Christmas wishes and last update for 2008

Operating from Woodbourne yesterday 22-Dec-2008 was Cessna 404 Titan ZK-NDY. NDY was noted at Wigram at 1000 and then operating IFR to Woodbourne, before being noted operating in the Nelson circuit at 1600. It is then believed to have returned to Woodbourne, before heading back to Wigram. The CAA register shows it as being registered to Ashburton Air Services Limited, whose titles are carried on the port side. Pics of the Titan at Wigram can be seen on the NZ Civil blog HERE

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Pacific Blue have increased their Brisbane-Chirstchurch return flights to 11x weekly up from 10, with the introduction of DJ80/81 0935-1600 /1645-1735. This brings the number of flights back to that previously operated, before the sunday morning flight was dropped to allow more flights from Christchurch to Melbourne. The first of these was operated on Saturday 20-Dec-2008 by ZK-PBK Maiden New Zealand. With the introduction of this service, the fleet of 10 aircraft is now fully utalised at all times, during the weekend. This is for the first time since the introduction of the 10th frame to the fleet at the beginning of November.

_______________________________

Christmas and the New Year are upon us and I will be taking a well deserved break over the holiday period, but will be back in the new year.
So to all the followers of this blog a big Thank you for supporting the blog in 2008, and I hope to see you all again in 2009.

Merry Christmas
&
Happy New Year


Feliz Natal
e
Feliz Ano Novo

nzompilot

Further Pacific Blue additions

Pacific Blue have increased their Brisbane-Nadi return flights to 9x weekly, up from daily, with the addition of a Friday and Sunday evening flight.

DJ175 departs Brisbane at 1810 and arrives in Nadi at 2350. The flight overnights before returning to Brisbane as DJ174, departing Nadi at 0705 Saturday and 0630 Monday, arriving into Brisbane at 0915 and 0840 respectively. All times local.

The first of the new DJ175 flights operated tonight Friday 19-Dec-2008 with the honours going to ZK-PBI Lady Rebecca.

Additions, subtractions and movements

Friday 19-Dec-2008
Arriving into Woodbourne from Ohakea was RNZAF B200 King Air NZ1881, after a short stay it departed for Christchurch. Fellow King Air NZ1884 was also heard heading to Christchurch.

____________________________________
Qantas News

The Sydney-Wellington 73H service QF117/48 has concluded, with the service reverting back to the regular Jetconnect 734. It was initially supposed to conclude on Tuesday 16-Dec-2008, but the final service was QF117 on Wednesday 17-Dec-2008. From 8-14 Dec the service was operated by VH-VXA, from 15-17 Dec the service was operated by VH-VXL. VXL then positioned back to Sydney on Thursday 18-Dec-2008 as QF6038.

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Air National News

Air National took delivery of BAe 146-200 C-GRNX on Monday 15-Dec-2008, with the aircraft arriving from Anchorage with stops in Adak, Midway Island, Honolulu, Christmas Island, Apia and Tonga.

It is expected that the 146 will take up registration ZK-ECO. With the arrival of ECO the Air National airline fleet is now 6, joining BAe J32EP's ZK-ECI, J, N, P, R.

The J32s operate in the Air New Zealand Link network, although it is expected ECO will not operate for Air New Zealand, but remain as an Air National charter aircraft.

Air Nationals fleet also consits of Piper PA-23-250 ZK-ECM, and they operate the following corporate jets on behalf of their owners, Gulfstream G200 ZK-RGB, Gulfstream GIV ZK-KFB and Westwind II ZK-RML. They also have helicopters available.

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Vincent Aviation News

Vincent Aviation's New Zealand fleet currently consists of the following aircraft, Beech 1900D ZK-VAB, Dash 8-100 ZK-VAC, Beech 1900C ZK-VAE and Reims/Cessna F406 ZK-VAF. The 2 1900s and the Dash 8 had been operated in the Air New Zealand Link network, but this contract has now ended, and the F406 was operating for Civil Aviation in an airfield calibration role.

ZK-VAF was noted departing Auckland on 23-Oct-2008 heading to Norfolk Island, before being noted in Noumea, Honiara and Port Vila. I can't find any record of VAF returning form this trip, and it is rumoured that VAF has been sold.
A former Origin Pacific J31 has undergone maintenance and a repaint in preperation to operate for Vincent, believed to be in the airfield calibration role. It is believed to be ZK-JSH, although work has been noted on at least 2 of the 3 J31s.

1900C ZK-VAE departed Auckland for Norfolk Island and Brisbane on 04-Sept-2008 bound for Myanmar on a six month contract. It is not know if VAE will return to NZ or head for Vincent's Darwin base, at the completion of the contract.

1900D ZK-VAB is possibly also heading for the Darwin base, but this is unconfirmed, as it is required at the Wellington base for a few charters in the new year, and may remain in Wellington for charter work.

Dash-8-102 ZK-VAC has been reported as heading for a contract in either Vanuatu or Darwin, but this also needs to be confirmed. It has been noted as missing from the Wellington base for a while, but I have not found any noting of it leaving the country.

9-12 Decmeber

Tuesday 9-Dec-08
A day of medical transfers with Christchurch based New Zealand Flying Doctors Service C441 ZK-NFD operating CHC-BHE-CHC and Wellington based Life Flight Trust Metroliner III ZK-LFT operating WLG-BHE-WLG.

Wednesday 10-Dec-08
College 47 a training aircraft from Motueka based Nelson Aviation College operated in the Marlbourough region including a touch and go at Woodbourne.

Noted passing overhead Marlborough was Piper PA-31 ZK-MJF of Helicopter Services (BOP) Ltd flying from Christchurch to Taupo.

The rest of the day was dominated by the RNZAF.
Airtrainers were prevelent with NZ1987, NZ1992, and NZ1993 operating in the Marlborough region from Woodbourne. They were noted doing aerobatics just off the coast of Blenheim in Cloudy Bay. NZ1993 was also noted transmitting the following code DFLSPRL.

Arriving into Woodbourne from Ohakea was Iroquoi NZ3806. Also arriving during the afternoon was an unknown C-130 Hercules.

