Antonov 124 - Volga Dnepr

A Big One.........

Volga Dnepr's Antonov AN-124 RA-82044 has been in Auckland resting on the ramp since arriving after dark from Ohakea on the 15th November. Some photos of her departure from Auckland on the 19th November as VDA1193 bound for CGK.

Volga Dnepr
Antonov 124 RA-82044

RA-82044

RA-82044

RA-82044

RA-82044

Gear Up.......

A couple of shots of some departures at Auckland.

Air New Zealand Link, ZK-NED operated by Air Nelson and the bottom photo ZK-OJQ wearing the black tail an awaiting the new livery to be applied.

ZK-NED
Air Nelson - Q300

ZK-OJQ

Evergreen International B747-400BCF

Thursday the 14th Nov saw the arrival into Auckland of Evergreen's International
B747-400BCF freighter N492EV on a vary rare visit.

Flying into Auckland to collect "Mila" the elephant from the now closed Franklin Zoo, just south of Auckland. This is and will most likely be my only chance to get a photo of an Evergreen Aircraft as the future for the cargo operator is uncertain.

The flight back to LAX was scheduled to depart later that night at 2315

N492EV

N492EV

N492EV

Air New Zealand ZK-NBV

My all time favorite and most travelled in aircraft the mighty B747-400.

Time is fast running out for Air New Zealand's B747-400's, only 2 left ZK-NBV & ZK-SUH as next year will see their retirement from service with Air New Zealand as the B787's and the two new B777-300ER's arrive around mid year 2014.

These shots are of ZK-NBV arriving into Auckland from Brisbane as NZ136.
ZK-NBV (26910) was delivered new to Air New Zealand in October 1998.

ZK-NBV

ZK-NBV

ZK-NBV

ZK-NBV

ZK-NBV

ZK-NBV

ZK-NBV

ZK-NBV

ZK-NBV

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.