ZK-ARJ

The title of this post will have meaning to Black Adder fans (hint: series 2) but refers (tenuously) to the fact that yesterday I caught 3 different Airbus A320 colour schemes at Wellington.

I was in town about 14:15 and at a loose end, so thought I’d pop out to the airport and catch the 14:45 Jetstar arrival. Ahem!

So first in was this Star Alliance liveried Air New Zealand aircraft, ZK-OJH.

Next was a standard liveried Air New Zealand bird, ZK-OJG. Is it just me, or is it reasonably common to see fleet aircraft arrive in alphabetical order (reverse in this case)?

And finally, an improvement on last time at a mere 26 minutes late, VH-VQB puts in an appearance for Jetstar.

“And that one?” That’d be this one. Not an Airbus, I grant you, but interesting nonetheless. Belonging to The Wellington Helicopter Company (which I’d never heard of before) is Robinson R44 ‘Clipper II’ ZK-IDO. I wonder how often this gets hired for weddings.

There are another 8 new photos to be found on Flickr including a few other types. Use the link at right, or click on one of the photos above and browse from there.

I have another handful of photos to show you. All of these were taken in the month of June. That’s the depths of winter here in New Zealand and it has certainly been cold and wet more often than not.

Air New Zealand 737-300 ZK-SJB throttles up for a soggy RWY16 departure on a less than salubrious day.

But there were a few sunny days to be had, as shown in this into-the-sun shot of Air Nelson’s DHC-8 Q300 ZK-NEJ departing off RWY34.

And finally a pair of shots taken whilst waiting (interminably) for my first JetStar photo. These two show the colours of a Wellington sunset – something Jetstar missed by a good 10 minutes. Grrr!

First, Air New Zealand 737-300 ZK-NGH heads for touchdown on RWY34.

Followed shortly after by Piper Tomahawk ZK-FML, which seems to now be a fixture in Wellington. A welcome change from the inevitable white-based schemes, the brilliant yellow and gold scheme positively glows in the final rays.

As always, more can be found on Flickr in the Wellington Airport set. (Including one more of that late A320.)

Well, I didn’t beat Rodney, but I did finally capture a Jetstar A320 at Wellington. Albeit an hour late. Or two hours late if you consider I actually got there to see an earlier service which has yet to arrive over 3 and a half hours late.  Sigh!

Anyway here’s the one picture that was acceptably sharp in the half light after sunset. (1/125″ shutter speed.)

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.