Captured on takeoff at Auckland 29May09 by John Rankin
Air New Zealand's first Boeing 747-419, ZK-NBS (24386), is on its way to Roswell, New Mexico, this evening to be broken up for spares. As ANZ6390, the -400 lifted off Auckland's runway 23L at 1903 and made a right turn on track to its first stop, Los Angeles, where the flight will clear formalities before making the final flight to Roswell.
ZK-NBS was delivered to Auckland brand new on 16 December 1989 however due to industrial problems the aircraft was dry leased to Cathay Pacific and delivered to Hong Kong the following day. It commenced services with Cathay Pacific on 22 December on the Hong Kong-Bangkok-Singapore route and did not return to Air NZ's fleet until 11 February 1991 by which time the second -400, ZK-NBT, had arrived on 2 November 1990 and this aircraft was actually the first 400 series to operate Air NZ services. While with Cathay Pacific it wore their livery as seen here : http://www.airliners.net/photo/Cathay-Pacific-Airways/Boeing-747-419/0915886/L/
ZK-NBS, powered by Rolls Royce RB211-524G engines, it was the test aircraft flown with one engine operating on 50/50 bio-fuel in late December 2008.
As at its final revenue flight, back on 07Jan09 as ANZ124 from Melbourne to Auckland, the Jumbo had accumulated 88306 flight hours and made 11488 landings. A test flight was carried out on 29May09 from/to Auckland of just under an hour's duration to check all systems following the aircraft's storage where all engines had been removed and its interior gutted while its future was pondered.ZK-NBS flew on all the scheduled 747-400 routes however in the latter part of its career was kept off the Hong Kong-Heathrow route due to its oxygen system not being modified to the required standards. Possibly one of its most 'exotic' or unusual ports of call was a trip to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in July 1998 where the aircraft, after deplaning its passengers, carried out a flypast before positioning to Los Angeles.
ZK-NBS wore two names while with Air NZ, firstly "Mataatua" (the name of the canoe claimed as bringing ancestors from Hawaiki to Northland) in the 1990's and then during the early part of this decade a decal featuring the name "Bay of Islands" and a picture of the region's famous landmark, The Hole in the Rock, was placed on the forward fuselage.
