Dreamliner BBJ Departs

The UAE VVIP Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner BBJ A6-PFC departed Wellington as forecast on the afternoon of 19 February heading to Sydney as "Sultan 06" concluding its short NZ visit.

Thanks to Derek for capturing these great shots!

Citation Mustang ZK-JAK out and about

Rotorua based Citation 510 Mustang ZK-JAK has been out and about enjoying the summer sun and popped into Tauranga 18 February having diverted from its original destination of Hamilton due to fog. It then flew to Auckland for an approach and overshoot before heading back to Tauranga and then eventually reaching its planned stopover of Hamilton. It remained on the ground for several hours before returning home.

Departing Tauranga for Auckland

Another NZ based jet was basking in the sun at Hamilton, and another Cessna - this time Citation III N163JM. It had arrived at Hamilton from Wellington 19 January and returned to Wellington 18 February.

Also doing the rounds was Nextant 400XTi N111CX with the aircraft observed carrying out a local flight from Napier before heading to Auckland where it remained overnight.

Tecnam Twin across the Tasman

Tecnam P2006 twin ZK-TWN has embarked from Auckland this morning heading across the Tasman Sea with its first stop being Lord Howe Island some 5hr 45min away.

The aircraft was imported to NZ in 2011 and registered to Bay Flight International of Tauranga. Bay Flight entered voluntary liquidation later the same year with the operation sold to Helipro. The deal did not include ZK-TWN, just the 10 other Bay Flight aircraft. As history shows us, Helipro was placed into receivership October 2014 and Bay Flight ultimately closed its doors with the fleet grounded and now scattered around the upper North Island with just two or three of the Cessna 152's remaining airworthy.

Ownership of ZK-TWN transferred to Ardmore Aviation Services in July 2013, another name for the local Tecnam rep. It doesn't appear to have flown all that often in the last 12 months or so and has been listed for sale by tender.

Still wearing the Bay Flight logo, Ardmore April 2014

The departure of ZK-TWN leaves NZ with two Tecnam 2006's.

ZK-MTW is operated by Middle Earth Flying School, Matamata, but often resides at Ardmore where it is seen arriving in early February. 

Ardmore Aviation Services imported ZK-OBZ in November 2014 and it is seen here at Ardmore late January. 

First of type visitor to the Capital - Boeing 787-8 A6-PFC - UPDATED

Abu Dhabi Amiri Flight Boeing 787-8Q8 BBJ A6-PFC made a first of type visit to Wellington when it arrived from Nadi 18 February as "Amiri 6".

The corporate configured Dreamliner had arrived Melbourne direct from Abu Dhabi 15 February and made its way to Canberra and Nadi during the course of 17 February.

It is expected to depart for Sydney early afternoon today.

A6-PFC as seen arriving Melbourne on Sunday. 

Arriving at Wellington, sadly much later than originally planned.

More photos HERE

Gulfstream G450 N668EM

Making its first visit to NZ is Prime Jet LLC's Gulfstream G450 N668EM.

The jet was delivered in March 2014 and appears to be Asian based.

RAAF Boeing C17 A41-207 departs

Royal Australian Air Force Boeing C17 Globemaster III A41-207 departed Wellington mid morning 17 February, returning to Amberley.

Nextant 400XTi N111CX

Yesterday we made mention of the arrival into NZ of Nextant 400XTi N111CX on delivery to Napier based Skyline Aviation.

The aircraft flew Napier-Wellington-Napier-Queenstown-Napier 17 February and is seen here during its time at Wellington. 

http://www.skylineaviation.co.nz/

The Jean Batten Douglas DC3

Quietly turning up on the NZ CAA register 16 February 2015 was the Douglas DC3C-S1C3G ZK-JGB. Registered to Airscapade Affairs Ltd of Te Anau, the DC3 has been in NZ since November 2012 when she arrived down under as N451ZS. 

Christened "The Jean Batten Clipper" for her delivery flight from the UK to NZ, the registration appropriately uses the famous aviatrix's initials - Jean Gardner Batten.

