One Off....

Aerolineas Argentinas exited the NZ scene on 30 June 2012 when it elected to overfly Auckland and commence services direct from Argentina to Sydney.  In the time since the revised route has been flown they have only diverted to NZ once, this was on 09 October when Airbus A340-200 LV-ZPJ diverted to Auckland on its westbound flight due to passenger sickness. 

Today however it was very much a planned stop over with Airbus A340-200 LV-ZPX stopping in at Auckland on its way from Buenos Aires to Sydney as AR1180, presumably to deliver the Argentinian rugby team, The Pumas, who are playing the All Blacks next weekend.

Exiting runway 05R at Auckland 31 August 2013, Colin Hunter photo

Sharklet on ice............

Jonathan Rankin has sent in these great shots taken from Airbus A320 ZK-OXA heading into Christchurch from Auckland 29 August after an overnight late winter snow storm, and of course show casing the aircraft's distinctive "sharklets".

Global 5000 N933ML

As mentioned a couple of days ago, Pacific Islander/PNC Financial Services Global 5000 N933ML made its way from Nadi to Auckland on the evening of 27 August marking its first visit to New Zealand.  It departed on the evening of 29 August for Melbourne/Essendon.

Under, not over

I hadn't realised that flights under the iconic Golden Gate Bridge were the norm but it clearly is with Vista Grande Helicopters conducting regular tourist flights under the San Francisco landmark.   Not the best of shots but gives a look at this interesting portion of the tour.

Petaluma, California

A half hour look around at Petaluma, California saw us catch up with this little beauty as it performed touch and goes.  N52079 is listed as a 1943 Fairchild Cornell PT-26/M-62A-3 and a little bit of information about her can be found here : http://www.trainingsquadron.com/caring-for-a-legacy-teaching-next-generation-aviators

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=422459

Pilatus PC12 N25NX departed for Oakland and then onto Vancouver Island.

This Glasair III N353CH was strutting its stuff and showed just how slick it is!

A couple of locals.  Some 200 aircraft are based on this small, GA airfield!

Pacific Islands Update

As mentioned earlier this week, Gulfstream G100 (Astra) N82HH had made its way from Invercargill to Rarotonga on 25 August.  It has since departed Rarotonga 28 August (local date) and after a techstop at Pago Pago continued onto Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii.

And the Pacific has been graced with the Google Boeing 767-238ERER N2767 again and its now at Nadi having arrived in the first few minutes of 27 August from Moffett Field via a techstop at Honolulu.
(see http://www.mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2013/08/google-this.html for earlier reference)

Other movements through Nadi have included N933ML, as previously mentioned in a post, and Falcon 7X G-IONX, with this aircraft arriving at Nadi 06 August from Singapore and Suva and departing 26 August for Easter Island.

Some news from Tahiti, where we will use their local date:
Global Express C-GCDS departed Papeete 21 August for Los Angeles and Montreal, the owner/operator bases a Twin Otter in French Polynesia.
Airbus A340-200 A7-HHK departed Papeete 22 August for San Francisco, Orlando and Miami as QAF4.
Challenger N601JM arrived at Papeete 23 August from Burbank via Kona while on the same day Gulfstream 450 N450XX departed for San Jose and Fresno.
Gulfstream 5 N740SS departed 26 August for Los Angeles.

Pacific Coast Air Museum - Part Three

The Pacific Coast Air Museum at Santa Rosa, California, is home to a number of propliners including the two S2 Trackers, one of which was a locally based air tanker and wears the same number and registration as the current, airworthy turbine example.  The museum also has the interesting IL-14 on display, something I hadn't expected to come across!

Late night arrival

Singapore based Global 5000 N933ML has made its first visit to New Zealand, arriving at Auckland tonight from Nadi where it had arrived 26 August direct from Oakland.  The Global featured on our blog back in June:

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/brand-new-global-5000-visits-down-under.html

File photo

Early Morning Arrivals

The drought of visiting North American business jets was quenched with the arrival of not one but two aircraft into New Zealand this morning.

The first arrival was at Auckland with Canal Air LLC's Gulfstream 450 N500RP, operated on behalf of Penske Racing, touched down just after 0500 from Napa, northeast of San Francisco, via Maui and Apia.
This aircraft was in Australia last month and arrived at Brisbane from Portland, OR, via Maui and Majuro on the 11th.

http://ybbn.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/gulfstream-450-n500rp.html

Time Warner Communications Gulfstream 550 N79RP was the second arrival and it made its way to Wellington from Burbank via Honolulu and touched down around 0730.   It visited Wellington, Auckland and Queenstown during late November/early December 2012 and then conducted a tour of Australian ports.

File photo

Pacific Coast Air Museum - Part Two

 Herewith are some of the jets on display at the Pacific Coast Air Museum including two aircraft used in the making of the 1986 movie "Top Gun".

Home Time

Auckland based Falcon 2000EX N818BH, operated by Jetflight Services, arriving back "home" 26 August from Maui and Apia.  The Falcon had departed Auckland on 10 June for Apia and Maui and has spent most of its time overseas around Europe.

At Timaru 10 October 2012. 

Astra Departs

Gulfstream G100 (Astra) N82HH, registered to GA Leasing of Gainesville, Florida, departed from Invercargill 25 August direct to Rarotonga.   The G100 had arrived at Invercargill from Pago Pago and Auckland back on 29 July.

This aircraft last visited NZ in the summer of 2011 and arrived at Dunedin from Pago Pago and Auckland on 09 February that year.  It sat there until the 24th when it headed to Pago Pago via Auckland. 

Arriving at Auckland 09 February 2011. 

Air New Zealand first (but fourth!) Boeing 787-9 Roll Out

Air New Zealand's fourth (to be delivered) Boeing 787-9, ZB001,  was rolled out of the Boeing factory recently in preparation for its first flight in the coming weeks.  This aircraft, s/n 36093, will be a test aircraft for the manufacturer and when delivered to the national carrier in July 2015 it will be registered ZK-NZC.

The second 787-9 to be manufactured, ZB009 s/n 36094, is expected in August 2015 and it will become ZK-NZD at the conclusion of its test program with Boeing.  

ZK-NZE, ZB003 s/n 34334, will be the first aircraft delivered "down under" with an expected delivery date of July next year followed by ZK-NZF and ZK-NZG a couple of months later.

Check out the following link for US coverage of Charlie's roll out:

http://www.airlinereporter.com/2013/08/photo-boeing-completes-the-first-boeing-787-9-dreamliner/