Thursday 11-Dec-08
A mid afternoon movement was a very low high speed pass over Blenheim from an unknown P-3K Orion of the RNZAF

Friday 12-Dec-08
Arriving between 0700 and 0800 was Life Flight Trust Metroiner III ZK-LFT.

The mid afternoon slience was shattered with the low, fast pass over Blenheim of Auckland based Aero L-29 ZK-VAU. VAU had arrived from parts north and was heading for parts South. Photos of the Woodbourne stop can be found on Gavin's blog HERE.

QF & PB Firsts

Pacific Blue
As mentioned on an earlier enttry, the AKL-MEL and AKL-RAR flights have increased services. The first AKL-MEL friday afternoon flight on 5-December-08 was operated by ZK-PBM Kiwi Ana which also operated the first Saturday afternoon service on 6-December-08. This takes AKL-MEL return to 9x weekly.

The first of the new Sunday afternoon services to Rarotonga on 7-December-08 was operated by ZK-PBG Bewitching Broome. This takes AKL-RAR return to 3x weekly.

Qantas/Jetconnect
The new MEL-WLG-MEL routed, 73H operated, late afternoon arrival, early evening departure, QF37/38, began yesterday. This previously operated as QF38/37 WLG-MEL-WLG with a mix of 733 and 734s and morning and afternoon departures. The first flight was operated yesterday 8-December-08 with Qantas 73H VH-VZC Innisfail, operated by Jetconnect.

Yesterday there was also a change in the double daily QF118/47 and QF48/117 services WLG-SYD-WLG. QF118 was cancelled and QF47/48/117 was operated by VH-VXA Broome. It has been noted that the 73H will continue to operate on the 48/117 service until 16-December-08 with 118/47 remaining as a mix of 733 & 734 aircraft, with the exception of the two weekend services which will also operate with 73H.

It is pleasing to note the aircraft will remain on the ground in WLG between its late night QF117 arrival, and its mid afternoon QF48 departure. This should make for some good photo oportunities of this aircraft and also the 73H operating the MEL flight arriving at a good time (hint, hint Rodney, looking forward to seeing photos of the 73H in Wellington on your blog)

08 December

Monday 8-Dec-2008
A busy day for medical flights today in Marlborough. Rushing to the Seddon scene of a car accident were 2 rescue helicopters. Wellington based Westpac Rescue BK-117 ZK-HLF and Nelson based Summit Rescue AS 350BA ZK-HQT both then transported the seriously injured to Wairau hospital here in Blenheim.

Also operating a medical transfer into Woodbourne was Nelson based Flight Corporation Piper PA-34-200T ZK-TSD. This operated Nelson-Blenheim-Nelson

Noted flying over Marlborough this morning was Glufstream G450 N851GG. This was departing NZ from Christchurch heading to Nadi Fiji. N851GG arrived in the country on 01-Dec-08 into Auckland from Sydney, on 04-Dec-08 it flew from Auckland to Wellington and yesterday 07-Dec-08 it flew to Christchurch. The aircraft carried singers John Mellencamp and Sheryl Crowe on their 3 stop NZ tour.

Out & About 5-6 December

Friday 5-Dec-08
Noted flying in the central New Zealand region today were

Airpost/Sky Link Metoliner III ZK-POE operated by Airwork (NZ) Ltd, flying to Nelson from Palmerston North

National Business Review Cessna 501 Citation N800DT passed over Marlborough on an Ardmore - Christchurch - Ardmore flight.

Arriving into Woodbourne during the morning was RNZAF KingAir NZ1881 from Ohakea.

Flying for the first time in about 2.5years was Pat Donovan's Lockheed 12A Junior Electra NC14999. This is Omaka based and has been undergoing restoration with JEM Aviation here at Omaka. (This can be seen below, second photo down in the Omaka Radials post)

Saturday 6-Dec-08
Lockheed 12A NC14999 was also up and flying this morning - noted doing circuits at Omaka. Photos of its first flight yeasterday can be seen on Gavin Conroys blog here

Jetconnect Domestic reductions

Futher to the post on the domestic reductions by Qantas/Jetconnect.

The first round of reductions occur from this weekend Sunday 07 December 2008 with the reduction of the following services.

Auckland - Wellington -2 services weekdays, -2 services Saturdays
Auckland - Christchurch -3 services weekdays, -1 service Saturdays, -2 services Sundays
Wellington - Auckland -2 services weekdays, -1 service Saturdays
Christchurch - Auckland -1 service weekdays, -1 service Saturdays, -2 services Sundays

The second round of reductions occurs from 17 January 2009 with the following futher reductions

Auckland - Wellington -1 service Saturdays
Wellington - Auckland -1 weekday service
Christchurch - Queenstown return -1 weekday service
Christchurch - Rotorua -1 service Saturday & Sunday

Some points to note are Christchurch - Rotorua return drops from daily to 5x week with the loss of the weekend services.
Christchurch - Queenstown services drop from 14x weekly to 9x weekly with the loss of the morning flight on weekdays.
Auckland to Wellington drops from 7x daily to 5x daily with no flights between 0830 and 1600 in both directions.

Helicopter Crash

This morning 3rd December Marlborough Helicopters Robinson R22 Beta ZK-HWF c/n3612 rolled over upon landing.

The R22 had been undertaking a Possum operation, involving dropping possum bait stations on hilly country in the Awatere Valley. It was attempting to land on uneven ground near the Black Birch stream when the roll over occured.

The two occupants were unhurt and another helicopter returned them to Marlborough Helicopters Omaka base, before the Summit Rescue Helicopter (Aerospatiale AS 350BA ZK-HQT) was called in to retrieve the emergancy beacon from the helicopter.

Omaka Radials

The radial engines were roaring at Omaka today with 6 engines in total out in the sunshine 5 of which roared with life.

