Pacific Aerospace 750XL ZK-JIM

The Pacific Aerospace 750XL ZK-JIM MSN 175 started out life as ZK-KBM in the passenger/utlility role and was exported under its new registration, P2-OMA, departing Ardmore for Kerikeri and Norfolk Island 26 March 2012 on delivery to Central Aviation of Mt Hagen. The 750XL returned to the Kiwi register in March 2015 to become ZK-JIM/3 with Vertol Systems of Silverdale, north of Auckland who happen to own Fijian air charter operator Island Hoppers. The 750XL in question was photographed in Fiji a week ago and is now employed on parachute operations with Island Hopper's latest venture, Freefall Fiji.

http://www.freefallfiji.com

Vertol Systems also have 750XL ZK-JJM (ex ZK-KBR/P2-ARB)

GAFLIKS photo

Corporate Corner 25 November to 07 December

Crown Melbourne Ltd Global Express VH-CCD arrived in Queenstown 25 November from Sydney and after a short time on the ground continued to Wellington. It then flew onto Auckland and Melbourne 29 November.

VH-CCD resting in Wellington, K Morris photo

Ozora Inc Gulfstream G550 N550GH arrived in Auckland 26 November from Tokyo/Haneda. It departed 28 November for Noumea and then tracked south to Norfolk Island 30 November. It flew onto Auckland and Queenstown 01 December then back to Auckland and onto Haneda 03 December.

Arriving Auckland from Norfolk Island, MRC Aviation photo

Prime Century Worldwide Gulfstream G450 B-LCK arrived in Queenstown 26 November from Hong Kong and Cairns. It flew to Auckland and Rotorua 28 November from where it departed 02 December for Nadi then to Cairns and Hong Kong 04 November.

Chilling on the Queenstown ramp, QCJS photo

Jetcity Learjet 45 VH-LJQ made a fleeting visit to Auckland 26 November, arriving from and returning to Essendon.

Larry Page & Sergey Brin Gulfstream G650 N998PB concluded its week long stay in Auckland and departed 28 November direct to Moffett Field.

Alltech Inc Gulfstream G550 N310TK arrived in Auckland 29 November from Lexington/KY via a tech stop at Maui. It departed the following morning for Adelaide and Jakarta/Halim.

Owens-Illinois Gulfstream G450 N903G arrived in Auckland 29 November from Oakland/CA via tech stops at Honolulu and Pago Pago. It departed 30 November for Essendon and flew onto Adelaide 02 December.

ANZA/Tyremax Challenger 604 N604AU made a day trip from Auckland to Sydney and back 30 November. On the 1st day of December the Challenger departed Auckland for Sydney.

The Gandel Group Global Express VH-TGG arrived in Christchurch 01 December from Kansai.

Nuoyan Jet Gulfstream G650 VP-CJR positioned from Palmerston North to Auckland 02 December and flew to Rarotonga 03 December returning to Auckland 06 December. 

Remorex PTY Global Express N888GX made an early evening visit to Queenstown 03 December arriving from and returning to Sydney.

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors Global Express N801KF arrived in Auckland 04 December from Van Nuys via Los Angeles and Pago Pago. It departed 05 December for Brisbane and Sydney then to Adelaide and Essendon 06 December. 

Business Aviation Solutions Falcon 20F-5 VH-FAI briefly visited Auckland 05 December arriving from Sydney and Brisbane and departing for Sydney.

Zetta Jet Global Express N588LQ arrived in Auckland 05 December from Shanghai. It departed for Port Moresby 07 December.

GH Aviation Global Express VH-FGJ touched down in Wellington 06 December from Essendon then flew onto Hamilton and Auckland. It departed after dark 07 December for Essendon.

Finals for runway 34 @ Wellington, Lanzi photo

Eyeon Jet Citation 550 VH-EYJ arrived in Auckland 06 December from Shepparton and Sydney and departed 07 December over the reverse route.

CML Aviation Gulfstream G350 VH-NKD visited Auckland 06 December, arriving from and returning to Sydney.

