Boeing 737-400 Freighter ZK-TLL at NZAA on 24-12-2024

 Here is a grotty shot of the Airwork 737-400 freighter ZK-TLL at Auckland airport on Christmas Eve:

You can see that it is now devoid of TOLL titles so has it been sold?  And how would we know? (hint to CAA).

And you can also see the toll that being an air freighter has taken on its fuselage cleanliness.

Christchurch Boxing Day arrival.

 The Gulfstream GIV-X (G450) B-3253 c/n 4301 departed Hong Kong for Port Morseby on December the 22nd, moving on to Auckland on the 23rd. It then passed through Rotorua before arriving at Christchurch International on Boxing Day the 26th.

      Built as N901GA and listed with the Wilmington Trust Co Trustee of Delaware from 15-10-2014.

It transferred over to the 'B' register of China, Hong Kong and Macau as B-3253 on 10-04-2017 with Yunan Zhonghao Real Estate.

I believe it is operated by Deer Jet Beijing Co Ltd

At Nelson

 The Dassault Falcon 2000EX ZK-OCB2 c/n 0110 arrived into Nelson on December the 24th and is seen here having engine intakes covered.

Photo above from Bill Mannix.

Previous posts on this aircraft can be found  HERE

Photo below from Lord Nelson taken on the 26th.

Cessna A185F ZK-TLO (c/n 18503658) began life back in late 1978 as N8332Q and served briefly with Aviation Activities Inc of Valparaiso, Indiana before moving on to Australia where it became VH-TLO on 01-03-1979 with Stawilton No110 Pty Ltd at Wynyard Tasmania.

Then followed three further operators.

By 1999 it was with Wilderness Air of Strahan Tasmania having spent some years as a floatplane in Victoria.

 Its final Australian operator was Matthew Triffet of Vincentia, NSW. It was ferried out of Coffs Harbour to Lord Howe Island on 27 May 2019 then into Kerikeri and Mercer on the 28th and then on to Nelson on the 29th and became ZK-TLO with Todd Agri Air Ltd of Murchison from 19-07-2019.

NZAA on Christmas Eve

We flew from Auckland to Wellington on the afternoon of 24 December and as we knew that the airport would be very busy we got there early, so I had an hour or so to photograph some of the passing airliners:

American Airlines Boeing 787-8 N883BM heading off to the US.  The quality of photos is not helped by the heat haze and by shooting through glass.

Fiji Airways Airbus A 330-343 DQ-FJW off to Fiji,

And the brilliantly colourful Air Tahiti Nui Boeing 787-9 F-OMUA "Fakarava" headed off to Tahiti.

Aero Gare Sea Hawk ZK-SEA at Scotts Landing

Martin Farrand has a lot of experience with amphibian aircraft, having owned a couple of Coots and also the unique Seaflight Shearwater, all of which he has flown off Scotts Landing, which is at the mouth of the Mahurangi River.  Now he has another one!

Ownership of ZK-SEA transferred to Martin on 23/4/24 and he is now flying it regularly off the water.  In spite of being registered way back in March 1987 I don't think it has flown off the sea until under Martin's ownership.

Thanks for the photo Martin.

Zenair CH 750 STOL ZK-EAS on the West Coast

Seeing Dave Paull's post on the Kitfox VII ZK-ROX at Rangiora, I observed that it now has half its original colour scheme with the forward fuselage all red.

Here is another sport aircraft with "half a colour scheme", being the Zenair CH 750 ZK-EAS2.  The photo is from a Zenair Facebook page and is I assume on a river bed on the West Coast.

Have a look at how it used to be HERE

 

A new resident at Rangiora is the SkyStar Kitfox VII ZK-ROX (c/n PFA 172D-14024).

It is now with Wayne Godfrey who has on sold his Kitfox IV's ZK-CGT2 and ZK-KIV.

There have been several post on ZK-ROX.   See  Here

Seareys in Their Elements

The Mahurangi area is super picturesque to fly over with so many bays and interesting marine environments.  That makes the area a great playground for amphibian aircraft.  Last weekend the weather proved spectacular for flying and Rodger Coleclough told me that when he woke up real early and saw the glassy sea, he had to head off to North Shore Airfield and get his Searey out for some fun.  And somewhere along the line he linked up with Craig Vickery in his Searey:

Seareys ZK-SRY and ZK-FSH2 on the beach at Prospect Bay which is on the Southern side of the Tawharanui Peninsula looking out over Kawau Bay.

Back in the air Rodger took these photos of Craig in his Searey with his cellphone camera.

Thanks very much for the photos Rodger

Another off shore arrival.

 Another exotic visitor captured by Tony McFarlin on finals for Christchurch International today.

Airbus A319-115 (ACJ) B-54111 c/n 5792 arriving in from Port Moresby, having departed Shanghai on the 20th.

Built as D-AVXJ by Airbus Deutschland at Hamburg and first flying on 29-10-2013, with a registration and title change to F-WTAD for Airbus Industries at Toulouse on delivery on 07-11-2013 for cabin configuration.

Next noted on delivery to Eva Air as B-54111 on 14-08-2015.

90th Anniversary Flight Celebrations at Inchbonnie

Inchbonnie is a small farming settlement 16 kilometres West of the Otira Gorge, and it was from an airfield here that New Zealand's first scheduled air service took off 90 years ago.  Captain Bert Mercer of Air Travel (NZ) Ltd  flew in to the Inchbonnie airfield on 18 December 1934 to pick up two passengers who had come from Christchurch by train and who had alighted at the nearby Inchbonnie Railway Station, Messrs G B Christie and H Worrall.  They then flew to Hokitika and on to Franz Josef on the first scheduled airline service in New Zealand, returning later in the day in time to catch the train back to Christchurch.

On 18 December 2024, 90 years later,  a commemorative flight was carried out over the original route with an over flight of Inchbonnie.  Amazingly the flight was carried out by the same aircraft that flew the original flight - the DH 83 Fox Moth ZK-ADI which is owned by the Croydon Aircraft Company but is painted in its original Air Travel (NZ) Ltd colours.  The above photo is from the Grey District Council's Facebook page.