Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 VS43 Gatwick Emergency Landing with Radio

This took place yesterday morning NZ time.

http://www.avherald.com/h?article=47f7b9f9&opt=0

Couple more departures

Gulfstream 550 B-8297 departed Auckland 29 December for Cairns.

One of the dirtiest Gulfstream's we've ever seen! B-8297 under tow at Auckland 28 December, J Rankin photo

Gulfstream 5 N300K departed Rotorua for Auckland and Honolulu as EJM300 29 December.

At Queenstown 23 December, M Hayes photo

Corporate Corner

Gulfstream G550 B-8297 arrived at Auckland mid afternoon 27 December from Christchurch while Global 5000  N188J departed Auckland for Queenstown that morning.

Gulfstream G650 N650AB departed Auckland in the pre dawn hours of 27 December for Easter Island while later in the day Gulfstream G650 ZK-KFB made a quick trip from Wellington to Napier then onto Auckland before heading back to the Capital.

Ford's Gulfstream 5 N300K made its way from Auckland to Rotorua 27 December.

The bulk of visiting jets to New Zealand made their way offshore 28 December with Airbus A330 VP-CBE leading the charge with a departure from Auckland mid morning for Adelaide.

Its departure was followed up by Gulfstream G450 VP-CET departing Auckland for Cairns and Hong Kong closely followed by Gulfstream G550 B-KCK departing direct to Hong Kong. This jet had been parked at Rotorua since 23 December and it positioned to Auckland 27 December. Next cab off the rank was Gulfstream G450 B-LCK heading to Sydney. Making their way from Auckland to the Sunshine Coast were Gulfstream G450 VP-CTE, Global 5000 N755RA and Global 6000 VP-CJC.

Air Tiger 1 LLC Gulfstream 5 N50KC departed Auckland for Napier 28 December.

Alticor INC Gulfstream G550 N523AC stemmed the flow of outbound traffic when it arrived at Auckland mid morning 28 December from Grand Rapids via a techstop at Honolulu. This first time visitor to NZ is operated on behalf of Amway founder Richard DeVos and associated with the jets visit was a sighting last week of Eurocopter EC130B4 N176LY over downtown Auckland which maybe deployed with the owners yacht "Seaquest". 

The comings and goings now sees the visiting jet population looking like:

Queenstown

Global 5000 N188J 

Global Express N121RS

Falcon 7X N8000E

Auckland

Challenger 604 N604AU (arrived 26 December from Sydney then flew to Kaitaia and back same day)

Gulfstream G550 B-8297

Gulfstream G550 N523AC

Gulfstream G650 OE-LZM

The South Pacific Islands have also been greeted with a myriad of visitors (all dates NZ side of the date line)
25 December

Gulfstream G550 B-8126 arrived Papeete from Haneda.

Gulfstream G550 N891E arrived Papeete from Los Angeles

Gulfstream 4 N813PD arrived Papeete from Honolulu as PEG13

27 December

Gulfstream G550 N551GT arrived at Rangiroa from San Jose.

28 December

Gulfstream G550 N551GT departed Papeete for San Jose.

Gulfstream G550 N813QS arrived at Majuro from Bozeman/Yellowstone Intl, Montana!

Gulfstream G550 N74VW arrived at Nadi from San Jose as EJM74.

Gulfstream 5 N765SG arrived at Bora Bora from Van Nuys as SIS765.

Falcon 50 N860BA arrived at Papeete from Honolulu

Gulfstream 4 N962SS arrived at Papeete from Van Nuys via Hilo.

Gulfstream 650 OE-LZM

Arriving at Auckland predawn Christmas morning was Avcon Jet AG of Vienna's Gulfstream G650 OE-LZM.

Operated on behalf of Moscow based billionaire Ziyad Manasir, the smart looking jet arrived into Auckland from Manila as "Asterix 65 Golf", or AOJ65G for short!

Parked up at Auckland on the DHL freighter ramp 25 December 2014. 

