More from Christchurch

RSAF C130 731, Torin Wilson photo

Ramp overview, Bargeld 01 photo

NZ7001 about to land runway 11 Christchurch, Bargeld01 photo

ZK-NBU (above and below) departing with another load of passengers for Auckland, Bargeld01 photos

Airbus A320 ZK-OJQ enters service

As part of the Canterbury earthquake relief effort, Air New Zealand pressed recently delivered Airbus A320 ZK-OJQ into commercial service three days earlier than planned.  The aircraft arrived on the evening of 25 February and flew its first flight as NZ6761 from Auckland to Christchurch the following afternoon.  This ended up being a positioning flight so its first sector with passengers was as NZ6762 from Christchurch to Wellington.  It then headed back to Christchurch before returning north to Auckland as NZ6764.

Also see http://hnlrarebirds.blogspot.com/2011/02/air-new-zealands-zk-ojq.html

Taxiing for departure 26 February, Colin Hunter photo

Pac Aero 750XL

Pacific Aerospace 750XL ZK-KAK arrived at Auckland 26 February from Pago Pago.  The aircraft left NZ back on September 2009 and has been the demonstrator aircraft across the globe spending much of its time in the Americas.  Its stay back in the country of its origin is brief with a departure set for Canberra and Albury 27 February.

Noel Jones photo

More Bizjets

As mentioned previously, Citation X OE-HUB, based in Munich, arrived at Auckland on the evening of 25 February from Apia.

Noel Jones photo

Arriving at Auckland from its Coolangatta/Gold Coast base just after lunch on 26 February was recently delivered Falcon 2000EX M-SNER.  The Falcon was arrived at Coolangatta on 12 February from Singapore.

Noel Jones photo

RNZAF Shines at Christchurch

The RNZAF has provided sterling support for the earthquake relief efforts in Christchurch and poured a massive amount of resource to move manpower and supplies.

The following images are thanks to Bargeld01.

More from Christchurch

"NZAV8A" has kindly provided the following images of recent Christchurch visitors associated with the earthquake recovery operation.

Global 5000 VH-LEP provided logistical lift capability between Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington.

Lockheed C130 A97-002 was one of several RAAF visitors in recent days.

Boeing 737-800 VH-VUY, wearing th special AFL sponsorship livery, visited Christchurch late 25 February, arriving from Canberra and departed for Brisbane.

Military Airlift Command chartered United Airlines Boeing 747-400 N116UA to provide transport for search and rescue personnel.  It arrived in the early hours of 25 February from Los Angeles and departed in the early hours of 26 February for Auckland and San Francisco.

Air New Zealand's Latest Delivery

Air New Zealand's second dedicated domestically configured Airbus A320, ZK-OJQ, arrived at Auckland on the evening of 25 February concluding its delivery flight from Toulouse via Gander, Denver, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Apia.

Expect to see it flying 26 February on earthquake relief flights from late afternoon.

ZK-OJQ wears the standard Air New Zealand livery.

The next Air New Zealand aircraft to be delivered will be Boeing 777-300ER ZK-OKO with this jet due to arrive around 22 March.

Visiting Bizjets

As detailed in the initial earthquake recovery blog, Global Express VH-TGG and Global 5000 VH-LEP have been in the country with both aircraft visiting Wellington 26 February.

In addition to these two aircraft on the Capital Jet Services ramp, Learjet 36 N363PJ was preparing to depart for Pago Pago, Will Roger Field (the old Barbers Point NAS, Honolulu), and San Diego/Brown Field.

Challenger N601ST arrived at Auckland 24 February from Papeete.

Colin Hunter photo

Astra N82HH departed Dunedin 24 February for Auckland and Pago Pago and continued to Maui 25 February.

Citation X OE-HUB arrived at Auckland from Apia 25 February.  This machine visited NZ in November 2010.

Canterbury Quake Relief Continued

Aviation activity continues to provide much needed transport assistance to Christchurch with numerous flights being undertaken by the RNZAF, RAAF, Air New Zealand and Qantas.

Of particular note has been the visit of no less than three Republic of Singapore Air Force aircraft.  Boeing KC135 tanker 751 arrived at Christchurch on the night of 23 February from RAAF Amberley and the same night continued to Auckland as "SINGA 8109".  It departed Auckland 25 February for Singapore,

Two Lockheed C130 Hercules arrived at Christchurch 24 February via a staging point in Australia.  731 and 734 later flew to Whenuapai.