Norris Aviation Learjet 60 VH-XPN arrived in Auckland 07 December from Brisbane.

Local jets have been busy as well with Gulfstream G650's N650AB and N946JB both noted visited Queenstown, Citation III N163JM was spied parked at Taupo and Falcon 900EX N146EX made an evening visit to Wellington a few days ago. All the Kiwi based Mustangs have been aviating at one time or another and the Nextant 400 ZK-NXJ flew a night time medieval run from Auckland to Santo/Pekoa, Vanuatu 04 December.

Pearl Harbor 75th Anniversary

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. At 0748 local time on December 7th 1941 353 aircraft from the Imperial Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo aircraft attacked in two waves from six aircraft carriers. The devastation brought about by the attack was massive with the lose of 2008 lives and numerous battleships including the Arizona which rests in the waters of Pearl Harbor as a memorial to this significant turning point in World War Two. 

https://pearlharbor75thanniversary.com

A live TV feed is currently underway available from the link above. 

Gliding On

South Auckland's Drury Gliding strip is home to dozens of gliders and resident tow plane Piper PA25 ZK-CEB. A quick visit early November saw the following in action.

http://glidingauckland.co.nz/

Tow plane Piper PA25-235 ZK-CEB fitted a few years ago with a noise reducing four bladed propeller. 

Schempp-Hirth Ventus-2A ZK-GBH, ex N666RH and a resident since being imported in July this year. 

Schempp-Hirth Discus 2-b ZK-GBI is registered to the Auckland Gliding Club and was imported from the UK in October this year. It is ADSB equipped and still broadcasts its G-CJUP registration. 

A number of powered gliders are now in use around the country. The Hoffman H36 "Dimona" ZK-GCB is a Drury resident has been around since 2004. 

PZL-Krosno KR-03A "Puchatek" ZK-GXO grabs some lift thanks to ZK-CEB. 

PZL-Swidnik ;PW-6U ZK-GXY returns from a local soaring exercise. 

Las Vegas Sands Boeing 747SP VP-BLK

Las Vegas based Boeing 747SP VP-BLK spent a few days parked in Papeete last month accompanied by a Boeing 737-800 BBJ N737M.
Nice place to spend Thanksgiving!!

Video below taken 26 November local date as it departed for Los Angeles.

Bell 212 ZK-HIB - hmmmm

Back in mid October we posted about the Bell 212 ZK-HIB (http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2016/10/bell-212-zk-hib.html) and as can be seen in the accompanying photo the helicopter clearly had all its Japanese markings removed.

However, it was out about 29 November and clearly displaying its Japanese markings! Weird...................

So, I think it can be safely concluded the Bell 212 first mentioned as being ZK-HIB was actually ZK-HBQ sporting the engine cover of HIB, just to confuse us "spotters". But there shouldn't be occasion for future confusion as ZK-HBQ has been vacuum packed for shipping to the USA and a life with the Forest Service.

At Ardmore 29 November 2016

ZK-HBQ in disguise? At Ardmore 06 October 2016. 

Whenuapai 29 November - civilian

RNZAF base Auckland (Whenuapai) is home to a number of civilian light aircraft and one of these was up flying at the time of visit. Socota TB10 ZK-JIE was imported to NZ from Australia in 2003 and has been with the RNZAF base Auckland Aviation Sports Club since 2006.

Another civvie earning its keep was the Fly My Sky Britten Norman Islander ZK-PIY. Converted from its normal role carrying passengers between Auckland and Great Barrier Island, the trusty "box of noise" was employed by the NZ Defense Force to conduct parachute dropping - I guess considerably less costly than firing up a Hercules to conduct this task.

Air Ambo's

Cruising past Ardmore 29 November and to our surprise was the sight of Waikato Hospital based Bell 222B ZK-HZQ, callsign "Phillips 07". The Bell 222, registered to Search and Rescue Services of Taupo, has been a feature of the helicopter rescue scene in New Zealand since 1994. Search and Rescue Services also have another Bell 222 register with ZK-HIG, a U model, being registered in January 2015. 