Its arrival ballooned the population of visiting jets in the country to fourteen

Queenstown

Falcon 7X N8000E

Global Express N121RS

Christchurch

Gulfstream 550 B-8297

Rotorua

Gulfstream 550 B-KCK

Auckland

Airbus A330 VP-CBE

Gulfstream 5 N50KC

Gulfstream 5 N300K

Gulfstream 550 B-LCK

Gulfstream 450 VP-CTE

Gulfstream 450 VP-CET

Global 6000 VP-CJC

Global 5000 N755RA

Global 5000 N188J

Compliments of the Season

Global Express N121RS

Sunset Aviation LLC Global Express N121RS touched down at Auckland this morning from Kona as "Twylight 22". After clearing formalities the Global departed for Queenstown.

arriving at Auckland 24 December 2014. 

Phew! What a day!

Yesterday in our Corporate Corner review we covered off some of the recent bizjet movements around the region and alluded to the anticipated departure from Queenstown of the visiting gaggle of t-tails.

Well, they made their move and in addition to some other activity we'll list the activity for 23 December :

Gulfstream 500 N405GA Auckland-Sydney
Gulfstream 5 N300K Dunedin-Queenstown-Auckland
Gulfstream 450 VP-CET Queenstown-Rotorua-Auckland
Gulfstream 450 VP-CTE Queenstown-Rotorua-Auckland
Gulfstream 550 B-KCK Queenstown-Rotorua
Gulfstream 550 B-LCK Queenstown-Rotorua-Auckland
Global 6000 VP-CJC Queenstown-Rotorua-Auckland
Global 5000 N755RA Queenstown-Rotorua-Auckland
Global 5000 N188J static at Auckland
Gulfstream 5 N50KC static at Auckland
Gulfstream 550 B-8297 static at Christchurch
Airbus A330-200 VP-CBE static at Auckland

And as this blogpost goes to air Global Express N121RS, callsign "Twylight 22" is inbound to Auckland from Kona and planned onto Queenstown next which Falcon 7X N8000E is shortly departing Kona heading direct to Queenstown!

Sincere thanks to all those providing images!

Let the race begin! Nosed towards the terminal at Queenstown is Gulfstream 5 N300K recently arrived from Dunedin while nestled in front of the tower is an Air Chathams Convair 580 which flew to Taupo and behind it a Mt Cook Airline ATR. Photo via Queenstown Airport twitter feed. 

Flotilla of helicopters await the jet arrivals into Rotorua

A rare sight indeed! A portion of taxiway Bravo at Auckland is closed temporarily to accommodate the visitors

Corporate Corner - things heating up this summer

In addition to the gaggle of visiting jets of Chinese origin currently visiting Queenstown (but on the move later today) there have been some other aircraft flitting here and there.

Thanks as always to those providing images!

An update on the visiting VIP Airbus A330-200 VP-CBE. It arrived at the SkyCare terminal at Auckland 21 December but has since been moved to a layover gate west of the Auckland International Terminal.

Looking back a few days, Learjet 45 VH-LJX spent a few hours on the ground at Invercargill 17 December arriving from and returning to Essendon.

Embraer Legacy VH-VLT, which had arrived at Queenstown early on the morning of 16 December from Brisbane carrying singer Katy Perry, flew the star and entourage to Auckland 19 December before positioning to Essendon.

Air Tiger 1 LLC Gulfstream 5 N50KC, operated on behalf of Julian Robertson, arrived at Auckland 21 December from Oxbury, CT via Teterboro and Honolulu. The once regular visitor to our shores last made its way down under in February this year.

Executive Jet Management Global 5000 N188J arrived at Auckland 21 December from Quonset State Airport, Rhode Island, via Los Angeles and Honolulu as "Jetspeed 188". First time visit.

Gulfstream 550 B-8297 arrived at Christchurch 22 December from Shenzhen. It then flew to Queenstown before making its way back to Christchurch for parking. Another first time visit.

Citation Ultra VH-WFE departed Queenstown 22 December for Essendon.

Gulfstream 5 VH-CRQ spent a few hours at Auckland 22 December arriving from Essendon and departing for Perth.

Gulfstream 550 N405GA arrived at Auckland 22 December from Papeete.  It visited Auckland at the same time last year.

Vale Trevor "TT" Bland

When I set this blog post up on Saturday to broadcast this morning the news was just filtering out of the passing of NZ aviation legend Trevor "TT" Bland.