Sitting quietly outside the SoundsAero Maintenance hanger during a lull in its maintenance was Red Cat Biplane Adventures Graumman G-164A Ag Cat ZK-CAT


Pat Donovan's Lockheed 12A Junior Electra NC14999 being restored by JEM Aviation spent some time sitting on the field doing engine trials


Also doing some engine run ups was a Boeing Stearman under restoration with Antique Aeroworks


And of course who could forget the guardian of Omaka former Safe Air Bristol Freighter ZK-CPT - also having engine trials to try and solve a dodgy oil temp indication and loss of pressure

More Pacific Blue news

First Services

Brisbane – Apia

The first service departed last night Monday 1 December and was operated by ZK-PBF. It was nice to see the Polynesian Blue liveried plane operate the 1^st flight of this new Polynesian Blue service.

Brisbane – Honiara

The first service departed this morning Tuesday 2 December and was operated by ZK-PBG.

Brisbane – Wellington

The first of the additional summer services to Wellington departed tonight Tuesday 2 December and was operated by ZK-PBK.

Route changes/additions

Auckland – Apia

This route has been increased to daily with the addition of a new Monday service first operated yesterday Monday 1 December by ZK-PBG. The Tuesday service has also changed from a morning to an afternoon departure.

Auckland – Gold Coast Coolangatta

This route has also changed departure time on Tuesday, swapping from afternoon to morning. The first new timed service operated today Tuesday 2 December with ZK-PBA.

Auckland – Melbourne

This has increased from daily to 9x a week return flights with the addition of afternoon return flights on Friday and Saturdays. The first of these flights will operate this Friday 5 December

Auckland – Rarotonga

This route now operates 3x weekly with the addition of a Sunday service, the first of which will depart on Sunday 7 December.

Brisbane – Auckland

Brisbane to Auckland increased to 11x weekly with the addition of a Wednesday morning flight which began on the 24^th September and was operated by ZK-PBG.

Christchurch – Melbourne

This has increased from 3 to 5x weekly with the addition of Tuesday and Sunday flights. The Tuesday flights began on 7 October with ZK-PBD operating the flight, while the Sunday flight began on 5 December with the flight being operated by ZK-PBA.

The Tuesday addition came about due to the following flight changes CHC-SYD-NAN-SYD-CHC was replaced by AKL-SYD-NAN-SYD-AKL allowing the Christchurch based aircraft to operated CHC-MEL-CHC-SYD-CHC

The Sunday CHC-MEL-CHC flight replaced a CHC-BNE-CHC flight.

Qantas news

Qantas Jetconnect are about to undergo some serious changes.

Domestic Reductions
Jetconnect currently operate 34 flights M, Th, F, 35 Tu, W 28 Sa and 26 on Su

From 6 December they reduce by up to 8 flights a day. They then reduce by another 2-4 flights per day from 17 Jan 09.

International Flights
Jetconnect operate International flights from Wellington and also Auckland.

Auckland - Brisbane/Melbourne
From Nov 11 QF116/115 AKL-BNE-AKL and QF134/133 AKL-MEL-AKL which is normally operated by a QF 738 is now operated by a Jetconnect 734 with ZK-JTP operating QF116/115 and then QF134/133 was operated by ZK-JTR this will return to the Qantas 738 around March.

Wellington - Brisbane
WLG-BNE-WLG flights QF58/57 operate on Saturday and Sundays, currently the Saturday flight is an afternoon/night flight, while the Sunday flight is a morning flight. From this weekend 6/7 December the flight will be in the afternoon both days.

Wellington - Melbourne
WLG-MEL-WLG flights QF38/37 operate daily using a mix of Jetconnect B733/4 aircraft. Tu, F, Sa morning flights and M, W, Th, Su afternoon/evening flights. From this weekend they change. Weekend flights will operate in the morning WLG-MEL-WLG using Jetconnect 733/4s.
Weekday flights from Monday 8 December will now operate during the middle of the day MEL-WLG-MEL using QF738s operated by Jetconnect.

Air New Zealand news

Enough has been written on the tragic loss of Air New Zealand Airbus A320 ZK-OJL (D-AXLA) without me needing to dwell on it. So all I can do is offer my condolences to the familes and colleagues of the 7 who have lost their lives.

Southern Hemisphere Summer Schedule Changes
As usual there have been changes in the Air New Zealand schedule for the summer.

Noted so far are:

Auckland - Adelaide
This route NZ821/822 has resumed daily operation up from 5 x weekly in the winter season.

Auckland-Los Angeles-London Heathrow
This flight NZ1/2 has had a capacity reduction from a daily 744 to a dailly 772.

Auckland - Osaka Kansai
About the same time that NZ1/2 changed to the 772 the AKL-KIX route changed from a 772 to a 763. It remains a 5x weekly service. The return KIX-AKL flights offer several different options. The Wednesday and Thursday flights route via Tokyo Narita, the friday flight is direct and the Saturday and Sunday flights route via Christchurch.
The 4 AKL-NRT flights remain 772, with 3 of the return flights operarting via Christchurch, the fourth being direct.

Pacific Blue news

Pacific Blue have recently upped their fleet numbers from 7 to 10 Boeing 737-8FEs. In addition they have increased their flight numbers and added several new destinations. Brisbane has been a big winner of new services with Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, Nadi and Apia also receiving increases, with Adelaide, Perth, Port Moresby, Denpasar and Honiara being added to the list of destinations served.

Fleet additions
ZK-PBK Maiden New Zealand – entered service with Pacific Blue on Saturday 9 August as DJ62 from Melbourne to Christchurch. PBK is new build and was delivered to Melbourne as VH-VUP but did not enter service with Virgin Blue before its Pacific Blue service.

ZK-PBL Canterbury Belle – entered service with Pacific Blue on Tuesday 2nd September as DJ81 Christchurch to Brisbane. PBL is also new build and was allocated VH-VUQ but this was not taken up.

ZK-PBM Kiwi Ana – entered service with Pacific Blue on Sunday 2 November as DJ82 from Brisbane to Christchurch after having positioned to Brisbane from Melbourne. PBM was formerly VH-VUO Blueissima with Virgin Blue before its transfer to Pacific Blue.

Route additions
Wellington – Brisbane
This route has been upgraded from 5 to 8 flights a week for the summer season. Flights now operate daily with a double daily on Friday.

Auckland – Melbourne
This route was launched in September by ZK-PBL and operates daily in the morning.

