Rock band AC/DC arrived for their Wellington concert in style in this Airbus Corporate Jet based on the A318 model. It’s similar to Air New Zealand’s and Jetstar’s A320s but over 6 metres shorter. (It’s not just the wide angle – check out some other shots on my photostream.)

Pacific Jets’ Cessna Citation CJ3 has been around for many years, though I’ve not often seen it in Wellington.

And once again, the US military are paying a visit (for reasons unknown to me). In this case, on a US Navy C-37 – better known as a Gulfstream 550.

For the fourth jet, you’re going to have to pop on over to Rodney’s Aviation Ramblings, where he has a nice pic of a British Falcon 2000EX. I know I was only out there for a short time today, but I’m a bit miffed at missing that one. Last time there was a large Falcon model at Wellington, I arrived just as it was taking off – too late for a photo.

I was sitting at the airport today listening to the scanner and hearing aircraft being sent to various reporting points including WETTA and Ohura. When I got home I set about finding out where these points are. The CAA web site provided the answer in purely numeric form, so I took it one step (in fact lots of steps) further and plotted them on Google Earth.

You can take a look for yourself by downloading the KML file and opening it in Google Earth. You can also import directly into “My Maps” on Google Maps, however the display on Google Maps does not automatically show the labels (the reporting point names) and there are a LOT of points.

I noted several interesting layouts of the points. There is a series of points on a 40nm radius circle around Christchurch International Airport. Another circle around Auckland International Airport sits at 200nm. Then there is the ‘Tasman wall’ – a near-vertical line of points in the Tasman sea, and the stepping stone line of points down to Antarctica. There are also many points out in the Pacific Ocean, up to 2390nm away.

Screen capture of data from Google Earth (click picture to download)

Pacific Blue’s ‘cousin’, Polynesian Blue is a regular visitor to Wellington, but I see it rarely. A shame, as I far prefer the palm tree on the tail than the ugly writing. ZK-PBF climbs out from RWY34 on a stiff and gusty nor-wester.

Another relatively frequent, though unscheduled visitor to Wellington is Air National’s Gulfstream G-IV, ZK-KFB. Gulfstreams are such beautiful aircraft from just about any angle.

Speaking of angles, here’s how you get a G-IV off the ground in a gusty nor-wester. The pilot fair yanked back on the controls as ZK-KFB literally leapt off the runway.

Finally, mid-November saw New Zealand’s national Association Football team – the All Whites – take on that of the nation of Bahrain at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium in a World Cup qualifying match. The latter team arrived on a Gulf Air Airbus 340. Here, A9C-LI frames RNZAF Boeing 757, NZ7572. After sitting on the tarmac at Wellington for a few days, the Airbus whisked away the disappointed Bahrain team. (Yes, we won.)

There are more shots of A9C-LI (and ZK-KFB) on the Photostream.

First up, November 1st saw the celebration of 50 years of Wellington Airport. Well, technically so. The day was rather tame in comparison to the opening ceremony in 1959. I showed up just after lunch and appeared to have missed anything going on. Apart from witnessing an RNZAF Iroquois departing, the biggest excitement was finding RNZAF Historic Flight Harvard NZ1015 sitting outside Wellington Aero Club.

This shot nicely encapsulates domestic airline operations at Wellington. The clean lines of the domestic terminal and its “Wild at Heart” slogan form the backdrop for Pacific Blue’s ZK-PBM, as seen through the heat haze from the western apron.

And on the western apron, Life Flight Trust’s (latest) BK117 ZK-HLF touches down directly on the trailer for easy hangaring.

Here’s a shot that could only be at Wellington. Mount Cook Airline’s ATR-72 ZK-MCW, superimposed on Mount Victoria, gets caught by a gust just before touch down on RWY 16 in a stiff southerly. The white aircraft is reflecting the blue-green hues of the sea and hills.

ZK-PBM again, on another day, moments from touch down on RWY 16.

And finally a sight that, although very common today, will become rarer in the next couple of years as Air New Zealand’s Boeing 737-300 fleet is retired in favour of standardising on the Airbus A320 for both domestic and international shorthaul routes.

Check out the Wellington Airport set on Flickr for the other new additions.

I’m an avid follower of Rodney’s Aviation Ramblings – a blog run by Wellington Aero Club member Rodney Maas. Rodney follows this blog too and as we inhabit the same stamping ground it was inevitable that we end up covering similar subjects and complementing each other’s knowledge through blog comments.

When Rodney recently requested recommendations for a new camera, I confess I sent him a small book on my Pentax gear and general lessons I have learned. I offered to meet up with him some time to let him have a play with my camera. Well, long story short, we managed to meet today at the Aero Club.

Rodney gave me a tour of the club rooms (some great viewing to be had from there!) and then took me across the apron to their hangar. Now, I have been through these places before but only when crammed full of people for one of the regular open days. To be allowed through on a quiet day like today was a nice privilege.

