Pilatus PC12 ZK-PLZ

Sounds Air has unveiled (or are about to!) a corporate configured Pilatus PC12 to compliment their dedicated regular passenger transport fleet with ZK-PLZ arriving back in the country 15 August following a repaint and cabin refresh with Flinders Aviation. The PC12 conducted a local flight from/to Redcliffe then flew to Coffs Harbour and the Gold Coast 14 August. Yesterday it flew from the Gold Coast directly to Auckland in just over 5 hours before heading south to Nelson for a brief stopover then onto Fielding. 

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2015/07/zk-plz-with-soundsair.html

http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nz/2015/06/sounds-airs-taupo-flights-take-off.html

Corporate Corner

Lewis Aeronautical Falcon 7X N747RL jetted into Auckland 01 August from San Antonio, TX via a techstop at Papeete. It departed on return to San Antonio via Papeete 04 August.

Execujet Global Express VH-ICV arrived at Auckland late 02 August from Don Mueang/Bangkok. It departed for the Gold Coast 03 August and onto Halim/Jakarta 04 August.

Remorex PTY Global Express N888GX made a mid morning techstop at Christchurch 03 August on its way from Sydney to Santiago, Chile.

Gulfstream G650 VP-CJR departed Auckland for Hangzhou, China 05 August.

Hong Kong Jet Airbus A330-200 VP-CBE departed Auckland before sunrise 07 August heading to Sydney. It returned to Auckland later the same day. It departed Auckland late 08 August destined for Singapore.

Pratt Aviation Global Express VH-FGJ spent the day at Auckland 08 August, arriving from and returning to Melbourne/Essendon.

Crawford Leasing Company Challenger 300 N503KJ broke the visiting jet drought for Queenstown arriving in the winter wonderland from Melbourne 10 August. The Challenger had arrived in Brisbane from Maui via Apia 03 August and went onto visit Sydney and Melbourne. The Challenger made its way north to Auckland from Queenstown 12 August and departed for Apia and Honolulu 13 August.

Royal Australian Air Force Challenger 604 A37-002 jetted into Wellington late afternoon 10 August from Canberra and headed back to the Australian Capital the next day. On 12 August the Challenger flew from Canberra direct to Rarotonga. It made a tech stop at Auckland 14 August on its way back to Canberra.

Airmed International Hawker 125-800A N811AM arrived at Auckland mid morning 11 August from Honolulu via Majuro and Nadi. It departed over the reverse route 12 August.

Rank Group Gulfstream G650 N946JB touched down at Auckland 14 August from Great Falls, MT via a tech stop at Bakersfield, CA.

Pacific Aerospace 750XL's Stateside

Thanks to Transair for sharing these shots of Hamilton, NZ bred Pacific Aerospace 750XL's working the skies of the United States on parachute operations. 

N902ST MSN 153 of Chicagoland Skydiving seen at Rochelle, IL earlier this month. 

N750SD MSN 111 (above and below) registered to Milwaukee Skydiving and seen here at East Troy, WI. 

N750UP MSN 133 listed with Randigo LLC and spotted at Jean, NV. 

Douglas DC8-87 N817NA departs

NASA's Douglas DC8-87 N817NA departed Christchurch mid morning 13 August destined for Punta Arenas, Chile, as the aircraft and its team of scientists continue their journey as part of operation ATOM.

Thanks to Matt Hayes for these wonderful shots of N817NA on her arrival into Christchurch earlier this week.

 

And thanks to Yusef Elnahas for the image below showing the aircraft undergoing extensive work. 

Drop-in

Singapore Airlines Cargo Boeing 747-400 freighter 9V-SFP made a brief, pre-planned visit to Christchurch on the morning of 12 August arriving from Auckland and departing to Singapore as SQC7291.

Totally unrelated....

..... to New Zealand aviation but just because its a quiet time for news and its something I snapped last year...

http://www.avherald.com/h?article=49c2f39c&opt=0

N246DH short finals runway 10 @ SXM 29 September 2015, MRC photo

Douglas DC8-87 N817NA previous visits

Thanks again to Zane Rae for supplying these shots from a few years back!  

And be sure to check out the Australian Aviation article featuring Zane's photos:

http://australianaviation.com.au/2016/08/nasa-dc-8-72-flying-laboratory-arrives-in-new-zealand/

When registered as N717NA, the DC8 is seen here departing Christchurch 05 November 1996. 

And arriving into Christchurch, also in 1996. 

Now registered N817NA she is seen here arriving 13 August 2000. 

Ilyushin 76 RA-76503 departure

With thanks to Daniel Talbot who braved the cold wind and grey skies to catch our brief visitor's departure for Honolulu....

Volga-Dnepr Ilyushin 76 RA-76503 - UPDATED

The visit to NZ by Ilyushin 76TD-90VD RA-76503 was short and sweet with the heavy lift freighter departing Auckland around 1630 10 August destined for Honolulu as "Volga 4953". It is understood the IL76 delivered a General Electric GE90 engine.

Thanks to "anon's" for the provision of these shots of our exotic visitor:

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The second exotic four-holer to reach New Zealand in less than 24 hours touched down at Auckland in the highly unsociable early hours of 10 August. Volga-Dnepr Ilyushin IL76TD-90VD RA-76503 arrived as "Volga 4952" from Denpasar/Bali.

The arrival of RA-76503 marks the first time this particular new engine variant has been to New Zealand and by far the youngest of its type to visit being built in 2011!

We stand to be corrected, but after quickly looking through records it would seem it is 17 years since the last IL76 found its way to Auckland, and ironically it was in August of 1999 when RA-76369 as JSC940 arrived at Auckland on the 7th from Darwin and departed the next day for Brisbane as JSC941.