Auckland – Sydney
This route was launched in October operated by ZK-PBI and operates 9 times a week. Daily morning departures, and a second afternoon flight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Brisbane – Port Moresby
This route started on Monday November 3rd and was operated by ZK-PBA. This is operated 4 times weekly on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sundays.

Brisbane/Adelaide/Perth – Denpasar
The new Bali routes began on Thursday 27 November operated by Virgin Blue aircraft VH-VUN Madelaide, operated in full Pacific Blue livery. These flights offer Live 2 Air TV and Premium Economy service. The route structure is
MON: DPS-ADL-DPS-PER-DPS(arr TUES)
TUES:DPS-BNE-DPS-BNE(arr WEDS)
WEDS:BNE-DPS-PER-DPS(arr THURS)
THURS:DPS-BNE-DPS-ADL(overnight)
FRI: ADL-DPS-PER-DPS(arr SAT)
SAT: DPS-BNE-DPS-BNE(arr SUN)
SUN: BNE-DPS-PER-DPS(arr MON)

Brisbane – Honiara
This service is scheduled to begin tomorrow Tuesday 2 December and will operate twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday

Brisbane – Apia
This service is scheduled to begin tonight Monday 1 December and will operate only once a week departing Brisbane Monday evening and arriving back early Tuesday morning.

Sydney – Nadi
This service went daily on the introduction of the AKL-SYD service.

Additional Auckland to the Pacific Island services have been added with the addition of the Melbourne and Sydney flights.

Changes to Blog

The scope of this blog is about to change slightly.

Since I started this blog earlier this year I have focused solely on the Marlborough Aviation scene, and also movements noted in the central New Zealand area.

While this has been great I feel its now time to add some more of what Im interested in, with the introduction of news related to New Zealand based airlines.

November 15-30

It has been a while since any updates here on the blog. Unfortunately I have been busy and haven’t been able to monitor all movements as they occurred. Movements noted around Marlborough since the last post have included:

Saturday 22-Nov-2008

Pionair Aviation Convair VH-PAL on a tourist flight. PAL either originated or departed to Wellington, as it was noticed there during the day. This is believed to be the first visit of PAL to Woodbourne since its shift from the New Zealand register to the Australian register.

Thursday 27-Nov-2008

Cessna Citation Mustang ZK-MUS arrived into Woodbourne around 1730local from Dunedin. It is believed it returned to its Wellington home base VFR.

Sunday 30-Nov-2008

CTC Diamond DA-42 Twin Star ZK-CTI arrived from Wellington before continuing to Nelson. This was part of a cross country flight that routed Hamilton-Wellington-Woodbourne-Nelson-Palmerston North-Hamilton.

RNZAF

There has been steady RNZAF activity in the time frame with several Beech King Air arrival and departures. There have also been several Airtrainer arrival and departures and at least one C130 Hercules arrival and departure.

Correction + 14th November

A correction to yesterdays post - DC3 ZK-AMY in fact departed Woodbourne on track north heading to Palmerston North for servicing at Fieldair.

Friday 14-Nov-2008
A busy day for Life Flight Trust today with ZK-LFT in Woodbourne during the early part of the morning and ZK-NSS at Nelson in the later part of the morning. LFT operated to and from Wellington as LFT01 while NSS operated to and from Auckland as LFT02.

more from 12 November + 13th

More Wednesday 12-Nov-2008
Two of this mornings movements were also noted during the afternoon, making for a busy day of medical transfers.

Flight Corp Piper PA-34-200T ZK-TSD arrived back into Woodbourne from Nelson as FCP06 before heading for home later in the afternoon.
TSD is noted as having operated NS-WN-WB-NS-WB-NS

New Zealand Flying Doctors Cessna 441 ZK-NFD was spotted heading to Nelson from Christchurch.
NFD is noted as having operated CH-WB-CH-NS-CH

Also noted flying out of Woodbourne was RNZAF Orion NZ4203 which departed for parts north, assumed to be its home at Whenuapai.

Noted tracking down the Marlborough coast from Wellington to Christchurch was Cessna Citation Mustang ZK-MUS

Thursday 13-Nov-2008
Departing Woodbourne at lunchtime was Southern DC3 Trust DC3 ZK-AMY on return to her home base in Canterbury.

Codes used:
CH: Christchurch
NS: Nelson
WB: Woodbourne
WN: Wellington

11-12 November

Tuesday 11-Nov-2008
First up this morning was a single diversion into Woodbourne due to fog in Christchurch. An Air Nelson Q300 operating NZ8479 NPE-CHC diverted to Woodbourne. It departed later in the morning to Christchurch as NZ8961.

CGE12 a Cessna 172R once again operated a training flight in the Woodbourne zone operating MK-WB-MK. It was noticed making approaches to Wodbourne, carrying out missed approaches and holding at the Woodbourne hold point.

A singe noteable RNZAF arrival into Woodbourne today was P3B Orion believed to be NZ4203. This is the first noted Orion arrival in a long time.

Also noted in the area was Piper Malibu N9099Z operating from its Nelson base to New Plymouth.

Wednesday 12-Nov-2008
A few medical flights into Woodbourne today with the first being Garden City Helicopters/New Zealand Flying Doctors Cessna 441 ZK-NFD operating CHC-BHE-CHC.

Then arriving shortly before luchtime was Flight Corp Piper PA-34-200T ZK-TSD which arrived from Wellington as FCP06. TSD was noted operating the following routing NSN-WLG-BHE-NSN

Also arriving shortly before lunch were two RNZAF UH-1H Iroquoi

The star of the day was Southern DC3 Trust DC3C-S1C3G ZK-AMY 'Lady Jane' on her South Island, Legend of the Skies - Heartland Tour. She arrived during the morning and then operated several sight seeing flights during the day from Woodbourne.

Codes Used:
BHE/WB: Woodbourne
CHC: Christchurch
MK: Motueka
NPE: Napier
NSN: Nelson
WLG: Wellington

November already!

Wow its November already where has the year gone? Congratulations to New Zealanders for getting out and voting yesterday, and to the parties that will form the next government. Lets hope they can sort out the mess with the "sale" of the Skyhawk fleet, and the purchase of the new fleets for the Air Force.

