Falcon 7X M-ROLL

After several changes in expected arrival date and times Falcon 7X M-ROLL, operated by Pacelli Jets of Munich, finally arrived at Auckland from Papeete on the evening of 27 February.  The tri-jet had arrived at Papeete a couple of days ago from Easter Island.

Big Mac One Arrives - updated

McDonald's food chain operated Global 6000 N1955M (c/n 9444) arrived at Auckland late last night from Melbourne.  The jet had arrived at Melbourne from Dupage/West Chicago, Illionois, via Honolulu, on the evening of 24 February joining Challenger 605 N1967M with this aircraft having arrived at Perth 22 February from Bali and flying onto Melbourne 24 February.  It departed Melbourne shortly after the Global Express yesterday afternoon for Pago Pago and Honolulu. 

The markings N1955M last visited NZ July 2008, also on the side of a Global Express, however it was c/n 9185 which has since become C-FEAG.  And before the Global N1955M was worn on the of a Gulfstream 4SP c/n 1276. 

N1955M as seen in July 2008.  By all accounts, the "new" Global looks just the same........

Vincent's Whisperjet

Vincent Aviation BAe 146-200 ZK-ECO has returned home to New Zealand after spending almost a year flying out of Brisbane on mine staff transfer flights.

The aircraft had departed Wellington on 05 April 2013 for Auckland, Norfolk Island and Brisbane and since that time it has flown three or so times per week to various airstrips in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.  Most recently it flew from Brisbane to the Gold Coast and Essendon 24 February and to Sydney 25 February from where it embarked 26 February on its direct flight to Wellington.

On the subject of Vincent Aviation, their Darwin based Saab 340B VH-VNY has been spied around NZ conducting its charter operation and it flew from Napier to Queenstown 20 February, then to Woodbourne 23 February and onto Taupo 25 February before flying to Masterton and back yesterday. 

Check out:

http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/vincent-saab-checks-out-masterton.html

http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/masterton-update.html

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/saab-340-vh-vny.html

Gulfstream 550 N800JH

J&J Aviation LLC Gulfstream 550 N800JH departed Auckland lunchtime 26 February and headed to Napier.

It had arrived at Auckland Papeete on 19 February.

Jetstar Boeing 787 - inaugural NZ visit

Qantas subsidiary Jetstar took delivery of their first Boeing 787-8 back on 09 October last year when VH-VKA arrived at the carrier's Melbourne base from Honolulu as JST7878.  

Fitted out with 21 business class and 314 economy class seats, VH-VKA was the first of 14 Boeing 787-8's to be delivered.  After its delivery flight in October it carried out a number of route proving/training flights and entered commercial service on 13 November as JST432 flying from Melbourne to the Gold Coast.  The Dreamliner has since started international operations flying between Australia and Bali along with sistership's VH-VKB and VH-VKD.  The fourth Dreamliner, VH-VKE, was placed on the Australian register 17 February pending delivery Down Under.

Jetstar announced late last year their intention to deploy the Dreamliner on the Melbourne-Auckland-Melbourne route for a limited time and today saw the first of these thrice weekly visits take place with

VH-VKA having the honours of operating across  the Tasman as JST229 and returning as JST218.  Schedules indicate the aircraft will operate between the two cities until the end of March. 

Looking Back - 23 February 1972

Thanks to Grayson for this little history lesson:

First flight of CT/4 Airtrainer New Zealand all-metal construction, single-piston-engined, fully aerobatic, trainer aircraft

Aero Engine Services Ltd (AESL) acquired the rights for the Airtourer and Aircruiser from Victa in 1966. The CT-4 was developed from the Victa Airtourer and Aircruiser (CT/3) family created by Henry Millicer.

The CT-4 was developed by Pat Monk and designed as an ab-initio trainer (with +6/-3 G limits). The design passed to NZ Aerospace Industries when AESL and Air Parts NZ merged in 1972, the company becoming Pacific Aerospace in 1982.

Prototype ZK-DGY, was displayed at the Paris airshow in 1975 with first production deliveries of the CT/4A were to the Royal Thai Airforce who took 24 aircraft from October 1973. The aircraft was also used by the RAAF, and deliveries began in January 1975 (where it replaced the Winjeel), and one to the Thai Border Police.

The next development, the CT/4B featured structural improvements, and an inverted oil system. The CT/4B was ordered by the RNZAF (initially 13 aircraft) in 1975, and the Royal Thai Air Force acquired 6 in 1992. Forty-four of the aircraft were flown across the Tasman by well-known kiwi-pilot Cliff Tait, then Chief Pilot at NZAI.

The latest development is the CT/4E which entered service with the RNZAF in 1998. It features a 300hp as compared to 210hp engine, has structural changes to the wing location to allow for the change in the centre of gravity. The cockpit has received an overhaul with a full IFR panel. Externally, the new model is 10cm longer, and features a three bladed Hartzell propeller and modified cowlings.

It’s been reported that the CT-4Es will reach the end of their service life in 2018 as they are replaced by Beechcraft T6 Texan II. 

Military Movements

United States Navy Gulfstream V (C-37A) 166375 touched down at Whenuapai lunchtime 25 February as "Navy VV375" arriving from Manila.