JASDF Boeing 747-400 02-1101 arrived in the early hours of 24 February from Narita as JAF701 before positioning to Auckland for parking.

United Airlines Boeing 747-400 N116UA arrived in the early hours of 25 February from Los Angeles and departed in the early hours of 26 February for Auckland and San Francisco.

Air New Zealand continues to operate a large number of relief flights and over the last couple of days have used Boeing 747-400 ZK-NBW and ZK-NBT along with Boeing 777-200 ZK-OKA and ZK-OKE in addition to Boeing 767-300 ZK-NCG and ZK-NCL.  These have been supplemented with Boeing 737-300 and Airbus A320 special flights.

Qantas have operated Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 767-300 aircraft on their scheduled services in lieu of narrow body aircraft and on 25 February operated charter flights from Melbourne and Sydney respectively with Boeing 737-800's to carry police officers. 

Wayne Grant photo

John Rankin photo

Bargeld01 photo

Bargeld01 photo

Canterbury Quake Relief Effort Update

The day after the catastrophic earthquake that has left the city like a vision from a war movie and taken numerous casualties has seen a mammoth effort bringing specialist search teams and equipment along with evacuating people from Christchurch be they visitors or those injured and displaced.

The corporate jet visitors that had overnighted in Dunedin moved about with Gulfstream 450 VH-MBP heading back to Essendon, Global Express VH-TGG flying to Wellington, then Christchurch before returning to Essendon and Global 5000 VH-LEP flying to Christchurch, Wellington, back to Christchurch then to Dunedin.

Air New Zealand operated a massive amount of extra flying in addition to their normal busy schedules and the bulk of this capacity was flown by Boeing 747-400's ZK-NBT and ZK-SUJ along with Boeing 777-200 ZK-OKC which in addition to flying between Auckland and Christchurch flew a return trip to the Capital.
Airbus A320's and Boeing 737 aircraft also flew additional flights.  Jetstar also contributed with extra flights domestically and internationally.

The Royal NZ Air Force has been flat out moving people and equipment and both Boeing 757's were noted plus Hercules NZ7002 and NZ7001 along with number King Air 200 movements and UH1H Iroquois.

The Royal Australian Air Force had three aircraft visit Christchurch, Boeing C17 A41-208, C130J Hercules A97-450 and C130H Hercules A97-002.

The Singapore Air Force arrived with a Boeing KC135R, tail number 751, from RAAF Amberley.  The aircraft had arrived in Australia over the weekend in support of F16 fighters deployed to Avalon for the up-coming airshow next weekend.

Air ambulance activity was hectic with most of the twin engine fleet of aircraft from across the nation employed in one way or another in addition to the helicopters mentioned in last nights blog post.

Light aircraft were also chartered by visitors keen to exit the city and at least Cessna 180 ZK-JCW and Cessna 206 ZK-TFW were noted at Auckland.

Expected to arrive before sunrise Thursday is Japanese Self Defence Force Boeing 747-400 20-1101 carrying personnel and equipment from Japan and a United Airlines Boeing 747-400 N116UA from San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Bargeld 01 braved the elements to provide these images from late this afternoon of relief aircraft activity.

At Auckland, Wayne Grant photo

Canterbury Quake Relief Effort

After today's devasting 6.3 'aftershock' rocking and destroying much of the Christchurch Central Business District at 12.51pm, significant aviation related activities have taken place.  It is not my intention to minimise this traumatic event but merely to record the aircraft movements associated with the relief effort.

The immediate effects of the quake saw much of NZ airspace without air traffic control services as the main radar centre is located at Christchurch and of course the airport at Christchurch was closed pending inspections of all facets of infastructure.  Multiple international flights were diverted away from Christchurch to Wellington and Auckland and the domestic network of the Air NZ Group of airlines and Jetstar thrown out of routine as the ATC centre closed.  It was restored approximately 90 minutes after the main quake however the airport remains closed to all aircraft with the exception of relief flights deemed by NOTAM to be that of military, government, civil defence, hospital and emergency operations.

