"Incredible Hulk" - and final post for 2013.

Thanks to Transair we can share these great shots of Erickson S-64E N164AC/739 "Incredible Hulk" lifting off from Melbourne/Essendon 30 December for Brukunga, South Australia.  It had arrived at Essendon the previous day from the Melbourne Docks.

Kohler Duo

This great shot has been sent in of Gulfstream 4 N777KK and Global Express N797KK at Woodbourne this afternoon, 31 December.  Clean, no cones, clear skies and neatly parked!

Corporate Corner

The bizjets in the country have been on the move in recent days.

Gulfstream 550 N113CS departed Wellington for Sydney 30 December, and joined a large number of visiting jets in Australia's largest city made up with Gulfstream 550 N405GA, Gulfstream 550 N550RP, Gulfstream 650 M-GSIX, Falcon 2000 C-FVMW, Falcon 900's N47EG and  N82MF, Gulfstream 3 N734TJ, Gulfstream 4 N163EG, Gulfstream 450 VQ-BCE, Legacy N127BG, Falcon 7X OY-JDE, Global Expresses C-GHSW and VP-CWN!  And there maybe more we've not spotted arriving.

Gulfstream 550 OH-GVA arrived at Christchurch from Auckland 30 December.

Gulfstream 4 N777KK and Global Express N797KK arrived at Woodbourne 31 December from Queenstown.

Gulfstream 4 N451GA departed Rotorua for Sydney 31 December.

Christmas Tree Harvesting

In the middle of this month we shared a YouTube video of a Bell 206 lifting christmas trees in Oregon.  Grayson has been on the prowl and found this video, also from YouTube....

Boeing 737-3U3 ZK-NGK update

In March this year we mentioned the retirement from Air NZ service of Boeing 737-3U3 ZK-NGK

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/another-retirement.html

From the accompanying photo, received in recent days, it would indicate it is not likely to fly again.

But Wait - There's More!

Yup, for the third day in a row and some more shots from the proliferation of visiting jets Queenstown taken after the rain cleared on 30 December.

Colourful Gulfstream 550 N528AP arrived from Taupo and Christchurch 28 December. 

Global Express OE-LGX arrived from Haneda as VJS694 28 December. 

More from Queenstown

Our resident photographer at Queenstown was on the job 28 December covering the visiting corporate jets as outlined in our post from yesterday, click here.

Queenstown bursting at the seams

A snapshot of just four of the seven jets parked at Queenstown 28 December. 

The ramp space at Queenstown must be nearing maximum capacity as the airport hosts a collection of visiting corporate jets this week.

On location Queenstown 28 December were the following:

Gulfstream 5 N222LX -arrived 23 December from Kona
Gulfstream 4 N451GA - arrived 25 December from Nadi, and departed 28 December for Rotorua.
Gulfstream 550 N113CS - arrived 26 December from Auckland, and departed 28 December for Wellington.

Gulfstream 4 N777KK - arrived 26 December from Christchurch
Global Express N797KK - arrived 26 December from Christchurch
Falcon 7X B-8202 - was due to arrive Queenstown 28 December from Auckland, but ended up changing their plans altogether and departed Auckland late evening for Darwin and Hong Kong.

Gulfstream 550 N528AP - arrived earlier today from Taupo and Christchurch.

Global Express OE-LGX - arrived earlier today from Tokyo/Haneda as VJS694
Citation Sovereign VH-EXQ - was due to depart Queenstown but didn't.  Arrived Christmas Day ex Christchurch.

Dynamic F-JUKE reaches the North Island

Earthrounding Dyn Aerospool WT9 Dynamic F-JUKE made its way to Rotorua on Christmas Eve from Fernside near Rangiora northwest of Christchurch.  The light sports aircraft then flew to Ardmore Boxing Day and made its way to New Plymouth 27 December.

Earlier posts:
http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/dynamic-f-juke-update.html
http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/dynamic-wt9-f-juke.html

Air New Zealand B737-200 Flight 651 Landing at Queenstown

Corporate Corner

Following up on our recent spate of activity:

Tuesday 24 December 

Gulfstream 4 N777KK and Global Express N797KK Rotorua-Christchurch joining Sovereign VH-EXQ and Challenger VH-MXK on the ramp.

Gulfstream 550 N528AP Auckland-Kaitaia-Taupo. 

Citation Mustang ZK-LCA Bankstown-Lord Howe Island-Auckland.

Wednesday 25 December

Gulfstream 4 N451GA Nadi-Queenstown.  It had arrived Nadi 22 December from Burbank via Maui.

Citation Sovereign VH-EXQ Christchurch-Queenstown. 

Thursday 26 December

Deerjet Falcon 7X B-8202 arrived at Auckland from Singapore. 

Gulfstream 4 N777KK and Global Express N797KK Christchurch-Queenstown. 

Gulfstream 550 N113CS Auckland-Queenstown.
Hawker 800XP VH-MEP Essendon-Queenstown-Cairns. 

