Freighters at Christchurch

 

Christchurch has been graced by two out of the ordinary Boeing 747-400 freighters in recent weeks.

 

The first arrived in the form of N416MC with the Polar Air Cargo aircraft arriving in its hybrid DHL colour scheme from Sydney in the dark hours of 21 December using the Atlas Air callsign "Giant 8118".  After uplifting its consignment of cargo the -400 departed for Manila.

The second arrival was by MASkargo Boeing 747-400 freighter 9M-MPR on 26 December with the aircraft also arriving from Sydney as MAS6204.  It departed the following day as MAS6454 for Sydney and Manila.

Corporate Chaos!

The last couple of weeks has seen a significant rise in corporate jet movements around New Zealand with a number of visiting machines from Asia and North America plus a flotilla from Australia.  Most movements have centered around Queenstown with multiple movements on some days so to give some idea of what's been going on we'll cover it off on a day by day basis!

19 December
Falcon 50 VH-FOL Brisbane-Kerikeri

21 December
Gulfstream 5 N525AC Honolulu-Auckland
Gulfstream 550 B-8131 Christchurch-Dunedin-Bali

22 December
Gulfstream 4SP N757MC Honolulu-Pago Pago-Queenstown
Challenger 604 VH-VSZ Sydney-Queenstown-Sydney

23 December
Gulfstream 5 N525AC Auckland-Napier
Gulfstream 550 N712KT Haneda-Queenstown
Falcon 50 VH-FOL Kerikeri-Queenstown
Citation X VH-RCA Sydney-Queenstown

24 December
Gulfstream 4SP N757MC Queenstown-Nadi

25 December
Global Express HL8238 Seoul/Incheon-Rotorua-Auckland

26 December
Citationjet CJ4 ZK-PGA Auckland-Queenstown
Gulfstream 5 N525AC Napier-Queenstown
Global Express N234DB Honolulu-Queenstown
Global Express HL8238 Auckland-Seoul/Gimpo

27 December
Citation X VH-RCA Queenstown-Sydney-Hamilton Island
Global Express N234DB Queenstown-Honolulu
Gulftream 550 N712KT Queenstown-Christchurch
Gulfstream 550 B-KGP Singapore-Wellington then later the same day to Auckland and Hong Kong

Beech King Air F-OIAA Magenta-Norfolk Island-Auckland-Magenta

28 December
Citationjet CJ3+ ZK-TBM Kerikeri-Queenstown-Christchurch
Gulfstream 550 N510QS Nadi-Queenstown
Challenger 604 VH-VRE Perth-Queenstown
Challenger 600 VH-JPQ Brisbane-Queenstown-Brisbane
Global 5000 N346L Papeete-Queenstown
Gulfstream 550 VH-PFL Singapore-Sydney-Dunedin-Invercargill (no room at Queenstown!)

29 December
Challenger 604 VH-VRE Queenstown-Sydney
Challenger 604 VH-VSZ Sydney-Queenstown-Sydney
Hawker 850XP VH-MEP Sydney-Queentown-Essendon
Gulfstream 5 N525AC Queenstown-Sydney-Hamilton Island
Gulfstream 550 VH-PFL Invercargill-Subang (now that IS a first!)
Global Express HL8238 Seoul/Gimpo-Auckland-Seoul/Gimpo (just under two hours at Auckland).
Gulfstream 550 N712KT Christchurch-Rotorua

30 December
Citationjet CJ4 ZK-PGA Queenstown-Auckland
Global Express N6VB Honolulu-Auckland

31 December
Gulfstream 550 N712KT Rotorua-Auckland
Global 5000 N346L Queenstown-Napier

MERRY CHRISTMAS - AND OFF AIR.......

MRC Aviation would like to take this opportunity to wish all its followers a happy and safe festive season.  We thank you for the support shown through 2012 and look forward to providing an informed blog again next year. 