A number of aircraft have used Timaru as a 'hub' and those noted up until 2230 have been:
Sovereign ZK-JTH Auckland-Timaru but re-routed and landed at Christchurch before returning to Auckland
Learjet 35 ZK-XVL Ardmore-Timaru-Ardmore
Mustang ZK-LCA Hastings-Timaru-Kerikeri
Piper PA31 ZK-WHW Paraparaumu-Timaru-Paraparaumu

Ashburton hosted Piper PA31 ZK-CAL which arrived from Ardmore but then made it north to Christchurch before returning north to Ardmore.

The resident Air Ambulance's from Christchurch, King Air ZK-FDR and Conquest ZK-NFD, are at Christchurch but have not yet made any departures however inbound as I type is Phillips Rescue PA31 ZK-NSP from Hamilton, Skyline's King Air ZK-PLK from Napier, the Lifeflight Metroliners, the Northland Emergency Services Trust Sikorsky S76 ZK-ISJ "Helimed 1" (from Mechanics Bay via Wellington), and Westpac Rescue's BK117 ZK-HKZ from Mechanics Bay via Paraparaumu and Woodbourne as "Westpac Rescue 2".

No less than four corporate jets are inbound to Dunedin tonight:
Gulfstream 450 VH-MBP is about to arrive (2248) from Essendon
Global Express VH-TGG is a couple of minutes behind from Sydney
Citation X VH-XCJ is due around 2345 from Sydney
Global 5000 VH-LEP is due around 0030 from Sydney

This list does not include the efforts of the RNZAF and the media's report of RAAF C130 Hercules aircraft inbound to Christchurch from Australia with rescue crew/s and equipment.

The USAF C5 Galaxy 68-0226 has departed Christchurch tonight as planned for Hickam as "Reach 5E2".

To Christchurch Followers of this Blog....................

We echo the words of Steve across at 3rd Level New Zealand's blog in saying that our thoughts and prayers are with you all at this incredibly difficult time.   To say the scenes being delivered by the media are sobering is so much of an understatement.  We can only imagine how many of you must be feeling after this latest blow to your region and wish we could somehow help more directly.

Sincerely yours

Mike

USAF Boeing BBJ

United States Air Force Boeing BBJ 05-4613 arrived at Christchurch on the afternoon of 21 February from Pago Pago as "SPAR10" adding to the already busy week for military activity at the Garden City as the Antarctic operation draws to a close.

Tony McFarlin photo

Falcon's Roost 30 - From many moons ago

Back in 1992 Hokitika played host to the annual Falcons Roost 30, a RNZAF jet trainer deployment.  This particular year saw a mix of the soon to be retired Strikemaster's (4 aircraft) and recently inducted Macchi's (6 aircraft).  The exercise was held from 31 March until 08 April and was preempted with the visit on 12 February of Strikemaster's NZ6361 and NZ6362.


Hokitika 12 February 1992



Hokitika 12 February 1992

Hokitika 03 April 1992



Hokitika 03 April 1992. All photos Mike Condon.  (check out the early snow fall!)



Busy times at Christchurch

As the 2010/2011 Antarctic season nears it conclusion and the operation winds down for winter, the Deep Freeze apron at Christchurch has been brimming with aircraft as theses photos, taken 19 February, so well display.

The Skytrader's Airbus A319CJ VH-VHD has flown to Pegasus Field 20 February and is returning later this evening.
Their two Casa 212's, VH-VHA and VH-VHB, have not long departed from Wilkins Field heading to Melbourne/Essendon direct with a 11hr 30min flight time!

A USAF Lockeed C5 Galaxy is expected to arrive at Christchurch tonight to provide capacity in returning manpower and equipment to the United States.

Falcon 7X VP-BEH

EF Education's Falcon 7X VP-BEH arrived at Auckland 17 February from Sydney.  This particular operator visited NZ during Summer 1998 with a Falcon 900B of the same registration in conjunction with Falcon 2000 VP-BEF wearing the same stunning scheme.   Both aircraft were visiting as part of the Volvo Ocean Race and "EF Education" won that year.

Wayne Grant photo

VP-BEH as a Falcon 900 at Auckland 31 January 1998, Mike Condon photo

Falcon 2000 VP-BEF at Auckland 01 February 1998, Mike Condon photo

VP-BEH joins another Falcon 7X at Auckland, the other being N7707X which has been there for the last couple of weeks. 