The NZ Warbirds issued the following:

It is our sad duty to inform you that our Patron and Founding President Trevor Bland strapped in for the last time and departed from us at 1130hrs Saturday 20 December 2014
Trevor made a huge contribution to the New Zealand warbirds aviation scene particularly since 1978 when he founded the New Zealand Warbirds Association based at Ardmore.
He lived for flying and a distinguished RNZAF career saw him training on Vampires at Ohakea followed by a posting to Singapore on Venoms as part of the Malaysian crisis in 1955-58.
On his return in 1958 he joined the Vampire ‘Jetobatics’ team but the end of his Short Service Commission prompted Trevor to move to the UK where he later joined the RAF, flying Gloster Meteors and Javelins. His aim was to fly the Hawker Hunter – an ambition realised when he joined the newly formed “Blue Diamonds” aerobatic team.
In 1963 after 3 years of display flying, Trevor returned to New Zealand, re-joined the RNZAF instructing on Harvards and Devons at Wigram. A move back to Ohakea saw him flying Vampires and a short stint with No14 Squadron on Canberras. At that time the Skyhawks were being considered as replacements and Trevor was part of an evaluation team sent to the US to accept the A4’s.
He became the first Flight Commander of 75 Skyhawk Squadron and later established the Operational Conversion Unit to train A4 pilots. For these contributions he was awarded the Air Force Cross in the New Year’s Honours List in 1972.
The next step was a move to Air New Zealand on DC8s, DC10s and finally to B747s. His civil aviation career also included stints with Southern World Airlines and Polynesian Airlines.
Meantime, an encounter with Sir Tim Wallis who had recently purchased a P51 Mustang, led to Trevor becoming one of the most accomplished display pilots in Australasia. This continued his growing passion for older aircraft starting with the purchase of ZK WAR (Harvard 1092) in 1978 and the formation of NZ Warbirds by a group of like-minded aviators.
Medical issues forced Trevor to retire from active flying in 2000 but he continued part time as an Air NZ B737 Flight Simulator Instructor until 2007. For his commitment and services to aviation Trevor was inducted as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004.
A major health concern emerged 6 years ago in the form of Parkinson’s disease. This debilitated Trevor but did not prevent him from attending Sunday refreshments and being present in his favourite viewing spot in the hangar – a man of great tenacity and determination.
He is survived by his wife Kathy and four daughters and two step children.
Our condolences go to each of the family members – may they take comfort in the many tributes already being paid to Trevor and the many more to come at his funeral service at the NZ Warbirds hangar on Wednesday afternoon at 1pm.
New Zealand Warbirds has lost a true friend…. Trevor, you can now fly free!
Lest We Forget

Our original blog post was planned to just cover the below item of interest:

Colin H was on hand at Ardmore Friday afternoon to catch two of the ex Royal New Zealand Air Force Strikemasters departing/arriving on a formation flight - believed to be the first time since the type has returned to NZ skies. The aircraft were accompanied by locally operated L39.

Now all we need is the third Ardmore based Strikemaster and the Christchurch example to get together.

Airbus A330-200 VP-CBE

Hong Kong Jet/Hainan Air Group corporate Airbus A330-200 VP-CBE arrived at Auckland early afternoon 21 December from Sydney using its registration as callsign. The all white A330, built on order for Air Asia X with a tentative registration of 9M-XXI but not taken up, had arrived at the Gold Coast from Manila 07 December before positioning to Brisbane. It then flew from Brisbane to Sydney 14 December. 

It is understood the A330 will remain at Auckland until next weekend.

Busiest day for Queenstown?

Queenstown in the picturesque Southern Lakes District of New Zealand has developed itself as the premier tourist destination in the country with unrivaled scenery matched with a broad spectrum of activities ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.

For readers from overseas have a look at http://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/

20 December saw an unprecedented number of jets descend on the town's international airport, all handled by local FBO Queenstown Corporate Jet Services which was opened a little over a year ago to cater for the increasing numbers of bizjet visitors :  http://www.queenstowncorporatejetservices.com/
Parking restrictions in the past would have seen a number of the jets mentioned below be flown elsewhere for parking, however QCJS deployed an electric tug to assist with moving aircraft into tight spaces to maximise ramp usage.

The activity started early with the arrival of Falcon 50 VH-FOL a little after 0800 from Brisbane. Its visit was brief with the jet returning to Brisbane a short time later.

