My December Spotting Session at NZAA

[ardypilot]

After seeing Alex's post here, I decided it was time for me to get my monthly plane spotting fix and trundled down to NZAA early this morning (I arrived at 10 to 8, just in time to capture Air Tahiti Nui landing), to spend the day photographing airplanes. Here is a small sample (22 pictures- 2.00MB) of what I took:

1. ZK-OKG descending into land on 23L


2. ZK-SUH, an Air New Zealand B747-400 taxing to the active


3. B-HXD taxing following -SUM


4. VH-DHE, an Australia registered B727 cargo freighter, a regular visitor to Auckland


5. ZK-EAP of Eagle Air humming along a few feet away


6. VH-OGG ready to depart across the Tasman


7. ZK-NGN, leaving Auckland for the capital


8. ZK-OJF, a swanky Airbus A320 passes by


9. N50KC, an American Gulfstream V jet parked outside the Air National building. As I was shooting these photos, a man from Air National came over and asked me whether I would like to come have a look inside, but he had to cancel his offer as the VIP passengers arrived shortly after


10. An ANZ B767 and B737 taxing towards runway 23L. Notice the engine vapour from N50KC pluming in front of the 767


11. Anyone know what N164RJ, a Boeing BBJ is doing in Auckland? And who owns/operates it?


12. ZK-NEF starting up its engines. The Dash 8 is meant to be "The quiet one" but boy it was deafening only metres away!


13. A close up view of the -NEF front end


14. ZK-POF, a dirty old Airwork metroliner


15.Towerguy? Is that you?


16. Little n' Large


17. ZK-SUI on the heavy stand


18. Another close up, this time of -SUI's nose


19. -OJC parked on the apron, ready to unload PAX from aussie


20. An overview of the empty apron ( ) at midday


21. The reason I came today, I heard F-OJGF visited on Wednesdays


22. My very first photo from today, not very good in the low light out the car window


Enjoy- if you want a full sized version, just PM me

[Alex]

Looking good there Trolly, I like number 7 best.

Alex

[ZK-Brock]

Great Shots Trolly! The BBJ is owned by "WELLS FARGO BANK NORTHWEST NA TRUSTEE" from Utah. No idea what its doing in NZ.

Next time I'm in auckland I need to find your spotting place and get some shots

I'll be down at NZNS getting some shots on my next day off work as well.

[Charl]

I like your pair of Boeings, quite unusual.
You had some tricky lighting to deal with, well done.

Has anyone seen a BBJ with a halfway decent paint scheme??
They are almost without exception painted down to be totally anonymous.
Understandable in some cases (drug barons, arms dealers etc)
But many of them are Netjet or other part-ownership
You'd think they could take a little trouble...
I'd like to have a decent paint stashed away for a day like this when the rain came down, run it out to Fiji maybe.

[Alex]

Check out airliners.net for some pics of the BBJ in NZ, just do a quick search. Below are some of the more notable;







Alex

[ardypilot]

Thanks folks!

The BBJ is owned by "WELLS FARGO BANK NORTHWEST NA TRUSTEE" from Utah. No idea what its doing in NZ.

On A.net, it says that it is based Van Nuys (VNY), California. It also says that it is owned by 'Classic Limited Air (Bausch & Lomb)', but on the same page, I also read about that Wells Fargo own it too, so I am now confused

I don't know what the connection between Wells Fargo and Auckland International is, but you may remember this shot I posted a few months ago:

(Also registered to W.F. and also photographed by me at NZAA)

Next time I'm in auckland I need to find your spotting place and get some shots

This should help you (in the style of Alex):

The red square is the look out carpark on Puhinui Drive- perfect for 23L appoach shots.

The green square is the carpark next to the Air National building. Here you can get up close with the many jets they have and get a great overview of the domestic apron and main taxiway.

The yellow square is the Domestic terminal roof observation deck which I only discovered today. It gives you a fantastic outlook over the 737's jetways and all the heavies taxing past (see below), as well as all the parked ANZ link's. The only trouble here, which I discovered when I got home and reviewed my shots, is the reflection of the glass barrier from the low sunlight. In order to stop this, you need to put your camera right up touching the glass to get rid of the un wanted reflected images.



The blue square is up a gravel road past the taxi rink at the far end of the domestic terminal. They are constructing a new pier for the heavy stands round there, and up on the hill by the helipad there are some great outlooks across the apron not visable from the International Terminal lookout. I could have walked right in up to the 747's if I had wanted to get fined, there seemes to be no secruity up this end and open gates all over the place

Has anyone seen a BBJ with a halfway decent paint scheme??

I love the BBJ paint's, they are all very sleek and elegent. @ Alex, is that Airforce One styled BBJ a mocking copy, or actually owned by the US Goverment?

[Alex]

@ Alex, is that Airforce One styled BBJ a mocking copy, or actually owned by the US Goverment?

Looks pretty real to me, the remark said that it carried the commander of the US Pacific Command. Remember a while ago on the news there was a story about that admiral coming down here?
Seems plausible to me.

