only showed up in the afternoon. I generally always go to these things early to beat some of the crowds, so missed out. The PA system was suggesting we might hang around until 3pm for a prize draw but good as the selection of aircraft was, it could not hold my attention for 5 hours!

Anyway, here are four of the sixteen photos now on my Flickr photostream.

This Helipro Robinson R44 was making plenty of flights with paying sightseers.

One of the two warbirds was the beautiful Corsair. Behind can be seen the tail of the other warbird, a Nanchang CJ6 (see also on photostream).

I can’t remember the last time I used my wide angle lens to photograph an operational aircraft. Sounds Air brought over their newest Caravan ZK-TZR.

And finally, many of the photos I took on the day were of aircraft not actually participating in the open day. Here is one of two yellow Cessna 172s that departed the apron while we were there.