Wednesday 05-Nov-08
Arriving from Hastings was Cessna Citation Mustang N2243W - it later departed to Auckland

Friday 07-Nov-08
Noted during the morning was Life Flight Trust Metroliner ZK-LFT operating WN-WB-WN as LFT01

Also operating from WN was Vincent Aviation Beech 1900D ZK-VAB which was noted making the approach to WB then continuing up the Wairau Valley for Training flights.

Another aircraft on training was a Cessna 172R of Nelson Aviation College, this was noted operating MK-WB and then in and around the WB and OM circuts and the WB control zone.

Also noted flying in the area was Piper PA-46-310P Malibu ZK-MBU operating NS-TG.

Codes used in this post:
MK - Motuaka
NS - Nelson
OM - Omaka
TG - Tauranga
WB - Woodbourne
WN - Wellington

24-27 October

Friday 24-Oct-2008
The Royal New Zealand Air Force was busy this morning with at least 5 Airtrainers and 1 Hercules noted flying into base Woodbourne.

• The Airtrainers included NZ1958, NZ1987, NZ1990 & NZ1994

• The Hercules was NZ7005

Also noted flying into Woodbourne during the day were

• Flight Corporation Piper PA-34-200T ZK-TSD operating as Flightcorp 06 on a medical mission NSN-BHE-WLG (Nelson-Blenheim-Wellington)
  
• Arriving from Wanganui was Nelson registered Piper PA-28R-200 ZK-DJA
  

Sunday 26-Oct-2008
Noted arriving in a short period this morning was a flurry of 4 Eagle Air 1900D's, the noteable movement was NZ2921 arriving from Eagle's home base of Hamilton, the other aircraft were on scheduled services.

Also noted flying in and out during the day was Sounds Air Cessna Caravan ZK-TZR still sporting its blue colour scheme. This was reportedly supposed to have been repainted into the standard Sounds Air orange scheme during the preceeding two weeks.

Air New Zealand, Qantas & MacAir

Well I'm back from my trip to Brisbane. Unfortunately time wasn't on my side so I only got to Longreach and didn't get to see any of the other museums I had planned to visit.

I had 8 flights on this trip routing BHE-AKL-BNE-BKQ-LRE-TSV-BNE-AKL-WLG-BHE.

The first flight was NZ8210 BHE-AKL (Blenheim-Auckland) on Air New Zealand Link (Air Nelson) Bombardier Q300 ZK-NEQ.

The second flight was NZ135 AKL-BNE (Auckland Brisbane) on Air New Zealand Boeing 747-4F6 ZK-SUJ - Auckland.

My 3rd flight of the trip was QF2530 BNE-BKQ-LRE (Brisbane-Longreach via Blackall) on Qantas Link (Sunstate Airlines) Bombardier Q300 VH-SBJ.

After my time in Longreach I caught CC143 LRE-TSV (Longreach-Townsville) on MacAir Saab VH-UYF.
This was an interesting flight as it was originally scheduled as a Saab LRE-WIN-TSV (Longreach-Townsville via Winton) it was then downgraded to a Metroliner before being reinstated to a Saab with the departure time moved forwards by 40mins and the Winton stopover cancelled!

After an extended stopover in Townsville I caught QF977 TSV-BNE (Townsville-Brisbane) on Qantas Airways Boeing 737-338 VH-VZC - Innisfail.

My journey home began with NZ136 BNE-AKL (Brisbane-Auckland) on Air New Zealand Boeing 747-419 ZK-NBS - Bay of Islands.

The second leg was NZ467 AKL-WLG (Auckland-Wellington), on board Air New Zealand Boeing 737-319 ZK-NGG.
This flight being delayed 20mins due to the flow on effect of the fire in Wellington Terminal earlier in the afternoon.

The final leg of the trip was NZ2459 WLG-BHE (Wellington-Blenheim) on Air New Zealand Link (Eagle Air) Raytheon Beech 1900D ZK-EAJ.
This flight was over half an hour late also due to the flow on effects from the fire.

08-12 October + Updates

Wednesday 08-Oct-2008
Arriving into Woodbourne from Wellington early evening was Airwork/Air Post F27 ZK-POH. Pics of POH in WLG can be seen on Rodney's Blog

Thursday 09-Oct-2008
Frost was forcast for the next morning so during the evening the air was alive with the sound of the frost fighting helicopters arriving from all over the country. Pics of some of these can be found on Gavin's Blog or here.

Updates
The next 10 days may not include any updates as I'm off on holiday spotting in AKL and BNE/south east QLD with trips to the Qantas Outback Founders Museum, at Longreach and the Queensland Air Museum, at Caloundra - I may get a chance to upload a few pics from there, but there wont be any updates from Marlborough. I highly recommend you view the following blogs for updates in the NZ scene until my return :)
MRC Aviation
CAP Photography
Rodney's Aviation Ramblings
NZ Civil Aircraft

08 October

Wednesday 08-Oct-2008

Arriving into Woodbourne at 0900 was Brenzil Falcon 2000EX VH-CRW. It arrived from Napier and continued on later in the day to Queenstown. VH-CRW is a regular visitor to Blenheim with the owners having vineyard interests here.

07 October

Tuesday 07-Oct-2008
Weather woes again today across the country. Fligths into and out of Wellington were cancelled all morning due to gale force North Westerly winds. And fligths into and out of Queenstown were cancelled due to low cloud, rain and snow.

Aircraft that did depart bound for Wellington this morning were forced to divert. Jet flights were noted diverting to Palmerston North and Christchuch or returning to either Christchurch or Auckland. Prop flights were noted diverting to Palmerston North, Christchurch, Nelson and Woodbourne.

The diversions into Woodbourne were:

• NZ2300 TIU-WLG a 1900D

• NZ2261 WAG-WLG a J32

• NZ2191 WRE-WLG a 1900D

The following relocation/repostitioning and extra capacity flights were noted:

• NZ2915 BHE-WSZ - the J32 which departed as National32
• NZ2946 BHE-WRE - 1900D
• NZ2948 BHE-WLG - 1900D
• Also scheduled was NZ2307 WLG-BHE-TIU this was continually pushed back until the BHE-TIU leg was cancelled. It finally departed WLG for BHE around 1340 as Eagle907.

