Weekend Ops and Wellington

Ops at Woodbourne 05-Apr-08
N127SF departed WB for Christchurch, before departing to Hobart and Launceston
And NBR C500 N800DT operated thru WB arriving from Ardmore before continuing to Dunedin

Wellington Notes
04-Apr-08 NZ2292 J32 ZK-ECN reasonible flight from WB-WN turbulent over the coast and Cloudy Bay and on finals for 34 at WN but reasonable flight none the less.

04-Apr-08 Logged at WN were the colourful NZ birds G-THOE and ZK-FRE along with the bulk of the SoundsAir fleet, C208's ZK-SAA & ZK-PDM as well as Airvan ZK-KLC.
DJ domestic duty was being undertaken by ZK-PBB and ZK-PBJ.
A J32 as well as B1900C ZK-VAE were noted outside the Vincent/Air National Hangers along with Wellington based Citation Mustang N1749L tucked into the corner.
The western ramp was busy with Medical movements with Metroliner ZK-LFT, BK117 ZK-HLF, PA-31P-350 ZK-WTH & C221 ZK-MFT all present.
Others logged included Air West Coast Dornier ZK-VIR, and Air Chathams Convair ZK-CIB
Down to the waterfront and at Helipro's Queens Wharf Base were AS-355 ZK-HYN, BK117 ZK-HYX, R44 ZK-HES and Bell 206B ZK-HRS

05-Apr-08 a horrible day in the capital with many flights delayed or cancelled, and conditions less than ideal for any spotting or photography.
International arrivals were all late with QF37 from MEL over 2hrs late due to the late departure of QF38 that morning, with ZK-JNC having to replace the scheduled ZK-JND
Domestic wasn't fearing much better with delays common on the regional routes.
G-THOE spent most of the afternoon parked on Gate 16 before finally departing for AKL around 1730.
NZ8132/131 was operated by Q300 ZK-NEZ the most recent example in the fleet. This flight operated from Gate 19 which was great for those of us who spent the afternoon camped at Wishbone with a delicious Double Choc Brownie and a large Coffee! Unfortunately due to the weather and reflections on the windows this was less than ideal for photos.
DJ domestic was once again ZK-PBB and PBJ
Sitting on the western apron were 2 J32's of Air National one I believe to be ZK-ECP having recently completed a heavy check and repaint into the hybrid Origin/Air National scheme. Also present at Vincent were their two 1900's ZK-VAB and ZK-VAE as well as DHC-8-102 ZK-VAC and the above mentioned Citation Mustang.

Flights to and from Blenheim seemed to be getting later and later as the day wore on. NZ2457 was scheduled for 1715 but as the arrival time of NZ2448 got pushed back progressivly futher and futher this seemed unlikely.
ZK-EAG finally arrived onto Gate 15 at 1654 24mins late, still some 20mins before scheduled depature of NZ2457 enough time for a turn around but not enough for the scheduled crew rest break, therefore we were pushed back to a 17.40 depature.
Boarding commenced at 1730 and then we waited on board until 1745 before the final paperwork arrived at the aircraft. After taxiing full length for runway 16 and waiting for clearance we finally departed at 1759. Wheels were off the deck before the areo club and we were in cloud before the end of the runway. Climb out was at 2000ft/min as we leveled out at our cruising altitude of 6000ft at 1802. We remained at crusing altitude for only 2mins before the long straight in decent into WB. Wheels were back on the deck on runway 24 WB at 1813 giving us a 14min flight time. This is second only to my record flight time of 12mins on a Tasman Pacific Connection J32 flight some years ago.
Big props to the crew for the great flight.