As is common place across much of "down under", 

MRC Aviation is taking a break and is off air from now until around 30 December.

Cyclone Evan

These past few days has seen the island nations of Western Samoa, American Samoa and Fiji battered by Tropical Cyclone Evan with torrential rain, hurricane force winds and sea surges causing massive amounts of damage and for Western Samoa a number of lives lost with some still missing.  

Media reports have clearly shown the damage caused at Nadi Airport, the main gateway to Fiji, with a number of light aircraft significantly damaged by the fierce weather that was unleashed with sustained winds of 65kts on Friday gusting to 90kts as the system slid down the western side of the island.

Photos show Cessna 150M's DQ-BBT and DQ-CCT completed demolished with the latter intertwined with Cessna 172RG DQ-AAT.  DHC Beaver DQ-GWW is resting against a building in a tail up position, obviously severely damaged and parachute jumpship Cessna 182 VH-DQQ is also significantly damaged.
Cessna 208 DQ-DHG has had a winglet modification and Cessna 172N DQ-YYT has been flipped. 

A link to a photos can be found here at Pprune.

Herky Bird

The United States Air Force operation to Antarctica based out of Christchurch has a slightly different tempo as the season reaches its warmest temperature phase.  The regular C17 flights between Christchurch and the frozen continent have been temporarily stopped with 08-8195 flying its final Christchurch-Pegasus-Christchurch run on 30 November as "ICE 33" and departing Christchurch for Honolulu 01 December as "Reach 5E4".  

The supply runs for the program are now utilising the LC130 fleet and Patrick W has caught 83-0490 arriving in nice lighting conditions at Christchurch 19 December as "Skier 83".  In the opposite direction on the same day was 92-1095 as "Skier 82". 

Snowbirds

Patrick W from Christchurch has sent in these shots of two snowbirds at the Garden City 19 December.

The first is Airwork's all white Boeing 737-300 freighter ZK-FXT making the first of its three return trips from Auckland hauling mail and general NZ post freight.  It usually only sees itself flying at night but with the festive season just around the corner it has had an extra rotation added to its normal routine.

The second snowbird is Skytrader's Airbus A319LR VH-VHD, callsign "Snowbird 1".  It returned to Christchurch from Melbourne 17 December and departed Christchurch at 2312 local time 19 December for Pegasus in Antarctica and is as this blog post goes to air well on its way back to Christchurch.   This aircraft has been very busily employed on operations on behalf of the Australian Government in recent weeks with it regularly seen at Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, a few trips to Sri Lanka and across to Nauru.  

Skytrader's are in the process of taking delivery of a second A319-132LR, VH-VCJ c/n 1880 with the aircraft already on its delivery flight to Melbourne from Shannon, Ireland.

 

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Inside & Out! (Teaser)

A Youtube clip of something a little different.......

750XL movements

Pacific Aerospace 750XL ZK-SWA, registered to Gisborne based Kiwi Air, has been living overseas for roughly five years and it was nice to see it return home on 16 December with it crossing the Tasman from Port Macquarie to Lord Howe Island and Auckland.

Heading in the opposite direction 19 December was Pacific Aerospace 750XL ZK-KCE.  With construction number 185 it was registered to Pacific Aerospace of Hamilton in August this year and departed this morning in its parachute ship configuration for Lord Howe Island. 

Low start in Tivat, IL-86 RA-86089 Siberian S7

A follow on video from Tivat - awesome stuff! 

First time visitor to NZ - Hawker VH-BMW

Essendon based Hawker 850XP VH-BMW arrived at Auckland 16 December from its home base marking its first visit to NZ since delivery to Australia over 12 months ago. 

The Hawker arrived in Australia in early December 2011 as M-RACE and was registered VH-BMW on 11 January 2012 and is flying with Gojet PTY

At Essendon 18 January 2012

At Essendon 03 December 2011 on its arrival from Halim and Broome.