Also on location at Ardmore was Kawasaki BK117 B-2 ZK-IRU, also listed to the Taupo operator. It has been in the country a little over four years having been flown in as VH-BKS arriving Ardmore 10 November 2012 from Noumea via Norfolk Island and Auckland. 

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=vh-bks

Western Global Airlines MD11F N435KD

Florida-based Western Global Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD11 freighter N435KD touched down in Auckland early morning 02 December as WGN351 from Ottawa, Canada via a techstop at Honolulu. Its arrival coincided with the movements of Tasman Cargo Airlines Boeing 757-200 freighter VH-TCA which conducted two return flights from Auckland to Wellington and back during the course of the day and given the MD11's port of origin in Canada it can be concluded some new $$$ has been delivered to New Zealand!

N435KD was a feature in Brisbane last month where it was employed shuttling cruiseship supplies between Australia and Papua New Guinea.

New Zealand has only played host to Western Global Airlines once before when their Boeing 747-400 freighter visited Christchurch to deliver an engine for the NASA Boeing 747SP "SOFIA" earlier this year. 

Thank you to Lanzi for catching VH-TCA arriving in Wellington on its first of two visits 02 December.

Cathay up the Tempo

Cathay Pacific have upped the tempo from 02 December providing double daily services between Auckland and Hong Kong to meet seasonal demand. 

The Airbus A350XWB now operates the morning CX117/118 service from/to Hong Kong while Boeing 777-300's will operate the afternoon CX197/198. 

The first Boeing 777-300 service for the season was flown with B-KQN. 

Vans RV7 VH-VNT

Vans RV7 VH-VNT MSN 73117 has made the flight across the Tasman on what appears to be a delivery flight. The amateur built aircraft was spotted flying from Port Macquarie to Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands on the last day of November and on December 1st it flew south to Kerikeri and Ardmore from where it then conducted a local flight before being hangared.

VH-VNT was manufactured in 2014 and was most recently registered to a Wollongong, NSW address.

Interestingly the previous VH-VNT was worn by an early model Beech 1900D (MSN UE-91) operated by Vincent Aviation from their Darwin base from October 2008 until the operator's demise in 2013. 

C5 taking off from MSSS

An oldie but a goodie! USAF Galaxy creating a dust storm departing from Ilopango, El Salvador. 

https://skyvector.com/airport/MSSS/Ilopango-International-Airport

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B-52 Red Flag Action - July 2016

Some pretty impressive up close and personal footage of the mighty BUFF in action!

Hi Fly Airbus A340-500 CS-TFX departs

Hi Fly's Airbus A340-500 CS-TFX has departed Auckland lifting off into the Hauraki Grey skies late morning 30 November destined for Cairns as HFY731.

Since the sun stayed well and truly obscured by overcast skies, we'll say thanks to Ted in Vancouver for sharing this great shot of the aircraft arriving there mid June this year.

Also, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nM3XigXpAo for its arrival into Auckland.

And a nice video of its departure from Papeete earlier this week.

Whenuapai 29 November - military

RNZAF base Auckland aka Whenuapai is home to the air force's transport and fixed wing maritime patrol aircraft. The 40 Squadron Boeing 757's were both on location 29 November with NZ7571 conducting circuits and NZ7572 parked up. Only one Lockheed C130H Hercules was noted and only one Lockheed P3K Orion however NZ4201 returned from a training detail as KIW544 while NZ4205 was working south of New Zealand. 

Republic of Korea P3 Orion 950901

Republic of Korea Lockheed P3 Orion 950901 arrived in Whenuapai late on the evening of 16 November from Townsville as KNX1. The aeroplane had encountered technical issues at Townsville delaying its Tasman crossing and it appears the issues continued as it was subsequently hangared in Whenuapai awaiting spares. It was eventually noted conducting engine runs 24 November and then a one hour test flight 26 November. It then went on to fly "patrols" 28 and 29 November using the callsign "Korean Navy 01". 

Whenuapai 24 November 2016, VJ photo

Arriving Whenuapai at the conclusion of a three hour "patrol" flight, followed by a run through the bird bath!