Can it really be five years ago?

Incredibly, it is five years ago today (29th Oct 2005) when Air NZ took delivery of their first Boeing 777-200ER ZK-OKA.  The aircraft was flown from Boeing's Paine Field to Nadi by Captain's David Allard and Mark Mullins then from Nadi to Auckland by Captain's David Morgan and Gerry Dunn.

The aircraft carried out a training flight from Auckland to Christchurch, Ohakea and back to Auckland on 03Nov05 and entered service 04Nov05 as flight NZ101 from Auckland to Sydney.

All photos Mike Condon

Boeing BBJ N8767

Arriving at Christchurch from Honolulu on the afternoon of 28Oct was Boeing BBJ N8767 heading for a visit to Altitude Aerospace.

Being manoeuvred at Christchurch, Graham Weatherby photo

Twylight........

Challenger 605 N696HS, registered to Mocha LLC, arrived at Auckland 27Oct from Kona and Pago Pago using the callsign "Twylight 69".

Auckland 28Oct, Wayne Grant photo

Air National Farewell's J32 ZK-ECN

Air National's Jetstream 32 ZK-ECN, now registered VH-OTH, departed from Auckland just prior to midday 27Oct on a direct 6hr 30min flight to Sydney as "Pelican 5000" on delivery to Aeropelican.
ZK-ECN was delivered to Air National on 19Oct98 and was delivered as N967JS.

At Auckland on the morning of its departure, Wayne Grant photo

RAF C130J Hercules

The Royal Air Force Lockheed C130J Hercules ZH872 departed Wellington 26Oct for Melbourne/Tullamarine as "Ascot 5712".

The damp, grey day made for a spectular sight as the Herc departed Wellington, Phil Craig photo

Fleeting RAAF Visitor

Royal Australian Air Force Boeing BBJ A36-002 made fleeting visits to Wellington and Christchurch today (27Oct) on a training sortie which had originated at Norfolk Island and continued to Canberra.

Short finals runway 34 at Wellington, Phil Craig photo

Taxying for departure at Christchurch, Bargeld01 photo

Jetstar Logo Jet at Auckland

Following some flight disruption recovery activity, Jetstar operated their Quicksilver logojet Airbus A320-200 VH-VGZ to Auckland late 25Oct as JQ7239 from Coolangatta.  It was expected to leave Auckland Tuesday evening but is now expected to depart early Wednesday morning for Sydney as JQ7994.

Above and below Wayne Grant photos

More from Christchurch

The Antarctic apron at Christchurch has been the source of much interest over the last couple of days and its collection of aircraft was added to today (25Oct) with the arrival of Airbus A319 VH-VHD from Melbourne and the return from Antarctica of FAA's Challenger N87.
4 LC130 Hercules were on the ramp; 83-0491, 92-1094, 93-1096 and 76-3301 plus two at the Air NZ base, 76-3302 and 92-1095. 
The C5 Galaxy 70-0455 plus C17 Globemaster III 08-8203 are also on the ramp with both set to depart tomorrow, the C5 to Hawaii and the C17 to the other end of the climate spectrum, Antarctica with the 7th C130 (76-3300) due to arrive from Samoa.

Thanks to Bargeld01 for providing the following images from today:

Korean Air Special Scheme

Korean Air earlier this month unveiled a special decalfor their Boeing 777-200 HL7752 to promote the country's bid to stage the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

HL7752 visits Auckland 25Oct for the first time in its special markings, Wayne Grant photo

Royal Air Force C130J Hercules at Wellington

Royal Air Force Lockheed C130J Hercules ZH872 arrived at Wellington on the afternoon of 24Oct from Sydney and Canberra as "Ascot 5710".

Photos can be found on Rodney's blogsite:
http://flyinggeek.blogspot.com/2010/10/raf-c130-hercules-at-wellington.html

Busy Times at Christchurch

The 2010/2011 Antarctic season is well and truely ramping up with multiple support aircraft arriving into Christchurch over recent days.  The following snaps are thanks to Bargeld01 taken 24Oct with the arrival of C5 Galaxy 70-0455 and C17 08-8203 plus C130 76-3301 and the departure of C17 08-8195.