Ramp space at Queenstown will be getting tight with N451GA, N222LX, N777KK, N797KK, N113CS and VH-EXQ.... with more to come!

Air New Zealand Boeing 737 Operations conclude at Queenstown

After more than 21 years of sterling service, the Boeing 737 has been retired from flying Air New Zealand flights through Queenstown as of today with Boeing 737-300 ZK-NGH flying the types last operation through the adventure capital arriving from Auckland as NZ639 and returning to Auckland as NZ638.

The 737 pioneered jet operations at Queenstown for Air New Zealand with -200 series hush kit aircraft commencing domestic operations from/to Christchurch commencing 01 October 1992.  This was three years after Ansett NZ started flying BAe 146's jets into Queenstown on domestic services. 

It wasn't until 19 September 1994 that direct flights from/to Auckland were started.  The following year the airline embarked on providing international services from Australia utilising the 737-200's on "Snow Express" flights from 01 July through until mid September. 

1998 saw the introduction of the -300 series Boeing 737 and year round international services were provided between Sydney and Queenstown along with winter month flights from Brisbane and Melbourne and the type pioneered RNP (required navigation performance) operations at Queenstown for Air New Zealand providing a higher level of regularity in poor weather conditions. 

The 737 is being progressively phased out as Airbus A320's are introduced to the domestic network. 

Today, Air New Zealand jets will have flown 5 Auckland-Queenstown-Auckland returns, 2 Christchurch-Queenstown-Christchurch returns and a Sydney-Queenstown-Sydney.

www.3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com photo

UR-CAH Departing Auckland 24 December

Antonov 12BP UR-CAH revisited

After a day of rest yesterday (Christmas Day down-under) and not being near a computer, I've found some time to process the numerous shots sent in by avid photographers covering the visit of Antonov 12BK      
UR-CAH to Auckland on the afternoon/evening of 24 December.

The Antonov departed Auckland 24 December just before 1900 for Brisbane as UKL7889 and it was planned to continue onto Bali however it remained parked at Brisbane Christmas Day and departed shortly after midnight for Bali.

Finnish Visitors

On the arrival of Gulfstream 550 OH-GVA at Auckland earlier this week we posed the question, is it the first aircraft from Finland to visit our shores.

Well, the answer is a very big NO.  A sincere thanks to Falcon135 for providing the following information:

03 January 1966 DC-6B OH-KDA flew Auckland-Port Moresby, no arrival information known.

15 November 1968 DC-6B OH-KDB arrived at Auckland and departed 17 November for Port Moresby.

27 November 1978 DC-8-62 OH-LFT arrived at Auckland and departed for Melbourne.  The next day it flew Melbourne-Christchurch-Port Moresby.  The next month on 05 December it flew Honolulu-Christchurch-Sydney.  10 April 1979 saw it arrive at Auckland from Melbourne but no departure information.

26 September 1978 and DC-8-62 OH-LFY flew Nadi-Melbourne-Auckland-Melbourne-Hong Kong!

24 May 1994 DC-10-30 OH-LHA flew Apia-Tonga-Auckland-Sydney, and the next returned over the reverse route.

Santa's (t)rusty ole sleigh a day early?

A great way to boost an already busy month for visiting aircraft to New Zealand was the arrival at Auckland mid afternoon 24 December of Ukraine Alliance Antonov 12BP UR-CAH.  As UKL4010, the Antonov arrived from Port Moresby where it first arrived on 19 December from Biak as UKL4075.  On 20 December it flew from Port Moresby to Johor Bahru, Ambon/Pattimura and back to Port Moresby.

Records show the last AN12 to visit NZ shores was UR-UCK at Ohakea on 26 September 2007. It arrived from and returned to Richmond having hauled a consignment of ammunition to NZ.

Locally sourced photos to be posted later!

UR-CAH featured in the 2013 movie "World War Z" having been repainted in temporary pseudo USAF colours during 2011.

Photo taken at Dunsfold, UK, September 2011, via John Mounce. 

Duo head south

Kohler Company Gulfstream 4 N777KK and Global Express N797KK departed Rotorua 24 December for Christchurch joining Challenger 601 VH-MXK and Citation Sovereign VH-EXQ on the ramp for Christmas Eve.

Thanks to Eye in the Sky for these shots taken at Rotorua over the weekend:

WestJet Christmas Miracle: real-time giving

Gulfstream 550 OH-GVA

Well, as mentioned earlier this morning, there were more bizjets on the horizon and for this part of the world the arrival of a jet registered in Finland is rare to say the least, we struggle to remember one having ever done so before (can anyone confirm this?).

Airfix Aviation only took delivery of Gulfstream 550 OH-GVA in the middle of this year so it with pleasure to have her visiting NZ this month.  As "AIRFIX 55", OH-GVA arrived at Auckland late this morning from Hong Kong adding to the flotilla of predominantly Gulfstream visitors in situ.

In addition to OH-GVA in the country, Gulfstream 5 N222LX is shortly arriving at Queenstown from Kona.