It has been raised that some people reading these posts are not up to play with ICAO/IATA codes and other aviation jargon used in my posts, so for their benefit (and those outside of NZ) codes used in this post
BHE - Blenheim/Woodbourne
TIU - Timaru
WAG - Wanganui
WLG - Wellington
WRE - Whangarei
WSZ - Westport

05-06 October

Sunday 05-Oct-2008
Departing early after their overnight at Woodbourne, were the two RAAF C130Js A97-450 & A97-467.

A97-467 then returned during the evening.

Monday 06-Oct-2008

Air New Zealand Link flight NZ8019 AKL-BHE was cancelled this morning. Instead a Q300 arrived from Wellington at 1010 as NZ8941 before flying the NZ8018 BHE-AKL service delayed by almost an hour.

A97-467 departed Woodbourne at 1030.

3-4 October

Friday 03-Oct-2008
Cessna Caravan ZK-TZR entered Sounds Air service as Sounds Air Romeo on the evening WLG-NSN-WLG flight (SA77/78)

Saturday 04-Oct-2008
Eagle Air 1900D ZK-EAD carried out a test/training flight in the Blenheim area between 1200 and 1230 today.

Arriving into Woodbourne between 1900 and 1930 were two RAAF C130s. First in was A97-450 in the new dark grey c/s, followed by A97-467 in the light grey c/s. They had departed Christchurch an hour earlier having arrived there earlier in the afternoon.

01 - 03 October

Wednesday 01-Oct-2008
Operating into and around Woodbourne were RNZAF airtrainers NZ1987, NZ1997 & NZ1995

Also operating in the airspace above the field was Iroquoi NZ3814

Thursday 02-Oct-2008
The RNZAF training fleet in and around Woodbourne grew today with up to 7 airtrainers operating in the region. the following were noted at Woodbourne through out the day. NZ1987, NZ1990, NZ1993, NZ1994 & NZ1997.

Iroquoi NZ3814 was once again noted operating above Woodbourne.

Other movements in the area were former ZK-KLC now ZK-TZT and ZK-TZR. Sounds Air GA8 Airvan KLC had been for sale for some time and on 23-Sept it was registered as TZT. it departed Koromiko today for Taupo believed to be on delivery to Iszard Pacific Aviation. Sounds Air are to replace the Airvan with another Cessna Caravan.
Iszard Pacific Aviation Caravan ZK-TZR arrived into and departed from Omaka to/from Taupo during the afternoon.

Friday 03-Oct-2008
Iroquoi NZ3814 once again was operating overhead Woodbourne.

Two airtrainers were noted still on the ground at Woodbourne early afternoon.

Arriving from and departing to CHC early afternoon was Garden City Helicopters / New Zealand Flying Doctors C421B ZK-KFB on a medical transfer.

Also noted arriving early afternoon was Pionair Convair 340 VH-PDX making landfall in the country after a direct flight from Sydney to Palmerston North.

Arriving into Woodbourne at 1300 was Iszard Pacific C208 Caravan ZK-TZR. It had arrived with two ferry pilots on board, before departing to Wellington at 1330. It is believed that this is bound for Sounds Air.

24-27 Sept 08 - UPDATED

24-Sept-08
Operating into and out of Woodbourne after dark was an unidentified RNZAF C130 Hercules.

25-Sept-08
Another RNZAF C130 Hercules was noted operating in the Woodbourne control zone before heading for the west coast, during the morning.

An RNZAF UH-1H Iroquoi was noted operating overhead Woodbourne during the morning.

During the afternoon Life Flight Trust BK117 B-2 ZK-HLF was noted doing training in and around Woodbourne and the control zone.

26-Sept-08
The first note of the day was an RNZAF King Air NZ1885 which arrived at 1000. It departed half an hour later for Ohakea.

Noted on the ground at Woodbourne this afternoon was Air Freight New Zealand Convair ZK-KFL. It appears this has been in at Safe Air since its arrival on 10-Sept-08. The pilots for this were noted arriving on NZ2473 from Wellington. KFL departed for Auckland shortly before 1600 as AFN694.

Also noted were two Airwork/Airpost Fokker F27 Frienship's ZK-POH and ZK-PAX. This is unusual as normally only one F27 day stops at Woodbourne.

It also seems that Air New Zealand travel from Blenheim may finally be being dragged into the 21st century, with the noting of two automatic ticket readers being installed at the gates inside the terminal. This will hopefully mean an end to the old dot matrix printed boarding passes, and the hand checking of passenger tickets/mainfest as they board the aircraft. This should hopefully make things easier for the few Blenheim passengers who choose to use online check in as well.

Arriving around 1440 VFR from WLG was Cessna C525 Citation Mustang ZK-MUS


Also arriving around 1450 was RNZAF airtrainer NZ1996

24-Sept-2008

The day started with a Beech 1900D operating NZ2300 from Timaru to Wellington stopping into Woodbourne. It arrived around 0830 before continuing onto Wellington around 0845/0850. NZ2300 TIU-BHE-WLG

Today Marlborough laid to rest one of its rugby greats with the Tangi & Funeral of Jim Joesph. Jim was part of the great Red Devils team of the eary 70s when Marlborough won the Ranfurley Shield. Jim's son Jamie also a great rugby palyer emulated his fathers feats when he coached Wellington to last weekends 27-0 demolition of Auckland. Today the Wellington Lion's honored Jim by bringing the shield to the funeral. The team and shield arrived at lunchtime on Vincent Aviation Dash 8-102 ZK-VAC operating as VAL810. VAC then returned to Wellington also as VAL810. It then arrived back into Woodbourne around 2030 also as VAL810.

Also noted was a 1900D operating Wellington to Woodbourne as NZ2901

Battle of Britain

Sunday September 14 2008 marked the annual rememberance services for the Battle of Britain. In Blenheim this was, as most war rememberances are, held in front of the memorial clock tower in Seymour Sqaure, central Blenheim. A flyover was staged at 11am to commence the service. This was carried out by dH82A Tiger Moth ZK-BER c/n844 owned by a local Omaka based syndicate.