20 Years Ago Today

October 23 1990 signalled a wind of change for Air Nelson with the arrival of its second 33 seat Saab 340A from Switzerland's Crossair.  HB-AHP, c/n 340-120, arrived at Nelson on this day 20 years ago from Brisbane and Norfolk Island concluding its long delivery flight from Europe.  It remained with Air Nelson as ZK-FXA through to the types retirement from Air Nelson service (replaced by Q300's) and it departed Nelson for Auckland, Apia and beyond on October 08 2007 before being re-registered N418MW.   The first Saab to arrived was registered ZK-FXB (ex HB-AHQ) and it had arrived at Nelson over the same route on September 27 1990.

Moments after shutdown outside Air Nelson's hanger 23 Oct 1990, Mike Condon photos

 

From a Bygone Era

The significant number of locally based corporate jets in New Zealand took me back to a previous blog post I made almost 12 months ago where details of previously NZ based corporate machines was listed : http://mrcaviation.blogspot.com/2009/11/bizjets.html

Trawling through the 'shoe box' I can share the following snaps:

Bae 125-800B ZK-EUI (258058) operated by Euro International from 12/86 until 10/88, now flying in the UK as G-JJSI.



Christchurch, March 1987, Kelvin Paterson photo

Bae 125-800A ZK-MRM (258074) operated by Chase Corporation from 03/87 until 08/89, currently flying in the USA as N518S.



Hokitika 13/04/88, Mike Condon photo

Bae 125-800B ZK-RJI (258082) operated by Robert Jones International from 10/87 to 02/91, currently flying in the USA as N800S.

Timaru, 1989, Steve Lowe photo

 Bae 125-800B ZK-TCB (258001) operated by CF Herbert from 06/87 until 05/89, currently flying in the USA as N800RM.



Wanaka, 02/04/88, Ian Coates photo

 Falcon 200 ZK-MAY (505) operated by Goodman Fielder Watties from 04/87 until 09/90 when it became VH-NGF and based out of Sydney with the same operator. Currently on the Isle of Man register as M-DEJB.

At its Nelson base 09/09/90, Mike Condon photo

Falcon 100 ZK-MAZ (213) also operated by Goodman Fielder Watties and based at Sydney from 04/88 to 07/90.  Currently flying in the USA as N117HF.

Nelson, 05/03/90, Mike Condon photo



First Saab 340B to New Zealand

Arriving at Wellington 18Oct was Saab 340B VH-UYN (340B-301) direct from Brisbane where it had arrived the pervious day from Townsville, home of the defunct airline that once operated it, Macair. 
The aircraft is on delivery to Vincent Aviation, as will be another ex Macair 340B, VH-UYA.

VH-UYN arriving at Wellington 18Oct, via Mike Condon

Air Niugini's Second Q400 Arrives Down Under

Air Niugini's second Bombardier Q400, P2-PXT (4329),  arrived at Cairns from Biak 16Oct for final pre delivery maintenance with Hawker Pacific.  The aircraft had departed Toronto/Pearson 10Oct and its delivery route took it through the Aleutians and Japan.


P2-PXT undertow at Cairns soon after its arrival, photo supplied



17 October 2010 Activity

Falcon 900 N900HD flew from Queenstown to Timaru, Nelson and Auckland over the course of the day while local Falcon 900 N146EX flew from Auckland to Brisbane.

Another Auckland based jet, Citation 501 ZK-NBR, carried out a training flight this afternoon.

Learjet 35A VH-LPJ spent a couple of hours at Auckland during the middle of the day, arriving from Essendon and heading south to Queenstown while local Gulfstream G200 N533GA also flew from Essendon to Auckland late Sunday.

On arrival at Auckland 17Oct, Wayne Grant photo



Asian based Boeing 737-200 VP-CBA made its second visit to NZ this year when it arrived at Auckland today from Manila via a techstop at Cairns.  The 737 had been observed departing Tokyo/Narita 14Oct.

