China Southern 787-8 First Flight

Monday 28th October 2013 saw the first commercial flight operated by a B787-8 
to New Zealand touching down at Auckland at 3:56pm. A day in history for the history books.

The honor went to China Southern Airlines B-2727 on the airlines daily scheduled flight non-stop from Guangzhou, China.

Some photos of first arrival in sequence as follows. 

B-2727
First Landing in Auckland

B-2727

B-2727

B-2727

B-2727

B-2727

Great Wing Design

Fantastic Wing Flex

Welcome to New Zealand
B-2727

My First Plane Picture - EVER - Air Pacific BAC1-11

The year is 1979, and this is my first ever picture I took of an aircraft.

I took these pictures while on a family holiday to Fiji.

Seen here is Air Pacific's BAC1-11 (sorry not sure on the rego) which operated to Auckland from Suva on Saturday's. These machines were pretty dam noisy, but I enjoyed the ride anyway, and this is where my interest for airplanes really started.

The top photo was taken at Suva, just before I boarded the flight which for today was operating SUV-TBU-AKL.
 As we approached TBU (Tonga) the Captain advised that due low cloud and a passing thunderstorm we might not be able to land today in TBU and might have to divert back to SUV for fuel. Well this was the case and after 2 approaches we diverted back to SUV.
We then flew SUV-AKL non-stop later that day in the same aircraft.

The second photo is out the window looking east en-route SUV-TBU about 20 minutes into the flight.

(photos have been scanned from slides)

Air Pacific BAC1-11
Suva, Fiji - 1979

Air Pacific BAC1-11
En-Route Suva - Tonga
1979

Global Express XRS, VH-TGG

Another biz jet arrived into Auckland on the 13th October.
This Global Express XRS, VH-TGG is based in Melbourne, Australia and is available for Charter from Execujet.

At max takeoff weight this Global Express is capable of climbing straight to 41,000ft for its initial cruise on long haul flights, and from there step climbs are carried out.

VH-TGG

VH-TGG

VH-TGG

VH-TGG

VH-TGG

VH-TGG

Cockpit View B737 Takeoff - Queenstown NZ

I shot this footage on a trip to Queenstown last year.

Takeoff was from Runway 23 heading out over Lake Wakatipu and making a left hand turn in front of the Remarkable Mountain Range setting a direct track for Christchurch.

Beyonce - Arrives

Touching down in Auckland on the 16th Oct in a Gulfstream G550, N235DX was American Singer Beyonce, arriving for her Auckland Concert.

N235DX
Gulfstream G550

ps. sorry about photo quality, had to use a point and shoot...

Some Single Engines at Santa Monica

A few photos from around Santa Monica Airport, a mixed bag this time of some light aircraft.

Notam to Pilots on Wall !!!

N694RR
Cessna Skyhawk 172S

N400JW
Piper Cherokee Archer

N38700
Piper PA-28-181 Cherokee Archer

A Mixed Line Up!!!

N694RR
Skyhawk 172S

Google - Fly's Into Town

Google's B767-200 Corporate Jet, N2767 arrived into Auckland yesterday the 13th October landing just after 4pm from Nadi, Fiji.

Google's
N2767

N2767

N2767 & a Couple of Islanders...

Mount Cook Airline, ATR-72, ZK-MCC

Mount Cook Airline Ltd is a fully owned subsidiary of Air New Zealand, and operate the ATR-72-500 in their fleet. Seen here arriving into Auckland and also taxiing out for departure is ZK-MCC
ZK-MCC is due for a maintenance "C" check before the end of this year in Christchurch.

ZK-MCC

ZK-MCC

Cathay Pacific, One World Livery

Some more shots this time again of B-HXG, Cathay's One World Livery A340-300 arriving from Hong-Kong. B-HXG seems to be a regular now on the HKG-AKL-HKG route.

B-HXG

B-HXG

B-HXG

China Southern, B-6058

Well a sight not to be seen for much longer in Auckland, well at least the A330-200 that China Southern operate to Auckland. Replacing their A330-200's on the Auckland route at the end of October with the B787-8's, will make China Southern the first airline to operate the Dreamliner to/from New Zealand.

CZ305, B-6058 Arriving in Auckland.

B-6058

B-6058

B-6058

B-6058

B-6058

B-6058

King Air 250, N175EU

This is one immaculate Beechcraft  King Air 250, N175EU seen here in Auckland on a demonstration visit.

N175EU

N175EU

N175EU

Over The Pacific

I took these photos onboard NZ4, AKL-LAX last October about two and a half hours out of LAX and just before the breakfast service.
I have flown the AKL-LAX sector about 60 times as a passenger and on almost every flight, about two hours out of of LA there is always a thick cloud base below as far as you can see into the horizon. I was a bit late in waking up on this flight for some better photos, but the sunrise onto the clouds in the morning can be quite spectacular.

NZ4
AKl-LAX

NZ4
AKL-LAX

NZ4
AKL-LAX