Extremely low start of IL-86 Kras Air in Tivat

 

Again its time for something a little different and thanks to Grayson for providing the Youtube link and precis:

 

This is the Ilyushin Il-86. They only built 106, and there are only 4 left flying with the Russian military.

The type was banned from flying over the EU because of a number of accidents.

Through its life, the 86 never had an engine big enough for it and its range was poor! It could carry 350 pax though.

The airport is TIVAT International in Montenegro. Length is 2,500mtrs. One of the approaches requires a low level 20° turn for runway alignment just before landing.

Montenegro is on the coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west. It’s bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, Kosovo[a] to the east and Albania to the south-east

China Southern Airbus A380 B-6139 revisits....

As anticipated, China Southern Airlines second visit to Auckland by an Airbus A380-841 was flown on 14 December by the same aircraft that visited earlier in the week, B-6139.

China Southern currently have 4 Airbus A380-841 in service with their 5th and final aircraft due for delivery in early 2013.  B-6139 was delivery to the carrier in September this year and is configured to carrying 8 first class, 70 business class and 428 economy class passengers.

Atlas Air visitor

The visit to Auckland by an Atlas Air Boeing 747-400 is not that unusual with the regular weekly Qantas chartered freighter passing through each Sunday on its way from Honolulu through to Sydney.

However Saturday 15 December saw the first visit by a passenger configured aircraft operated by Atlas Air with N465MC wet leased by Air Pacific and operating their FJ411/410 services from/to Nadi.  The aircraft had arrived at Nadi earlier in the day from Los Angeles as FJ811 and is a short notice charter to cover extended maintenance on Boeing 747-400 DQ-FJK which is at Singapore.  Air Pacific had until Thursday wet leased Euro Atlantic Boeing 777-200 CS-TFM to provide coverage across their long haul network however this returned to Lisbon on Friday.

The airframe that wears the registration N465MC visited Auckland in its previous life as a work horse for Japan Airlines.  Then registered JA8077 the -400 carried out a charter flight from/to Narita on 23 July 2005 as JAL8769/8760.  It was subsequently disposed of and became N287AS with Aersale Inc in 2011 and later the same year became N465MC with Atlas Air and is often deployed on military personnel movements. 

Gulfstream 550 B-8131

Arriving at Auckland just after midday 15 December direct from the Chinese port city of Shenzhen was Beijing Capital Aviation/Deerport Gulfstream 550 B-8131 as "CBJ581".  The aircraft wears titles of Hanergy Holdings Group.

  

Aerial HD footage of the WWII Mosquito flying around Auckland City

Where are they now?

A brief NZ resident was Gulfstream G200 Galaxy N533GA which at the time of its delivery in October 2010 was slated to become ZK-VGL.  Sadly this did not happen and it remained on the FAA register and was based out of Hamilton.  It departed New Zealand for the last time on 06 March 2012 and sat mostly idle in the USA however it has since had a new lease of life and has become M-SWAN as seen in this link : http://www.flickr.com/photos/rkc01/8235030653/

It was photographed on the Isle of Man 27 November and departed for Moscow-Vnukovo.

Cessna 182Q VH-BYC

First spotted at Ardmore 13 September 2012 was this Cessna 182Q VH-BYC minus its engine.  Three months later the engine has been refitted and she's looking good.  

Does anyone know how VH-BYC, registered to a Western Australia owner,  arrived in NZ? 

Ardmore 01 December 2012

Herc Heading Home

Safair's Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules ZS-RSC departed Christchurch 12/12/12 concluding its time on Antarctic duties.  Its first stop on its outbound journey was a fuel stop at Brisbane followed by a night stop at Darwin.  The next day it continued onto Subang/Sultan Adbul Aziz Shah.