A chance discussion reminded me of the visit of an IL76 into Christchurch when Gazpromavia example, RA-76445, spent time in the Garden City
http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/00s/russians/ilyushin.html

RA-76503 has been to Australia, just the one. It arrived in Perth 3 July 2016 from Jakarta/Halim and departed 12 July for Tianjin, China.

Volga-Dnepr operate 12 IL76, of which 5 are the 90VD model.

http://airline.volga-dnepr.com/en/fleet/il76/

Below a couple of snaps of it exiting at A3 after landing runway 05R at 0249LT

- my first and I think final attempt at night photography!

NASA Douglas DC8-72 N817NA - UPDATED

As anticipated, NASA Douglas DC8-72 N817NA has arrived at Christchurch 09 August from Pago Pago as NASA817 via its planned overflight of Lauder, a small settlement located northeast of Alexandra in Central Otago.

The DC8 tracked well east of New Zealand on its southern journey from Pago Pago and crossed the coastline just south of Oamaru descending to an altitude of around 2000ft as it passed over Lauder travelling north to south. Tracking site Flightradar24 then showed the aircraft make a climbing left hand turn to cruise at 12000ft northbound with an orbit just to the east of Kurow before proceeding to Christchurch arriving soon after 1400.

Our records show N817NA last visited New Zealand in August 2000 arriving at Christchurch from Pago Pago on the 11th. It then conducted research flights on the 13th, 15th and 16th before departing to Adelaide on the 17th.

Thanks to Graham Weatherby for these shots of the DC8 as she arrived into Christchurch.

Thanks to Zane Rae for this beaut shot

And to Yusef Elanhas for this one of the DC8 having the sensors etc that were fitted in lieu of cabin windows covered up for protection from the elements.

And to Tony McFarlin for this shot of her at Christchurch during the 2000 deployment

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Douglas DC8-72 N817NA is set to visit Christchurch next week for just a handful of days as the aircraft plays its part in the Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) project. 

Like their Boeing 747SP N747NA SOFIA, the Douglas DC8 is based at Palmdale, California and on August 1st it departed there heading to Anchorage via 77 north to conduct research and today it is due to head south to Kailua-Kona on Hawaii's Big Island. Over the weekend it will navigate south to Pago Pago, American Samoa before eventually reaching Christchurch on the afternoon of August 9th which is a little at odds with the Otago Daily Times article where it mentions a flypast of Lauder, Central Otago on Monday the 8th https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/nasa-scientists-pay-flying-visit

The DC8 is planning to make a nocturnal departure from Christchurch August 13th heading to Punta Arenas, Southern Chile with future stops at Ascension Island, then to Lajes in the Azores. It will then head to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland before heading home to Palmdale via Minneapolis in the third week of August. 

For more on the ATom project check out their extensive website https://espo.nasa.gov/home/atom

Wet, wet and more wet

Auckland's winter of 2016 will be remembered by many as the wet season with so far very few clear, frosty days as would normally be expected. Instead the region has been beset with frequent periods of rain, then showers, then back to rain again - oh and the occasional ray of sunshine as clearly depicted in these fabulous shots submitted by Jonathan Rankin. For those prepared to brave the elements and with a degree in patience then these are the results you can aspire to achieve!

F-16 Cockpit Cam - Aerobatics and Heritage Flight w/P-51 Mustang - EAA A...

Having watched the video of this display from the ground its pretty darn impressive to watch it from the cockpit!

SOFIA's spiderweb

NASA recently published this interesting depiction of the total trips flown by their Boeing 747SP N747NA "SOFIA" during her deployment to Christchurch over June/July this year. It gives a clear picture to just how much of the southern skies were navigated.

Boeing C32 99-6143

Sneaking into Whenuapai late on the afternoon of 05 August was United States Air Force Boeing 757-23A/C32B 99-6143. Operated by the US State Department Foreign Emergency Support Team (FEST) based with the 486th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin AFB, Florida. The aircraft arrived from Pago Pago using the callsign "DARAN87" and this particular airframe is believed to have visited Australia a number of times in recent years, most recently in November 2015 as "GOYA16" arriving at Perth on the 13th from Pago Pago and Canberra and departing two days later for Brisbane and Pago Pago. 

Online resources suggest the C32B, with MSN 25494, has also been known to carry the serials 98-6006, 00-9001 and 02-5001 interchangeably!

The Boeing departed Whenuapai just before 1800 07 August heading for Sydney. 

internet sourced image. 

At Whenuapai earlier today, Agairnz photo

Bombardier DHC8-315Q VH-TQM

Something's not quite right! Eastern Australia Airlines Q300 VH-TQM, operating on behalf of Jetstar, is seen here arriving at Auckland 28 July 2016 minus some key letters.

De Havilland Mosquito ZK-FHC - UPDATED 12 AUGUST!

The Mosquito has been rolled outside for what I believe to be the first time and it was chance timing to get it "on the move"

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A delightful addition to the ZK registered popped up on August 5th with the soon to fly De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito T.III TV959 becoming ZK-FHC. While registered to the globally recognised Avspecs Ltd/Warbirds Restoration of Ardmore, the Mosquito is destined for a life in Seattle, Washington State with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection located at Paine Field. 

http://www.flyingheritage.com/

For a rundown on the life of TV959 go to http://www.mossie.org/TV959.htm and The Warbird Watcher

We are not aware of the pending FAA registration but note N959TV is available - so it will be interesting to see if this is used.

Meanwhile, we wait with anticipation for the aircraft's first flight from Ardmore hopefully by the end of the month!

File photo - ZK-MOS @ Ardmore September 2012.