Earlier posts on the aircraft:

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/airscapade-dc3-inbound-nz.html

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/shes-arrived.html

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/dc3-n451zs-update.html

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2014/12/dc3-n451zs.html

Skyline's Nextant 400XTi Arrives

In September 2014 Napier-based Skyline Aviation announced their intention to operate a Nextant 400XTi, a heavily modified Beechjet 400.

The 2014 blog post on the subject can be found HERE

The identity of the airframe in question has been up until recently unknown but thanks to public flight trackers we can confirm N111CX c/n RK-210 is the subject aircraft after it nosed out across the Pacific Ocean these last few days. It arrived at Honolulu from Merced 12 February and flew from Honolulu to Christmas Island, Pago Pago and Nadi arriving 14 February. The jet has spent the last few months at Cuyahoga County Airport, Cleveland, Ohio and home to Nextant Aviation.

Given the colour scheme of the aircraft displayed at http://flightaware.com there seems to be little change required to meet Skyline's livery. It also appears the aircraft may be registered ZK-NXJ once certification processes are completed. 

The Nextant 400XTi arrived at Napier mid afternoon yesterday direct from Nadi concluding its delivery flight.

Today, 17 February, it flew Napier to Wellington and back, then Napier to Queenstown and back. 

Gulfstream G650 M-INSK revisited

Pieter from Palmerston North was on location to catch the departure 15 February of Gulfstream G650 M-INSK on its flight direct to Singapore at the conclusion of motor racing at the nearby Manfield track.

RAAF Boeing C17 A41-207

Lifting off runway 08 at Woodbourne. 

The visit to New Zealand by Royal Australian Air Force Boeing C17 Globemaster III A41-207 hit the news wires 16 February for a couple of reasons, namely the significance of its cargo made of 50 tonnes of sandstone delivered to Wellington for the continued construction of an Australian World War One memorial to be located in Pukeahu National War Memorial Park and centre piece for the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli this coming April. Secondly, the aircraft was "demonstrated" to NZ Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee and entourage who took a ride in the jet as outlined in the media extract below.

A Royal Australian Air Force C17 Globemaster aircraft will deliver almost 50 tonnes of sandstone to Wellington today to progress construction of the Australian World War One memorial to be located in Pukeahu National War Memorial Park.

The memorial will feature 15 sandstone columns, symbolic of the country’s Red Centre, surrounded by eucalyptus trees representing the Australian landscape.

Australia’s A$5 million memorial is a reciprocal gesture to the New Zealand memorial built on ANZAC Parade in Canberra and is funded by the Australian Government.

The Australian Air Force C17 will land at Wellington around 1.35pm this afternoon.

At the invitation of the Australian Defence Force, Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee and members of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee will visit the aircraft before departing for a return flight to the New Zealand Air Force base at Woodbourne, where they will view the C-130 Hercules restoration programme.

“This is a timely opportunity, and I appreciate the Australian Air Force giving us a chance to learn more about and experience the C17,” Mr Brownlee says.

The Ministry of Defence is in the process of receiving price and availability information on the C17 from the United States Government as part of its long term review of airlift capability.

“Consideration of New Zealand’s continuing engagement in the Antarctic, and our ability to respond to natural disasters and provide humanitarian aid in the Pacific, means options for future airlift capability need to be explored,” Mr Brownlee says.

“The need for replacement airlift capability has been long anticipated and is foreshadowed in the Defence Mid Point Rebalancing Review.

“While there is no commitment to purchase any C17s, it seems sensible to view the Australian aircraft while it is in the capital.

“To experience a potential replacement aircraft first-hand with a cross-party delegation was too useful an opportunity to miss.

“While the C17 may not prove to be the best solution for New Zealand, we owe it to ourselves to look at it seriously while we can,” Mr Brownlee says.

A41-207 arrived at Wellington around 1400 from RAAF Fairbarn, Canberra as "Ausy 422" and then flew VFR to Woodbourne and back. 