ZS-RSC had arrived at Christchurch on 17 October 2012 from Adelaide and flew its first flight to Antarctica on 23 October with a trip to the Italian base of Terra Nova Bay and back.  The same journey was flown on 28 October, 07, 17, 20 and 27 November. On 29 November it headed to south to the Ice Runway and returned to Christchurch the next day.  On 02 December she flew to Pegasus and returned to Christchurch the next day.  It flew to Pegasus again on 04 December and didn't return to Christchurch until 08 December. 

http://www.safair.co.za/news/operating-to-antarctica/10

File photo (note different SAFAIR titles on the tail). 

Christmas time for Vincent's 146 ZK-ECO

Vincent Aviation's BAe 146-200 ZK-ECO departed its Wellington base 11 December for Darwin via techstops at Norfolk Island, Brisbane and Longreach and used its registration as callsign for its "over water" sectors and "Vincent 810" for the internal sectors.

The following morning it departed Darwin for Port Hedland and then reached into the Indian Ocean heading to Cocos Island via Christmas Island and then returning to Christmas Island where it subsequently overnighted.

Global Express LX-GEX

Global Jet Luxembourg's Global Express LX-GEX arrived at Auckland mid morning on 12/12/12 from Singapore/Changi as SVW38EX.

Some more of B-6139

Thanks to those providing the following images of the first China Southern Airbus A380-800 to visit Auckland on 10 December plus the first time three Airbus A380-800's have been on the ground at the same time.

Caravan Delivery

Arriving at Christchurch early on the evening of 10 December direct from Pago Pago was Cessna 208B Grand Caravan N208RL.  The aircraft overnighted at the Garden City and continued to Timaru arriving at midday 11 December where it will undergo certification work and is reportedly going to become ZK-NZO and based out of Jardines near Queenstown on parachute operations.

 

N208RL is one of a myriad of Caravan's to be delivered across the Pacific this week, check out www.galonghaulnews.blogspot.com on Sunday for an overview.

Gulfstream 550 N253DV comes and goes

G550 Aviation LLC/Alticor Gulfstream 550 N253DV arrived at Napier on the morning of 06 December from its Grand Rapids, Michigan base via a tech call at Honolulu.  It flew onto Queenstown 09 December and has departed from there this morning for Melbourne/Tullamarine and returned to Queenstown later the same day.

China Southern Airbus A380-800 visits Auckland

China Southern's regular scheduled service from Guangzhou to Auckland 10 December was made using Airbus A380-800 B-6139 in lieu of the regular Airbus A330 to move a large group of travel industry officials to NZ.  Its visited marked the first time three Airbus A380's have been on the ground at Auckland at the same time.  A second visit by a China Southern A380 will take place on 14 December.

Some photos of it passing overhead Cairns on its way to Auckland can be found here

Social Media............

Noted at Auckland 08 December was Emirates Airbus A380-800 A6-EDE sporting the logo depicted below promoting their Face Book page and status:

Air China Airbus A330-200 B-6131

Air China Airbus A330-200 B-6131 touched down at Auckland early on the afternoon of 09 December from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, carrying Chinese State Councillor Ms Liu Yandong and delegation on a three day visit to New Zealand.

Her visit to NZ coincides with China Southern Airlines Airbus A380-800 making it first appearance in NZ on 10 December.

Coming Apart.......(updated).

Brightly coloured Boeing 737-300 ZK-TLB, much the talk at Auckland Airport since its arrival on 06 October thanks to its "out there" colour scheme and then following the discovery of a birds nest lodged inside it, has been gradually pulled apart and here she is as at 08 December minus wings and numerous other "bits", no doubt it will soon be struck off the register as withdrawn from use........

And as at mid morning Monday 10 December the fuselage had been moved to the southern side of Auckland Airport.
 

More Air NZ Metal at Christchurch!

This time the widebody Air New Zealand metal at Christchurch was planned to visit with high passenger demand on its recently reinstated Narita-Christchurch NZ90 sector usually operated by Boeing 767-300ER equipment.  Today it was flown by Boeing 747-400 ZK-SUH seen here on its arrival and departure from the Garden City.