Convair's & Poll

On the subject of Convair's there are only 5 on the Australian register all with Pionair, 3 are Convair 340/580s and 2 are 440/580s.

New Zealand has a large population of Convairs operated by Air Freight New Zealand and Air Chathams. There are 3x 340/580s, 1x 340/5800, and 5x 440/580s. Air Chathams operate 4 of the 440/580s while AFNZ operate the rest.

POLL TIME
Air Freight New Zealand is progressivly repainting its fleet of Convairs into its slightly modified colour scheme. This involves removing the red and blue cheat lines, and slightly tweaking the look of the titles and the logo on the tail. The old scheme is seen below on ZK-KFH with the new scheme seen on ZK-KFL. I personally think the new scheme is too dull and boring - what are the thoughts of others out there, please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts on the change.

ZK-KFH in old c/s

ZK-KFL in new c/s

11-Sept-08 Another Convair

Arriving during the afternoon from Christchurch was Pionair Convair 580 VH-PAL. This Convair had been on the NZ register as ZK-PAL until 18-August-08 when it moved to the Australian register. Pionair Austalia now have 5 convairs in their fleet, with VH-PAL, PDL, PDV, PDW & PDX

More diversions and a Convair

Today it was Christchurch's turn to spend the early part of the day closed, due to fog. The following diversions and repositioning flights were noted around the country, as a result.

• NZ6842 an A320 repositioning CHC-WLG to operate an afternoon International departure
• NZ6846 another A320 repositioning from CHC to ZQN to operate later in the afternoon to Melbourne
• NZ6832 a 733 operating from WLG-AKL
• NZ2912 a 1900D arriving into Woodbourne from Hokitika
• NZ6734 another 733 operating from CHC-AKL

Also noted today were:

• Airwork Fairchild Metroliner III ZK-POE operating WLG-DUD
• RNZAF Airtrainer NZ1989 arriving into Woodbourne from Ohakea as Trainer Eight Nine
• And arriving into Woodbourne at 1130 was Air Freight New Zealand Convair 580 ZK-KFL from AKL as AFN699

Diversion Central

Low cloud in Nelson caused a slew of diversions into Woodbourne.

• The first was last nights Q300 operating NZ8369 from AKL. It departed this morning to Wellington as NZ8952

• The first diversion this morning was an Eagle Air 1900D operating HLZ-NSN{BHE} as NZ2181. It continued later on to PMR as NZ2928

• The second arrival of the morning was a Q300 operating CHC-NSN{BHE} as NZ8250 it returned to CHC as NZ8965

• Next in was another Q300 operating AKL-NSN{BHE} as NZ8373 it then returned to Auckland as NZ8966

• The last arrival of the morning was also a Q300 from AKL operating as NZ8375 before returning to AKL as NZ8972

It wasn't only Nelson effected by weather with a couple of Qantas diversions noted nationally.

Yesterday B737-376 ZK-JNC operating QF2782 CHC-ROT diverted to AKL before positioning back to CHC as QF6171.
Today B737-476 ZK-JTQ operating QF2791 AKL-ZQN diverted to IVC and then repositioned back to AKL as QF6172.

NZ8369

Air Nelson flight NZ8369 AKL-NSN diverted into Woodbourne arriving about 2115.

N2243W

A brief ray of brightness in an otherwise dull, grey, wet, wintery, horrible day here in Blenheim, was the arrival around 1130am of C510 Citation Mustang N2243W


Also on the ground was Nelson based Flight Corporation Limited Piper PA-34-200T ZK-TSD operating a medical flight. It departed shortly before midday to Nelson as FCP06

05-Sept-08

This mornings Air Nelson Q300 service AKL-BHE-AKL NZ8019/018 was cancelled.
Also noted this morning was Vincent Aviation Dash-8-102 ZK-VAC which operated WLG-BHE-WLG as NZ8963/964. Possibly with displaced passengers from the cancelled service that were re-routed through WLG.

A few long flights

A few long flights were noted this afternoon

• air2there.com Piper PA-31 ZK-WHW arrived into Woodbourne around 1630 after having flown from Invercargill.
• air2there.com Piper PA-31-350 ZK-MYS was alson noted flying from Invercargill this time back to Wellington
• also making a long flight from Invercargill was Lifeflight Trust/Airwork air ambulance Metroliner III ZK-NSS, this was noted operating back to base in Auckland
  
• noted making a long over water flight was Vincent Aviation Beech 1900C ZK-VAE flying internationally from Auckland to Norfolk Island
• also noted a long way from home in the Norfolk Island area was Cessna 206H VH-UTQ of UTS Geophysics from Belmont in Western Australia

On a shorter flight but also noteable was an A320 operating in the CHC area as NZ6313 CHC-CHC. This was a test flight of the first A320 to have the new space+ and IFE fitted ZK-OJN, which was supposed to have been completed in August.

03-Sept-08

A few movements noticed during the early afternoon

• Airwork (NZ) Ltd Metroliner III ZK-POB operating CHC-AKL
• Air National Corporate IAI 1124A Westwind ZK-RML operating AKL-CHC
• Airwork/Lifeflight Trust Metroliner III ZK-LFT operating WLG-HLZ

Also noted was Qantas/Jetconnect Boeing 737-376 ZK-JNB which was on the scheduled QF2791 AKL-ZQN. This flight diverted to Invercargill with the return leg (QF2792 ZQN-AKL) cancelled. JNB then operated IVC-AKL as QF6172.

ZK-CPT lives agaian

As mentioned in previous blogs the only remaining Safe Air Bristol B170 Freighter in Marlborough ZK-CPT (seen above) has been given a new lease of life. For several months the spearhead of the project, Al Marshall has been fighting with a very reluctant and seized starboard engine. Over the weekend he finally got that problem fixed and the engine is now running smoothly. This enabled both engines to be run together on Sunday evening. CPT is now the only running Bristol Freighter in the world.