Royal Australian Air Force Beech 350 King Air A32-426 arrived at Auckland early afternoon 25 February from Norfolk Island and after clearing formalities continued onto Hamilton for attention with Aircraft Painting Services.  A32-439, having arrived mid January, was rolled out of their workshop to make work for -426. 

A32-426 had made its way from Townsville to Amberley and Norfolk Island 24 February.

Royal New Zealand Air Force Boeing 757-200 NZ7572 departed Christchurch for Pegasus Field as "Kiwi 676" making the first wheeled aircraft landing at the landing strip this year.

Skytrader's Airbus A319 VH-VHD made a trip from Hobart to Wilkins and back on 18 February and has since been flying around Australia before returning to Hobart today, no doubt in preparation for another trip south. 

And spotted at Whenuapai was Royal New Zealand Air Force Lockheed P3K Orion NZ4204 sporting a red nose!  

Air Crash Investigation: Qantas 32: Titanic in the Sky (S13E10) HD

Corporate Corner

The visit by Falcon 7X N70FL was rather brief with it departing Auckland on the afternoon of 22 February direct to Rio Gallegos, Argentina.

Air Tiger 1 LLC Gulfstream 5 N50KC departed Napier 22 February for Honolulu and Teterboro.

Citation III VH-LYM concluded its Christchurch visit on 23 February and headed back to Sydney. 

Jets at Adelaide

Adelaide is a busy hub for domestic jet operations with services provided by Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Australia and Tiger.  In addition to the main airlines, Alliance and Cobham operate psuedo scheduled and charter operations on fly-in/fly-out mining services.

Falcon 7X N70FL

Making its first visit to New Zealand is Falcon 7X N70FL.  Operated by Flight Levels Corporation, this aircraft is based in Argentina and this is clearly displayed by the scheme as it depicts the colours of the national flag. It also has the name "Southern Star II" under the cockpit window.

The 2007 model 7X arrived at Auckland late on the afternoon of 21 February from Papeete.

Airbus A320(SL) ZK-OXD enters service

Air New Zealand's fourth Airbus A320 fitted with sharklets entered commercial service earlier today with ZK-OXD departing Christchurch for Auckland as ANZ506.  

The aircraft, MSN 5962, was registered to Air New Zealand on 14 February 2014 and it arrived at Christchurch on the evening of 17 February concluding its delivery flight from Toulouse via Muscat, Singapore and Cairns. 

Thanks heaps to ANON for these shots of her arriving at Auckland this morning.

Turboprops at Adelaide

During last weeks brief visit to Adelaide, South Australia, we were able to spend a short time at the fence line at the State capital's main airport catching up with the local movements on a Sunday afternoon.

Adelaide is home to Pilatus Australia so it was no surprise to see a large number of the type on the airport, including VH-FMM which was a visitor to NZ a couple of years ago on a demo tour. 

Rex Regional Airlines Saab 340B VH-ZXS (MSN 340B-179) is seen here undertow still wearing the colours of Thai airline Nok Mini with whom it flew on behalf of as HS-GBB for a couple of years from 2009.  It had previously flown with Rex Regional as VH-XRX.

Rex operate an extensive network from Adelaide to regional South Australia and Saab 340B VH-YRX is seen here returning from Port Lincoln. 

QantasLink Q400 VH-QOX on pushback for a flight to Port Lincoln. 

Pacific Aerospace 750XL VH-TEQ

On a recent trip to Adelaide we caught up with Hamilton built Pacific Aerospace 750XL VH-TEQ.  This aircraft, with construction number 147, was first registered as ZK-JHA in September 2008 before becoming N750LH later the same month.  It departed Hamilton for Lord Howe Island and the Gold Coast on 16 October 2008 and then to Alice Springs the next day.  It was next noted on 19 October departing Broome for Bali and was operated in South East Asia before returning to Australia on 21 February 2011 arriving at Darwin from Kupang.  

It was registered Thompson Aviation of Griffith, New South Wales, on 14 April 2011 as VH-TEQ. 

Ouch!

Persuading Visitor?

Casa is demonstrating the 295 model "Persuader" to the New Zealand Defence Force and the aircraft was noted flying a "mission" from/to Whenuapai 19 February before heading to Wellington where it then overnighted.  

The Portugese Air Force example was expected to fly a demo flight from Wellington to Paraparaumu and back on 20 February however we believe this did not end up taking place due to the somewhat inclement weather conditions, as clearly depicted in these images!

Foggy Capital

Travellers in and out of Wellington International Airport have been disrupted over the last couple of days as fog enveloped the region thanks to a warm, moist northeasterly airflow across the North Island spreading over the cooler waters of Cook Strait and turning into low stratus (fog) which interestingly even extended into the Marlborough and Nelson regions and up the Kapiti Coast through as far as Wanganui. 

As a consequence of the disruptions to air travel Air New Zealand mounted a special Boeing 767-300 service to move passengers from Auckland to Wellington and back on the afternoon of 20 February with ZK-NCJ nominated to carry out what is today a rare occurrence to see a wide body airliner flying a domestic operation.

Stunning day in the Capital, what fog?

Still an awesome sunny day, what fog?

Ok, we don't get it what all the fuss is about - what fog?

Um, ok - we can see some fog..............

HEY! Where's the 767 gone!!