That Saudi Arabian one belonged to the Saudi Ministry of Finance and Trade I think. And the Privat Air carried cast from King Kong to the Wellington Premiere. (all taken from the remarks at airliners.net )

And, err, sorry to hijack your thread Trolly.

Alex

[ardypilot]

And, err, sorry to hijack your thread Trolly.

No worries Alex, thats what forums are all about

I thought it was a real plane, but I was just wondering if someone had photoshopped it from the Modified Airliner Photos website

By the way, I was looking at those Airwork planes today and rememberd Kiwi Pacific... what a joke! So much for comencing flights in December ay

[ZK-Brock]

Thanks for the info Trolly. I've only been on the Observation deck (the one with the glass) once. It was raining so I had to stand under the roofs near the back, I got some strange look from the nearby offices . The problem with this point is that you only get shots of taxi if they're using 5R, and the threshold is quite far away if they use 23L.

I'll keep your map and bring it next time I'm at AA.

[ardypilot]

The problem with this point is that you only get shots of taxi if they're using 5R, and the threshold is quite far away if they use 23L.

Nope, it's actually the oppisite. All the heavies have to taxi from the west end of the airport, past the domestic terminal (glass outdoor viewing area) to the eastern end where the 23L threshold is. 23L is active most of the time. If they were landing on 5R, I am not sure about this, but I expect they would touch down somewhere pretty much in front of the viewing area

[ZK-Brock]

Haha sorry Trolly, I got my bearings wrong, its a few months since I've been there.

[ZK-KAG]

ZK-OJO

ZK-SUM

Just to be pedantic OJ* series is the A320 Family, it would most likely be OKG? As the OK* is the 777's. And what you saw was probably ZK-SUH. As SUM is not and ANZ acft

Sorry I just had to correct... But great photos and could you PM exact directions to the blue square...I gotta get some shots there!!!

14. ZK-POF, a dirty old Airwork metroliner

Ex-Origin plane, hence the livery.

[kismet]

Hey trolly that last photo you posted..the ANZ 777...was that being pushed back to go on a domestic run?


If so Im gonna stop flying QANTAS on domestic flights!

[towerguy]

nope not me - I finished night shift and headed up puhinui rd about an hour before you got there - by 10 to 8 I was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[G-HEVN]

The "Wells Fargo Trustee" thing almost certainly is a legal sidestep to get around the fact that the actual owner is not an American citizen, since by law, you must be a U.S. citizen to own an N-reg plane.

N-reg aircraft are quite common in the UK (the primary reason being an FAA IR is significantly more accessible, not to mention substantially cheaper than a JAR one, but you can't legally fly European-registered aircraft IFR in Europe on an FAA IR!), and "ownership" has to be registered with a US-based trust.

There are a lot of rules do do with licences and aircraft registrations that are just plain daft.

[ardypilot]

Just to be pedantic OJ* series is the A320 Family, it would most likely be OKG? As the OK* is the 777's. And what you saw was probably ZK-SUH. As SUM is not and ANZ acft

Sorry I just had to correct... But great photos and could you PM exact directions to the blue square...I gotta get some shots there!!!

Thanks for correcting me Keagan, I like things to be right. I must have read the regos wrong when zooming in on those photos, and I knew the ANZ 777 family all began with OK, lol don't know why I forgot! It's all edited now anyway

Ex-Origin plane, hence the livery.

Is it? I found a photo of -POF on A.net back from 2004, and I thought Origin only went bust last month and had to sell their fleet off?

could you PM exact directions to the blue square...

I'll post them here for everyone to see instead I parked at the domestic terminal carpark, and caught the inter terminal bus to the International terminal down the road. Then when dropped off outside the departures hall, I carried on walking westwards until I reached the end of the main building. Once at the end there you can see the heavies parked up behind (currently) a construction site surrounded by yellow fencing. Carry on walking though the taxi rank along the side of the fencing until you come to the gateway entrance for the construction workers. To you right there is a gravel road that goes up hill. Follow it up and to your left you will now have a nice overview of the western end of the airport. I had to go along way down to get the photo of the 747 you can see in my shots, but you might not need to with a camera with a better zoom B)

The "Wells Fargo Trustee" thing almost certainly is a legal sidestep to get around the fact that the actual owner is not an American citizen, since by law, you must be a U.S. citizen to own an N-reg plane.

Ahh that makes a lot of sense G-HEVN, thank you for explaing that to me!

[ZK-Brock]

Alright everyone, I'm off for some spotting at NZNS, expect some pics.

[JonARNZ]

Thats a great set Trolly, I'll have to try out the 'blue square' the next time I'm up your way. Thanks for posting.

[ardypilot]

Alright everyone, I'm off for some spotting at NZNS, expect some pics.

Looks like you have started a trend Alex!

I'll have to try out the 'blue square' the next time I'm up your way.

If it's still there! This is only a small access road and I think they are building a terminal extension infront of it/over it!

[Alex]

Looks like you have started a trend Alex!

Hehehe, yea, so far so good. (2 )

Alex