At Auckland on its previous visit 01Apr10, Mike Condon photo

Wedgetail A30-005

A recent visitor to Ohakea was the RAAF's Wedgetail A30-005 (see http://mrcaviation.blogspot.com/2010/10/raaf-boeing-wedgetail-visits-ohakea.html).  No photos from that visit however an image ofthe same aircraft arriving at Hamamatsu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamamatsu_Air_Base 16Oct has been beamed through.....

Touching down at Hamamatsu, Japan.  Bargeld01 photo

Air India back again

Air India's Boeing 777-200LR VT-ALH arrived at Auckland before sunup 16Oct direct from New Delhi carrying Pacific Islands representatives from the recently concluded Commonwealth Games.  It departed just after 1000 on its way back to New Delhi direct.

Taxying for departure from Auckland 16Oct, Colin Hunter photo

Bountiful Bizjets

The United States FAA have been carrying out calibration type operations in Antarctica for the last couple of years using Challenger 601 aircraft.  N87 arrived at Christchurch 15Oct from Pago Pago and the same aircraft was here in 2009. 



Graham Weatherby photo



Falcon 900EX N900HD departed Auckland 15Oct for brief visits to Tauranga and Timaru before ending its day at Queenstown.



Arriving at Timaru, Hayden Brown photo



Skyservices Citation X C-FNRG briefly visited Auckland 16Oct on its way from Brisbane to Taupo.

This is the first time a Citation X fitted with winglets has visited NZ. 



Arriving at Auckland, Mike Condon photo

Gulfstream 5 N371JC flew from Auckland to Taupo and Nelson 16Oct while Falcon 2000EX VH-CRW arrived at Napier from its Brisbane base. 

Not a bizjet, but a visitor none the less. Cirrus SR22 VH-JWI overnighted Auckland 15Oct arriving from Norfolk Island and departing 16Oct for Queenstown.



Is this still in New Zealand?

This Kaman K-Max N312KA was based out of Tauranga and was photographed by Dave Bates at Balclutha on 06 October 2008. Does anyone know if it is still in the country?

Another New Bizjet for NZ

Global Express XRS N18WZ/2 (c/n 9338 ex C-FVFW) arrived at Auckland in the early hours of 13Oct from South America via a techstop at Easter Island having been handed over to its new owners, Rank Services, last week in the USA. It replaces Global Express XRS N57LE which Rank had operated since 19 May 2008 until its departure at the end of September this year. It replaced the Boeing BBJ N66ZB which had in turn replaced the operator's first bizjet, Global Express N18WZ/1 (9059).

Recent Activity

Toll Holdings/Airwork Boeing 737-300 freighter ZK-TLD carried out a post maintenance test flight 09Oct from/to Auckland and again on 11Oct before departing later the same day for Brisbane.

Arriving post its maintenance test flight 11Oct, Mike Condon photo

Boeing BBJ VP-BJJ was noted at Christchurch carrying out compass swings 10Oct.

Graham Weatherby photo

Challenger 300 N448AS arrived at Queenstown from Tahiti 09Oct and flew to Auckland 11Oct.

Arriving at Auckland 11Oct, Mike Condon photo

Gulfstream 5 N371JC arrived at Auckland from Seletar 10Oct. It visited Auckland, Kaitaia, Napier, Christchurch and Queenstown during March/April of this year. It flew south to Taupo 12Oct.

Noel Jones photo

Locally based Gulfstream G200 N533GA (ZK-VGL) departed Auckland for Essendon 12Oct while in the opposite direction Gulfstream G200 ZK-RGB flew from Cocos Island to Adelaide and Auckland having left NZ late July.

At Auckland on its arrival 05Oct, Graham Weatherby photo

Falcon 900EX N900HD arrived at Auckland 12Oct from Kona and Apia.

Mike Condon photo

Gulfstream 550 N55AL arrived at Auckland 12Oct from Van Nuys, Oakland and Honoluluu carrying heavy metal group "Metallica". This aircraft spent a couple of nights at Christchurch during September where the group performed two concerts.

RAAF Challenger 604 A37-001 departed Wellington for Avalon 12Oct having arrived the previous day from Noumea.