DH98 MOSQUITO, ZK-MOS

Ardmore, Saturday 29th September 2012, will be a very memorable day for many Aviation followers, the day the DH98 Mosquito, ZK-MOS put on a fantastic display for all to see. Full credit must be given to the extremely talented and highly skilled craftsmen and engineers that restored this magnificent Aircraft back to its full glory. Well done and I take my hat off to you all.

ZK-MOS

Mosquito and Spitfire

Airborne Command - US Air Force Boeing 747-200/E4B

This will probably be my first and last chance to get a photo of an United States Air Force Boeing B747-200/E4B. The flying Command Post 73-1677 carrying the US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta arrived into Auckland early in the morning, Friday 21st September and departed again on Sunday afternoon the 23rd September.




B747-200/E4B, 73-1677

A couple of arrivals and departures...

In each of these photo's is an aircraft that are no longer are seen in Auckland.
Air Pacific's B767-300ER, DQ-FJC, has been retired from their fleet, and Aerolineas Argentinas now operate EZE-SYD non-stop instead of an Auckland stopover.

Eagle Airways Beechcraft 1900D, ZK-EAG

Pictured here is Air New Zealand's subsidiary, Eagle Airways, ZK-EAG, black themed livery.

ZK-EAG

Inflite, ZK-HPA

Pictured here at Mechanics Bay in Auckland is ZK-HPA, AS355 Squirrel. Operated by Inflite a newly formed company merging Helilink, Skylink and Air National.
Services offered by Inflite include, Corporate Charters & Transfers along with Scenic Flights.
Aeroplane Charters are also available using the company's Jetstream J32 as an example.

Civilians at Ohakea

Back to the Ohakea Airshow earlier in the year this time. There was a variety of Civilian Aircraft also arriving into the Airforce base at Ohakea just prior to the air show kicking off for the day. Here is just a small collection of some of the arrivals.

Beechcraft C90GTi King Air

Piper PA-38

Cessna 172R

Wittman Tailwind

Vans RV-9A

Yakovlev Yak 18T

Piper PA-28-180

Air New Zealand B737-300, ZK-SJB

Seen here arriving into Auckland, ZK-SJB
This airframe first flew in April 1997 with a test flight registration of N35135. Western Pacific Airlines took delivery in May 1997 and was registered as N963WP. In May 1998 VASP took delivery and the registration changed to PP-SFK.
In late June 2000, Air New Zealand's subsidiary, became the new leasee of the aircraft and was registered in New Zealand as, ZK-SJB. In 2005, the lease, and operations were transferred to Air New Zealand.

Air Chathams, Convair ZK-CIB

The Chatham Islands are located 800km east of New Zealand, with a time difference of + 45 minutes from mainland New Zealand. Air Chathams operate to the islands from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, using the Convair 580.
Seen here arriving into Auckland from the Chatham Island, ZK-CIB, which is one of 3 in the fleet.
Air Chathams also operate between the Chatham Islands and Pitt Island using a Cessna 206.

ZK-CIB arriving in AKL from the Chathams

Cathay Pacific A340-300, B-HXE

Cathay Pacific operate A340-300's to Auckland, and in the summer months sometime increase their capacity to the larger B747-400. Auckland used to be serviced solely by the, B747-200 in the early years of operation to Auckland, and later the B747-400 by the Hong Kong based carrier.  Today's arrival of CX107, was operated by B-HXE

Te Awamutu - Kihikihi Airstrip

Another trip to the Waikato Region, this time I managed a quick visit to the rural airstrip at
Te Awamutu. The grass strip looked smooth and was well maintained and was well mowed, with nice short grass. The runway strip runs in an east/west direction. No flying on the the day I was there, but will try and make it back on a day with some movements to try and get some grass landing photos.