Of course I took the opportunity to take a few photos. Local Nanchang ZK-JNA was sitting in the rather dark hangar. My flash shots weren’t coming out very well so I held my breath and did a 1/3″ exposure. It actually over exposed because I still had +1.0ev for outside set on the camera! I’m amazed it’s sharp!

Then Rodney assisted a Capital Air pilot in getting Cessna 172 ZK-FLT out of the hangar, presumably in preparation for a flight.

So thanks Rodney for the hospitality on my short visit. There are a few other photos on the stream.

…before moving to a new loitering spot by the Wellington Flight Centre – subject to being asked to move away for a bit while fuel checks were done on the underground tanks.

This is a good spot to watch Vincent Aviation action. Beechcraft 1900C ZK-VAE was outside one of the hangars and then pushed in.

I had heard a Vincent flight on the radio which turned out to be the trusty DHC-8, ZK-VAC. He did an overflight (could have been a missed approach, but I wasn’t listening to the radio at the time)…

…before a circuit and landing. I noticed in one of my photos there is severe cracking in the ‘VINCENT AVIATION’ titles on the tail.

I then moved on to spend some time in the official ‘viewing area’ by the Airwork hangar, from where I took this shot of Air New Zealand Airbus A320 ZK-OJI in front of the new International Terminal construction.

I ended up back in another standard spot, on the sea wall, for the 3pm busy time. I heard one aircraft advised he was number seven in the sequence!

Yes, it’s Jetstar arriving on time, in the sunshine. Looks like they may have solved their problems as the 14:45 arrival has been there at or before 14:46 the last three times I have been there, including once at 14:30.

More photos on the stream.

The only new aircraft is the latest addition to the NZ bizjet fleet, as noted by MRC Aviation. ZK-PGA is another Cessna Citation Mustang, seen here undergoing maintenance with Vincent Aviation.

Next up are three close-up studies of Air New Zealand Link’s three types.

Well, strictly speaking, Air Nelson…

…Eagle Airways…

… and Mount Cook Airline.

And finally, now a regular at Wellington and often seen in the circuit is Nanchang CJ6 ZK-JNA. Not only is this visually distinct in the Wellington context, but the sound is quite a pleasurable difference too!

Saturday proved to be just as interesting as Friday. The wind was southerly which meant the RWY16 ILS was in use for most traffic and that happens to go almost directly over our house. Just as we were about to leave, a distinctive sound was heard overhead and we raced to the windows and doors to see a Qantas 767 on approach!

Sure enough it was in the terminal when we arrived and some time later departed. This used to be a common sight at Wellington, with Qantas and Air New Zealand Tasman services mostly operated by 767 aircraft until replaced with the 737-300s.

Also, one of the Gulfstreams that had arrived on Friday, Air National’s ZK-KFB, departed. Such a beautiful aircraft!

We were also treated to a couple of flights of the Nanchang CJ6 now based at Wellington. It arrived shortly after we did and later departed on another, short flight. The departure was made a little interesting with a fairly snappy left bank shortly after lift-off. This is in marked contrast to the usual ‘left of centreline’ drift executed by aircraft in the circuit.

On a slightly more usual note, this Polynesian Blue 737 departed. I far prefer the palm tree on the tail to the writing on Pacific Blue aircraft.

Wellington Helicopters’ Robinson R44 ZK-IDO was also flitting around the place. Here it executes a peppy curved departure from the Aero Club apron.

Of course there was a lot of regular traffic too and I particularly noted these two examples of the Air New Zealand koru design. Note on ZK-NEF the subtle blend from blue to teal and the gentle mottling over the white koru.

Whereas on ZK-NEU, the blue/teal line is harsh and the koru nearly obliterated.

There are 25 new photos in total on the photostream, so go and check them all out.

I had my scanner on and was wondering about the callsign “Charlie 101″ which was clearly an American accent. I figured maybe a bizjet. Whilst trying to figure out how close it was, I heard landing clearance given for callsign “Kilo Foxtrot Bravo”. I knew what that was! It’s the Air National Gulfstream. We leapt out of the car with cameras at the ready.

After hopping back into the car and beginning to listen to the scanner again, we heard that C101 was on a 7 mile final and, via instructions to a following aircraft, that it was also a Gulfstream. We decided to race down to the government hangar for a better shot at it landing.

It was none other than the US Coastguard!

Whilst they were parking the Gulfstream, an RNZAF King Air, callsign “King Air 83″ touched down and taxied up to park directy in front of it. Out of the King Air came some naval personnel who came across and greeted the persons from the Coastguard aircraft. Very shortly afterward it left, bound for points north.

And finally, there were a few slightly-more-interesting-than-usual aircraft including this nice Cessna 152.

There are more photos on the photostream.

Also, if you want to go and see the Coastguard Gulfstream, indications from the radio traffic I heard suggested it would be departing early on Sunday morning.