Next to arrive was Gulfstream 450 B-LCK with this aircraft touching down around 0915 from Hong Kong via a techstop at Cairns. First visit to NZ.

A little over an hour later a second Gulfstream 450 arrived, this time VP-CET with it also originating from Hong Kong but making a techstop at Darwin. This machine visited NZ during September this year.

Thirty minutes later Gulfstream 550 B-KCK arrived from Koror on the island of Babelthaup, Continental Micronesia. Another first time NZ visitor.

Just after midday Citation 560 Ultra VH-WFE arrived from Sydney making just its second NZ visit - the first was in February this year with spending a couple of days at Dunedin.

A break in the flow was required to cater for the international commercial flights operated by Air NZ, Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin which all come and go within a short period of time mid afternoon.

Pacific Jets Citationjet CJ4 ZK-PGA made a brief appearance jetting in from Kerikeri and departing for Auckland.

The next arrival came in the shape of Global 6000 VP-CJC. As "Tagjet 62", the aircraft arrived direct from Hong Kong. First time NZ visit.

And rounding off the hectic day was Global 5000 N755RA making its way to Queenstown direct from Hong Kong.  This jet was in Auckland earlier this month.

These jets joined Gulfstream 550 VP-CTE which had arrived yesterday and of course Gulfstream 5 N300K was shuffled across to Dunedin for parking.

Gulfstream 550 VP-CTE - updated with photos

Another first time visitor to our shores is Gulfstream 550 VP-CTE operated by Jet Aviation Hong Kong. It arrived at Queenstown mid afternoon 19 December direct from Hong Kong.

The aircraft is being looked after by Queenstown Corporate Jet Services.

Twin Star 9M-MDI - updated

Not often New Zealand receives a visit from a Malaysian registered aircraft with the exception of the scheduled Malaysia Airlines 777's, so it was interesting to note the arrival at Auckland mid afternoon 18 December of Diamond DA42 Twin Star 9M-MDI. The light twin was first "sighted" in the region arriving at Broome from Lombok on 11 December and it made its way eastward to Alice Springs the following day. On 14 December it carried onto Charleville and the Gold Coast where it remained until 17 December when it flew to Norfolk Island via Lord Howe Island.

The Twin Star departed Auckland 19 December southbound and was later noted in the Manawatu district.

Gulfstream 5 N300K

Making what we believe to be its first visit to New Zealand is Ford Motor Company's Gulfstream 5 N300K. Using the callsign "Jetspeed 30", the GV arrived at Queenstown mid morning having departed a snowy Detroit, MI and tech stopping at Honolulu. After clearing formalities the Gulfstream positioned to Dunedin for parking.

N300K rests up at Dunedin. 

Project Loon

Making news again across New Zealand is the regular sighting of unusual shapes in the sky, explained by checking out http://www.google.com/loon/. A number of balloons have recently been released from southern New Zealand and our Central Otago correspondent, Steadfast,  was on hand at Alexandra Airport recently to catch the launch of a loon or two.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/64156086/google-loon-balloons-float-over-capital
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11372758

Sunny shots of Gulfstream 650 N650AB

Inclement weather has gripped the top half of New Zealand's North Island for several days now with little in the way of sunshine so it was fantastic to see recently delivered Gulfstream 650 N650AB c/n 6100 make its way to a bright and sunny Wellington day 16 December. Operated by Jetflight on behalf of its owner the 650 made its way south from Auckland late morning and returned to Auckland the next day, and back to gloomy and blustery weather!

On the subject of Gulfstream 650's, it appears the first of its type to be resident in Australia has been delivered with N47TR c/n 6101 arriving at Sydney 16 December from Maui. The previous day the aircraft, believed to on delivery to Perth's Avwest, flew from Savannah to Long Beach and Maui and it flew on from Sydney to Perth 17 December.

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome two new contributors to MRC Aviation who will be bringing us photos of visiting aircraft at Wellington. 

At the same time we farewell Lanzi who is in the process of moving to the West Island. We thank him for his immense contributions to the blog with photographic material dating back to the first snaps he sent us of Global Express N2T visiting the Capital back in February 2011. 

Best wishes for your future in Australia!

