Yesterday, after an unexpected change in plans, I had some spare time and the skies were sunny, so I headed out to NZWN just to see what was going on.

I’ve uploaded 9 photos from the visit, a taster of which is included here.

Piper PA-31 Navajo, ZK-MJF here illustrates that not all gear retraction goes the same way, as the nose gear is fully stowed by the time the main gear begins.

Shooting between fence palings above the pedestrian subway entrance affords a more frontal view of aircraft departing on RWY34. Here are two such studies, featuring Qantas 737-800 ZK-ZQC and Jetstar A320, VH-VQE.

This interesting visitor is the first biz jet I’ve seen parked outside the brand new Execujet hangar. It’s IAI Gulfstream G200 Galaxy, N533GA seems to be a private aircraft and has been seen around New Zealand before.

And finally, Wellington Aero Club stalwart, Cessna 172 ZK-FLT gleams in the sun with it’s ‘snow job’ paint scheme.

Don’t forget to check out all 9 photos on Flickr.

In case you hadn’t noticed, another year has passed! Happy New Year to all.

Of course this means it is time for a roundup of favourites from my aviation photos again. 2011 didn’t produce many photos, but there was the Classic Fighters show down in Omaka over Easter and, predictably, a fair number of the dozen photos I selected came from that.

2012 also brings with it a new site design. I spent some time with Rodney earlier this month and we talked about lots of things aviation related including photography. During that discussion I decided it was probably time to spruce up the site a bit. The previous design owed a lot to the then default WordPress theme and looked a little, well, basic.

The new look, somewhat ironically, is also based on the default WordPress theme, but in the years between starting this blog and now, the default theme has improved a LOT! I’ve done a small amount of tweaking (11 CSS rules for those in the know) to get things looking just right for me, but for the most part it’s out of the box. I’ve re-imagined the header photos for the new, large display space they now occupy. The new theme makes it a doddle to add new ones, too, so expect more to appear soon.

One of the key differences to the design is the increased width which allows me to include larger versions of my photos. I’ve updated the previous post with the 42% larger photos and you’ll also see some below.

So, back to the favourites for 2011. Rather than include all 12 photos in the blog post, I’ll whet your appetite with a few examples and you can head on over to the Flickr set to get a look at the rest.

This photo is unusual in that I was not at an airport when I took it. I was at home! Normally, a southerly wind means standard 10 mile ILS approaches are flown almost directly over our house. However some days there are either visual or shorter ILS approaches which involve tracks either side of the house. One fine January day, RNZAF Boeing 757, NZ7571 gave me this opportunity.

One of the more interesting events in Wellington in 2011 was the arrival – for show – of Air New Zealand‘s first Boeing 777-300ER. That’s quite a large aircraft for Wellington’s short runway! It should be noted that ZK-OKM was neither the first nor the last 777 to visit Wellington but it is the biggest.

Finally for this post, no air show is complete without a low, fast pass by something with one seat, a big engine and an awesome sound. It’s hard to beat The Old Stick And Rudder Company‘s FG-1D Corsair for this, and it did not disappoint at Classic Fighters 2011.

That’s all for the post. Be sure to check out the set on Flickr for the full 12 shots I have selected as my favourites of 2011.

I finally had the chance to just head out to the airport with my camera and see what turned up. Nothing out of the ordinary turned up but it’s been so long I fired off a bunch of shots anyway. Seeing as I’ve only published 7 shots to Flickr, I thought I may as well include them all right here.

Qantas (JetConnect) Boeing 737-800 ZK-ZQB has everything committed to stopping. Slats, flaps, spoilers, reverse thrust and, I would assume, brakes. Also visible in this shot is one of the relatively new runway/taxiway markers.

Here are a couple of studies of Air New Zealand Link (Mount Cook Airline) ATR-72 ZK-MCF. This type is currently the least numerous in Air New Zealand’s extended fleet (including the Link-branded airlines) with a fleet of 11. However, Air New Zealand has confirmed a new order for 7 more aircraft which will bring the fleet strength level with the Beechcraft 1900D fleet operated by Eagle Airways.

Another Qantas (JetConnect) Boeing 737-800 ZK-ZQC hangs it all out at the end of a flight from Melbourne. I was watching this flight, amongst others, on my iPhone using the FlightRadar24 app and it appeared to execute an orbit near the Titahi Bay beacon. It also disappeared off the map for a little, so it may just have been bad data through the system. Intriguing, nonetheless.

ZK-ZQB and ZK-ZQC present a matched pair at the International Terminal. Check out all the fins, winglets and blade aerials!

Adding to the list of heavy metal arriving, Air New Zealand Airbus A320 ZK-OJB does the stopping thing that’s always pretty intense on Wellington’s short runway.

And finally, Pacific Jets’ Cessna Citation 510 Mustang ZK-PGA makes a sprightly leap off runway 16 into the stiff southerly.