Falcon's Rule!

Its the "month of the Falcon" with the French built corporate jet being the most prolific visitor to New Zealand in January, which incidentally must rank as one of the quietest January's for visiting jets to our shores for many, many years.

Falcon 50 VH-FOL has spent time at Queenstown and departed from there for Brisbane 01 January.  It returned to Queenstown from Brisbane 24 January before heading back to Brisbane 27 January.

Falcon 50 N83TY arrived at Christchurch from Maui via Pago Pago 09 January and then flew to Auckland the next day.  On 11 January it flew to Timaru and back to Christchurch where it was to remain until flying to Manapouri 26 January.  The following day it flew to Taupo and departed from there direct to Pago Pago on the last day of the month.

Falcon 50EX N195SV arrived at Auckland from Apia 10 January and was hangared for the duration of its visit before departing to Queenstown 29 January from where it then left NZ and headed to Sydney 31 January. 

Falcon 900EX N146EX departed its Auckland home for Melbourne/Essendon 13 January and flew onto Sydney 15 January then to Brisbane the following day.  It returned to Auckland from Brisbane 29 January.

Falcon 900 N900D arrived at Auckland 13 January from Honolulu and Apia.  It remained at Auckland until 15 January when it flew south to Taupo then onto Wellington 21 January.  It made the short hop to Woodbourne 27 January and then joined N195SV at Queenstown on 29 January.

Today in History - Auckland Airport Opening 1966

Auckland (Mangere) International Airport opening 29-31 January 1966.  A real international airshow!

Also see photos by Colin Hunter.

Nearly there......

Beech Staggerwing NC80316, a recent arrival at Ardmore for a local owner, was carrying out engine runs 25 January pending its first flight from NZ soil.

Air Vanuatu Boeing 737-838 YJ-AV1 - 5 years in service

Air Vanuatu's Boeing 737-838 (WL) YJ-AV1 celebrates 5 years in the Pacific region this week.

The colourful jet arrived at Port Vila from Honolulu and Nadi on 16 January 2008 and flew onto Melbourne for pre delivery work 4 days later.  The aircraft had carried out local flights from Port Vila including a visit to Santo during this time.

YJ-AV1 entered service on 30 January 2008 with a flight from Port Vila to Auckland as NF50 returning to Port Vila as NF51.  The airline continues to provide services to Auckland with the 737-800 visiting on Wednesday's and Saturday's.

Outward bounders...........

A couple of aircraft exited NZ skies 23 January, one is certainly on export and the other quite likely to be on its way out of the country.

Ex Royal New Zealand Air Force Beech 200 King Air NZ1881 was registered VH-LQR to Formula Aircraft of Perth/Jandakot on 08 January 2013, the same operator who took delivery of VH-LKR (ex NZ1883) in August 2012.

VH-LQR departed Hamilton early afternoon 23 January for Auckland, Lord Howe Island and Sydney.

The second aircraft to depart NZ was Cessna U206F ZK-TFW.  It was noted departing from Kerikeri for Norfolk Island.  The 206 continued to Nadi 24 January, so perhaps its deployment to Fiji is temporary covering for aircraft damaged in the December cyclone. 

Nicer shots of VP-CJL

Yesterday we mentioned the visit of two Gulfstream 550's that recently visited Queenstown.  One of these was VP-CJL and we've just been supplied with a couple of nice shots of her parked on the Queenstown hardstand.

Embraer E190 VH-ZPO

A surprise visitor to Auckland before sunrise 23 January was Virgin Australia's Embraer E190 VH-ZPO.  The aircraft had been enroute from Melbourne to Christchurch for cabin reconfiguration work but was diverted to Auckland due to thick fog at its destination.  

Convair 580 ZK-CIF

Air Chathams/Chathams Pacific Convair 580 ZK-CIF arrived at Auckland direct from Tonga on the afternoon of 22 January.   ZK-CIF has been operating out of Tonga since arriving from Auckland on 15 June 2012.

As has been widely mentioned, Chathams Pacific will cease operations from 02 March 2013, for more info check out Steve's blog post here.

Couple of 550's

Queenstown hosted a couple of Gulfstream 550's last week that didn't show up anywhere else around NZ and sadly inclement weather precluded any "good" shots of the aircraft as they sat at the South Island resort town.

Gulfstream 550 VP-CJL arrived at Queenstown direct from Hong Kong 17 January and departed for Davao, Philippines on 20 January.

Gulfstream 550 N1759C arrived at Queenstown from Hawaii 16 January and departed a few hours after this shabby shot was taken on 17 January for Maui.