More details on this remarkable project can be found on the following forum

CPT is planned to display taxiiing under her own power at Classic Fighters Airshow at Omaka at Easter 2009. futher plans for her according to Al are

Friends of the Bristol plan on public running events every two months until Easter. There are a few of us that are also keen for a night run that should show off the effect of 28 short straight exhausts. The cowls for a good metre or so behind the exhausts are steel so I imagine the flames should be quite impressive. There is a certain rpm that the Hercules have a very distinctive note that is quite unexpected from a twin row radial. It is almost a brrrrp, brrrrp, brrrrp type sound that that almost sounds comical when they are both doing it together. I will try and quantify the cost of a ground run so that they might happen on demand from interested groups. The AHC has the odd tourbus load go through the museum and if enough interest is shown by those visitors, they can have a fully 'interactive' visit to Omaka.

From the "what the ...?" file

20-August-08
Beech Duke N60TE continued on its journey south heading to Dunedin.

30-August-08
From the what the...? file comes the following two aircraft noted this morning. Something wasn't quite right with the destionations they were showing!

• Cessna 152 ZK-FGU of Rick Lucas Helicopters was noted operating over the top of the sounds while apparently tracking to ESOL (Storvik-Lemstanas, Sweden) a rather long flight for a little plane.
  
• Piper PA-28-181 ZK-FJT of Canterbury Aero Club was noted operating off the south coast of Wellington and appeantly tracking to FEAR, was the student that bad and the instructor wrorried?
  

Tuesday 19-Aug-08

2 points of interest today

RNZAF Boeing 757-2K2 NZ7571 (cn 26633/519) arrived into Woodbourne mid afternoon on its nationwide tour showing off the modifications it has recently had.

Arriving into Woodbourne from Tauranga at dusk was Beech B60 Duke N60TE. (cn P361) It arrived into the country last month and has spent most of its time at Ardmore.

NSN WX Diversions

Woodbourne was the diversion point this afternoon with two Air Nelson Q300 flights diverting here due to weather at their intended destination of Nelson.

• ZK-NES operating NZ8131 WLG-NSN was the first to arrive at around 1713, it then positioned back to WLG as NZ8950 at 1755

• ZK-NEH operaring NZ8367 AKL-NSN was the second diversion arriving at 1730, it then positioned back to AKL as NZ8952 at 1820

Friday 08-August-08

An Air Nelson Q300 operated a charter flight into and out of Woodbourne today. It arrived just after 1100 as NZ8905 before repositioning to Auckland as NZ8988. It later positioned back to Woodbourne as NZ8987 before operating the return leg of the charter NZ8906 back to Auckland at 1700.
It is believed the charter was connected to the opening of a new multi millon dollar winery here in Marlborough.

With the morning arrival of the Q300 and a delay to the scheduled NZ8018 Woodbourne witnessed the rare occurance of 2 Q300s on the ground together, albeit only briefly as NZ8018 departed shortly after the arrival of NZ8905

Also arriving into Woodbourne mid afternoon was an RNZAF Hercules operating under the call sign Kiwi 175

NOTED

• Lakeland Helicopter Ltd Cessna 425 Conquest ZK-LAL operating Taupo-Hokitika

• air2there.com Cessna 208B Grand Caravan ZK-MYH returning to Paraparaumu from Hamilton

Runway Damage.

Delays and disruptions occured at Woodbourne on Monday 04-August-08 between 1000 and 1500 due to weather related runway damage.

An inspection crew checking reports of a dead bird on the runway discovered that a patch of tarmac had broken up. An Air New Zealand pilot also reported the damaged tarmac to the control tower. A series of palm-sized chunks of tarmac had come loose in a less than one metre square section of the runway. The cracking was believed to be caused by last week's flooding.

Contractors resealed a 2m by 3.7m section of the runway.

A local Eagle Air pilot commented...

I was at Woodbourne yesterday when the hole was discovered. The tarmac was cracked and broken a couple of feet out from the centre line of the runway. It felt like cake icing as we were able to crack off the inch thick runway surface and expose the gravel base underneath.

The delay was more of a nuisance than anything as crews and passengers were either delayed or roaded across to Nelson.

Marlborough Express story on this

Wind, Rain, cancellations - a wild week

Its been a wild week with strong wind, heavy rain and flooding all over the country. This has heavily effected the flight schedules in Marlborough this week.

One notible change on Friday 1-Aug-08 was the cancellation of NZ2123/124 BHE-CHE-BHE due to the aircraft being stuck in Wellington. It positioned into Blenheim as NZ2915 at 0910. NZ8960 itself a positioning flight from CHC-NSN was cancelled and instead NZ8962 operated CHC-BHE-NSN arriving at 1020, to clear the passengers stranded in CHC.

Also noted operating during daylight hours was Airwork (NZ) Ltd - AirPost Fokker F27 ZK-PAX operating under its usual BHE-WLG-AKL Post20 call sign operating several flights to WLG, AKL and CHC to move mail around that was stranded due to the closure of SH1, and other weather related roading problems.

To show how much rain fell in Marlborough on Weds 30-July-08 the below photo shows the stream at the end of runway 24 at Woodbourne. In the 20 odd years I've been in Marlborough I only remember seeing water in it maybe twice and never ever this much - to show its strength the bridge shown is usually paralell to the road next to the road bridge not several meters down stream facing the same way as the stream!

(Gavin Conroy photo - www.capphotography.photopic.net)

Tuesday 22-July-08

Vincent Aviation Beech 1900C ZK-VAE operated into and out of Woodbourne during the morning as Victor Alpha Echo.

Omaka based, former Vincent Aviation Cessna 402C ZK-VAD now of Skyline Trust, departed Omaka mid morning on route to Tauranga.

14-20 July 2008

Not too much happening this week.

Several training and cross country flights noted, with aircraft from Christchurch, Kapiti and Palmerston North floating around during the week.

Air Force movements included King Air's, Hercules, Airtrainers, and Iroquoi's. On Thursday Woodbourne hosted All Black captain Ritchie McCaw who travelled in the Airtrainer and Iroquoi.

Also noted twice this week was ZK-NFD operating medical missions to and from Christchurch.

Not much impact from the Air Nelson ALPA pilot's strike on schedules with only two flights effected on friday and two on sunday. One of the friday fights was replaced by an Air National Jetstream.

Noted Saturday 19 July operating to Tauranga from Wellington was Sounds Air 208B Cessna Caravan ZK-SAA.