This is by far the largest aircraft to ever land at the joint civil/military airport located a short distance from the Marlborough town of Blenheim. 

Corporate Corner

Falcon 50 VH-FOL departed Christchurch 13 February for Queenstown.

Learjet 45 VH-LJX spent a few hours at Auckland 13 February, arriving from and returning to Essendon.

15 February saw the bulk of activity take place with the arrival at Auckland of resident Global Express XRS N18WZ inbound from Honolulu, JC Penney Company Inc of Plano, TX Gulfstream G450 aptly registered N1902P inbound from Rarotonga and Global Express XRS LX-GXX making a return visit arriving from Kona and met by Eurocopter EC145 G-SRNE to transport passengers to the super yacht "Serene".

N1902P - James Cash Penney founded JC Penney Department store in 1902. 

Rocking into Queenstown mid morning was Global Express N526GX direct from Hong Kong as "Tagjet 69".

The two jets at Palmerston North concluded their visit with Gulfstream G650 M-INSK departing early evening direct to Singapore while Global 6000 N711LS departed a couple of hours later for Ohakea, then onto Auckland before departing during the first hour of 16 February on a direct flight to Los Angeles. We're pretty sure this will be the first visit to Ohakea by a Global Express and its stopover was made necessary due to scheduled runway works closure at Palmerston North. 

Texans Update

The Royal New Zealand Air Force 8th and 9th Texan II's are making their way across Australia headed for the Australian International Airshow at Avalon south of Melbourne which kicks off with the Aerospace and Defence Exposition on 24 February.

N2763B/NZ1408 and N2770B/NZ1409 arrived at Broome, WA 13 February from Bali and carried onto Alice Springs 14 February. Yesterday the two aircraft made their way to Melbourne/Essendon where they are pictured below.

NZ1407 on static display at the recent Wings over Wairarapa airshow

Double Farewell

The region said farewell to two aircraft 14 February with both Pilatus PC12/47 N474SS (ex VH-OOI) and Beech 1900D ZK-VAB departing NZ.

The PC12 had arrived at Auckland 11 February from Fielding and departed 14 February for Tonga and Pago Pago, and as this post goes to air should be making its way to Christmas Island and onto Honolulu.

Ex Vincent Aviation Beech 1900D ZK-VAB arrived at Ardmore 07 January from the Gold Coast via Norfolk Island and Auckland and was inducted for maintenance with Hawker Pacific. The aircraft wears a "Daewoo" sticker aft of the main entry door - anyone know why? 

ZK-VAB conducted shakedown flight/s from/to Ardmore 13 February and made the short hop to Auckland 14 February before heading onto Tonga and Pago Pago chasing the PC12. Presumably it will also continue its journey to North America via Christmas Island and Honolulu with its final destination understood to be Canada, but this was not confirmed at time of publishing.

Departing Ardmore for Auckland 14 February 2015. 

Boeing 737/C40 01-0015

United States Navy Boeing 737-7DM BBJ/C40 01-0015 touched down at Whenuapai on the afternoon of 13 February from Honolulu as "SPAR55". It is understood the jet has arrived to carry the US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral J W Greenert at the conclusion of a regional trip to Australia and New Zealand. 

http://www.nzdf.mil.nz/news/media-releases/2015/20150212-usconotvnz.htm

The jet departed late morning 14 February on its way back to Honolulu.

01-0015 most recently visited NZ during April last year when it arrived Wellington on the 12th from Tonga and departed for Port Moresby two days later.

File photo - arriving Wellington 12 April 2012. 

Wings over Wairarapa - Part Seven

The Wings over Wairarapa airshow last month provided the opportunity for the two airworthy Spitfires in New Zealand to pair up and participate in both formation and solo displays.

A third Spitfire, a Mark XIV registered ZK-XIV, is still under considerable rebuild at Ardmore with the intention of flying in time of the airshow at Omaka this coming Easter.....