And below, some snaps of A320 ZK-OJR arriving at Queenstown the same afternoon as a cold, southerly rain squall moved across the airport with gusts to 25kts and snow flurries around the mountain tops - brrrr. 

Not Quite...........

Earlier today we posted what we thought may have been the final landing in NZ of the fantastic De Havilland Mosquito.

However mid/late morning we learnt the Mosquito was out flying, perhaps a last swansong for the pilot of its first flight post restoration, David Phillips, who was on location at Ardmore.

Herewith a couple of snaps taken of her static, with not a soul in sight for once!

Fire Fighting Flingwings...

Gordon R has kindly provided the following shots of a couple of fire fighting helicopters heading off to do their thing from Melbourne's Essendon Airport 21 January.  

With Elvis unservicable in Gippsland and fires flaring up around Victoria, Sikorsky Skycrane N189AC "Gypsy Lady" has been positioned from Ballarat to Essendon and it was deployed to fight a fire north of Melbourne with its fire spotting companion Bell 206L VH-VDZ.

Final Landing?

De Havilland Mosquito ZK-MOS touched down on runway 21 at Ardmore 21 January at 1859NZDT from Matamata making perhaps its last landing on NZ soil prior to export to its owner in the United States.  The aircraft had been centre piece for the previous weekend's Warbirds over Wairarapa air show conducted at Masterton and it stopped off at Matamata in the Waikato District where the annual Walsh Memorial Flying School (http://www.scouts.org.nz/walsh) was concluding its two weeks of operation.

The Mosquito was joined by Ardmore based Strikemaster ZK-STR for its last leg from Matamata to Ardmore and both arrived overhead the airfield in formation with the "Blunty" following the Mosquito onto finals before carrying out a low approach and overshoot to land number two.

It has been a privilege to follow the progress of the Mosquito and provide updates and photos via this forum.

Mossie pilot Keith Skilling strapped into his Chipmunk and departed forthwith for home!

And the moon Monday night - just because........................

Mission Accomplished!

Execujet NZ's Gulfstream 550 ZK-KFB returned home to Wellington 21 January concluding its first foray into the search and rescue realm which had seen the long range corporate jet position from Wellington to Hobart Saturday and then conduct a 12 hour sortie assisting with support for French solo yachtsman Alain Delord who had abandoned his vessel after being battered by severe weather conditions during his attempt at a  non stop circumnavigation of the globe.  The Gulfstream was flown at a range of altitudes with loitering conducted at 15000ft with periodic operations below 2000ft for position updates.  Certainly an interesting environment for such a machine!

More on the rescue can be found on this blog here at "Kiwi Rescue" and also on the Sydney Morning Herald website by clicking here

Congratulations to all those who participated in this challenging rescue operation!

ZKKFB at Hobart 21 January. 

ZKKFB arriving at Wellington from Hobart 21 January. 

Falcon 900 N900D arrives at Wellington

D Arrow Management's Falcon 900 N900D made its way from Taupo to Wellington 21 January and was captured on arrival by Lanzi, cheers for the photos!

Lance Armstrong.... NZ "connection"

Much has been said in media circles these past few days about former US professional cyclist Lance Armstrong and his admittance to taking banned substances to aid him in wining 7 Tour de France cycling events.  

What's that got to do with anything this blog would normally report on?

Well, it was just a shade short of two years ago that Lance Armstrong visited New Zealand on a family vacation in January 2011 when Gulfstream 4SP N7LA (7 wins Lance Armstrong) was operated on his behalf.  The jet arrived at Napier from Adelaide and Napier on 24 January as "Kaiser 77" and flew onto Queenstown 28 January.  It then departed for Nadi and Kona 31 January.

N7LA has since become N999AA with Ascend Performance Materials as from August 2012. 

At Napier 27 January 2011, Simon Wilson photo

Time for something a little different - part two

Thanks in part to the amount of positive feedback from the post we did recently of scenic shots taken on an Auckland to Queenstown flight it was decided to provide some pics from a couple of northbound trips taken this month from Queenstown to Auckland.

Our photoship, A320 ZK-OJR with Coronet Peak in the background

Climbing south out of Queenstown towards Kingston (looking west/southwest)

Turning west over Kingston with Queenstown on our right. 

Looking west down Lake Wakatipu towards Glenorchy

Queenstown township

Overview of the Wakatipu Basin area looking north

Another shot of Queenstown

Queenstown International Airport

Central Otago town of Cromwell and Lake Dunstan

Wanaka Airport

Summit of Mount Cook

Fresh snow on the ranges east of Lake Hawea (17 January). 

Motueka

Distant thunderstorms over the southern North Island 17 January.