United States Navy Visitor

United States Navy Gulfstream C20F (Gulfstream 4) 165094 arrived at Whenuapai from Manila and Darwin as "Convoy 7221" 15 February.  On the morning of 17 February the Gulfstream flew south to Wellington and it departed for Cairns and Indonesia late 18 February.

At Wellington 17 February, Michael Lanzensberger photo

Airliner Deliveries

Air New Zealand's second Boeing 777-300ER ZK-OKN touched down at Auckland 17 February at 0517 as NZ6391 completing its delivery flight direct from Paine Field.  It is set to enter service as NZ6 from Auckland to Los Angeles 22 February.

Wayne Grant photo

Qantas/Jetconnect's 5th Boeing 737-800 ZK-ZQE "William Pickering" arrived at Melbourne just before 1300 17 February as QF6024 concluding its delivery flight from Boeing Field via night stops at Honolulu and Nadi.  It is due to position from Melbourne to Auckland 20 February and enter commercial service the following day. 
The operators 6th Boeing 737-800 ZK-ZQF "Abel Tasman" is currently inbound to Honolulu from Boeing Field and is planned to fly onto Nadi, Auckland and Melbourne 19 February.

Gordon Reid photo

Air Vanuatu ATR72 at Christchurch

Air Vanuatu's sole ATR72-212 YJ-AV72 arrived at Christchurch on the morning of 14Feb from its home of Port Vila via a techstop at Noumea using the callsign "Air Van 2000".

The ATR is in town for a repaint with Air New Zealand.  Interestingly this machine was only delivered to Vanuatu in October 2009 arriving at Port Vila on the 13th of the month from Cairns still carrying the manufacturer's registration of F-WNUG.

No image of the aircraft at Christchurch, so thanks to http://www.superwombat.com/ for the attached:

At Port Vila November 2009, via http://www.superwombat.com/

This day in 1998

On 16 February 1998 Auckland Airport was host to an Air France Concorde around the world charter flight making a techstop on its supersonic journey from Sydney to Papeete.  F-BVFB spent just over an hour on the ground at Auckland operating as AFR4565.  

It was one of four visits to the Pacific region by Concorde in 1998, the first noted was F-BVFA flying from Papeete to Noumea on 18 January as AFR4544, then on 18 September F-BVFC arrived at Christchurch from Honolulu and Papeete as AFR4604 departing on 21 September to Sydney as AFR4605.  F-BVFB visited NZ again that year arriving at Christchurch from Honolulu and Papeete on 11 October and departed a couple of days later for Sydney.

F-BVFB flew its final commercial flight on 31 May 2003, a charter flight from/to Paris Charles De Gaulle and ferried to Karlsruhe-Baden and subsequent preservation with the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum, South West Germany.  http://www.concordesst.com/pictures/fbvfb8.jpg

At Auckland 16 February 1998, Mike Condon photos

Recent Activity at Auckland

Kiwi Air's globe trotting Cresco ZK-LTP made a brief stopover at Auckland on 13Feb arriving from Wagga Wagga and Lord Howe Island and departing for points southeast.  ZK-LTP had most recently departed NZ on 24Jun10 when it flew Gisborne-Auckland-Lord Howe Island-Broken Hill-Forrest-Jandakot.  It then left for Broome and Bali 05Jul10.  It arrived back Broome from Bali 21Jan11 and carried onto Jandakot 22Jan11.  From Esperance to Adelaide 07Feb11 and to Wagga Wagga 12Feb11.

Noel Jones photo

Marcplan Hawker 800XP VH-EJL spent a couple of hours on the ground at Auckland 11Feb, arriving from and returning to Essendon.

Wayne Grant photo

Registered to Avwest on 01 February was Global Express VH-FMG, ex N900LF.  It is operated on behalf of Fortesque Mining Group and it arrived at New Plymouth from Brisbane 12Feb then to flew to Auckland, Essendon and Melbourne 13Feb.

Noel Jones photo

Royal Australian Air Force Boeing BBJ A36-002 carried Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to NZ 15Feb and arrived at Auckland from Coolangatta as ASY309.  It flew onto Wellington later the same day.