Emirates Sky Cargo Boeing 777 freighter A6-EFO

The movement of stage equipment to/from New Zealand was once the domain of Atlas Air flying on behalf of Qantas however Emirates Sky Cargo seem to be making inroads to provide this service and

Boeing 777-F1H A6-EFO dropped into Auckland this morning as UAE9777 from Brisbane carrying gear for the upcoming Katy Perry concert. The freighter, delivered to the airline 01 November this year, returned to Brisbane as UAE9778 and online resources indicate the aircraft is set to make its way back to Auckland again this evening before flying another Brisbane return and arriving back at Auckland during the pre dawn hours of 18 December.

Arriving at Brisbane earlier today. 

Boeing 737 BBJ 9H-BBJ

Maltese registered Boeing 737-7BJ (BBJ) 9H-BBJ, operated by Privajet Ltd (http://www.privajet.com) touched down at Queenstown around 1900 on the evening of 14 December jetting in from Sydney as PVJ114. The BBJ first cropped up in the region 10 December arriving at Hamilton Island from Singapore via Cairns as PVJ108 and then flew onto Sydney two days later. 

9H-BBJ has, to the best of our knowledge, only been through the region one before and this was back in August 2012 when, as PVJ101, it flew from Singapore to Port Moresby (techstop) and Papeete on the 2nd. 

At Queenstown 16 December 2014 (Legacy VH-VLT in the background arrived from Brisbane earlier in the day).

China Southern ups capacity

China Southern Airlines, already a prominent player in the ever increasing China-New Zealand market, has upped its capacity with the introduction of Boeing 777-300ER's on their daily Guangzhou-Auckland CZ305/306 service replacing smaller Boeing 787-8's. The Dreamliner will continue to operate their daily morning CZ335/336 service in and out of Auckland with the type also expected to operate three flights to Christchurch in the New Year. The 777's are anticipated to remain on the run until 29 March 2015.

With a fleet of 19 777's, the first flight was made with Boeing 777-31B(ER) B-2099, delivered to the mega carrier in in February of this year. 

AS350 Squirrel ZK-IWI - Updated

During August this year we published the following post:

Rural Aviation (1963) Ltd operated Eurocopter AS350B3 ZK-IWI c/n 3413 departed Ardmore 15 August for Kerikeri and Norfolk Island.

The last time we've recorded this machine flying "overseas" was a trip to Raoul Island in January 2012 where the operator was contracted to support Department of Conservation (DOC) activities on the remote island northeast of New Zealand and then in late March the same year it was deployed again for DOC to the islands south of New Zealand including a trip to Snares Island.

And a follow on from that August post:

The helicopter returned to Kerikeri from Norfolk Island just two days later so obviously its overseas job saw it fly no further than Norfolk.

However, the helicopter has since been cancelled from the ZK register as at 12 December 2014 as being "exported" and it was noted at Ardmore 15 December in a dismantled state still wearing its distinctively kiwi registration.

At its Ardmore home 10 November 2011. 

Challenger 604 VH-VRE

Execujet Australia Challenger 604 VH-VRE, operated on behalf of Wellard Aviation, arrived at Hamilton around sunrise 13 December after a direct flight from its Perth base. The jet remained at Hamilton for the day before making its way to Taupo late afternoon. 14 December saw the Challenger make the short flight to Palmerston North where it then remained overnight. The next day it flew to Queenstown for a brief stopover then departed direct to Perth.

Arriving at Taupo

Parked up at Palmerston North

Gulfstream 550 N505D

Making its first visit to New Zealand is Dow Chemicals Gulfstream 550 N505D. The smart looking corporate arrived at Auckland in between showers on the evening of 14 December from Sydney where it had arrived the previous day from MBS International Airport (serving Midland, Bay City and Saginaw), Michigan via a techstop at Honolulu.

The 550 is no stranger to Australia and most recently visited in August this year arriving at Melbourne from MBS International via Honolulu on the 10th then flying to Sydney the following day. It then made a day return trip to Canberra 13th then to the Gold Coast and Brisbane 14th. Onto Hamilton Island and Proserpine 17 August and finally from Hamilton Island to the Gold Coast, Honolulu and MBS International 19 August!

The Gulfstream departed Auckland late 15 December for Sydney.