Night Flight - Auckland CBD and NZAA

[HardCorePawn]

Some video of a nighttime scenic flight I took my mate for on monday night... We headed out from Ardmore, up the coast past Maraetai/Beachlands, around Musick Point and then up the harbour towards the bridge and CBD. After a couple of laps around the SkyTower and the usual 'find your house' game... I called up Auckland Tower and got clearance to overhead NZAA

I think my mate managed to get some pretty decent shots... feedback appreciated so he can improve for next time

Also, I'm not a big fan of mixing cheesy songs into flying videos... so you can enjoy the gentle soothing tones of the Lycoming O-235




ps. for those of you who are wondering, I prefer to land with the lights off...

[Ian Warren]

Nice change from the norm , best to view late tonight i guess , todays sun glare killed the atmosphere

[Charl]

Enjoyable flight - that would've been me in the skytower restaurant, waving my napkin as you went round.
Hard-earned videography lesson:
When you've cut your movie to the bone, and are 100% satisfied with every clip...go through it and throw away another 90%.
What you are left with is what other mortals will sit through (Wives, ground-based mates etc. This excludes flightsimmers, though)

[Chairman]

QUOTE (HardCorePawn @ Sep 25 2008, 11:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

After a couple of laps around the SkyTower and the usual 'find your house' game... I called up Auckland Tower and got clearance to overhead NZAA

Nice, and love the soundtrack, much better than the usual offerings as you say

We were nightseeing out of Ardmore one beautiful clear still night about 11pm and the guy who was flying us called NZAA to see if we could land there in our little c172. Things got kind of funny after that, they cleared him for a such and such arrival and descend to ... and report passing ... Our pilot went bright red and had to tell them that we didn't actually have any charts with us so he couldn't follow the arrival and didn't know where the reporting point was

The guy in the tower paused for long enough to take a deep breath (I'm sure that was just a coincidence) then asked if we could see the airport. Yes we could. There was another coincidentally deep breath sized pause, then the funniest NZAA landing clearance I've ever heard - and you have to imagine it coming in a very weary end-of-shift voice - "Just land ..."


Gary

[HardCorePawn]

QUOTE (Charl @ Sep 25 2008, 02:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Enjoyable flight - that would've been me in the skytower restaurant, waving my napkin as you went round.
Hard-earned videography lesson:
When you've cut your movie to the bone, and are 100% satisfied with every clip...go through it and throw away another 90%.
What you are left with is what other mortals will sit through (Wives, ground-based mates etc. This excludes flightsimmers, though)

Yeah... I did cut quite a lot out... like the bit where I could not figure out where Brookby was , so decided to go via the rivermouth and the coast rather than risk whacking into the hills by Clevedon and/or cutting into the NZAA control zone... the boring drag up the coast past Maraetai and Musick Point... the 3 minute shot of Rangitoto, which is not nearly as impressive in the dark! The bit where my mate spent a couple of minutes trying to work out where his apartment block was... the bit where we did an orbit or 2 over eden park (was not lit-up, so just looked like a big black square), and then the 2 or 3 orbits around One Tree Hill... I think I could probably have shaved some from the end of the take-off clip... and possibly removed the 'oh so exciting scenes' of the port... but I work for a shipping company, so I left them in

QUOTE (Chairman @ Sep 25 2008, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice, and love the soundtrack, much better than the usual offerings as you say

We were nightseeing out of Ardmore one beautiful clear still night about 11pm and the guy who was flying us called NZAA to see if we could land there in our little c172. Things got kind of funny after that, they cleared him for a such and such arrival and descend to ... and report passing ... Our pilot went bright red and had to tell them that we didn't actually have any charts with us so he couldn't follow the arrival and didn't know where the reporting point was

The guy in the tower paused for long enough to take a deep breath (I'm sure that was just a coincidence) then asked if we could see the airport. Yes we could. There was another coincidentally deep breath sized pause, then the funniest NZAA landing clearance I've ever heard - and you have to imagine it coming in a very weary end-of-shift voice - "Just land ..."


Gary

Hahahahahahaahah that is one of the funniest stories I've heard... hahahaahaha

I had been thinking about the NZAA 'excursion' for a day or 2... so had made sure I had my charts and AIP onboard in case I got some weird clearance...

Thankfully, my was very simple (as I was just overheading)... so I was given "Juliet Bravo Lima, cleared into the zone, one thousand five hundred or below, hold at Mangere Town Centre, Whiskey One Zero Two Six is current"...

approaching the Town Centre and just as I was about to make a call, "Juliet Bravo Lima, continue to hold, complete 1 orbit and I should be able to get you in"...

and then just as I was completing the orbit and about to make a call "Juliet Bravo Lima, cleared to continue overhead the tower and then direct to Ardmore via Karaka, once overhead, descend one thousand feet or below"...

and then just as I was approaching Karaka and about to call clear "Juliet Bravo Lima, switch to Ardmore Traffic One One Eight Decimal One for joining, Goodnight"...

Everytime I was about to make a call, he beat me to it... it was like the guy in the tower was psychic or something!

[towerguy]

no - not psychic - just done it several thousand times before ... don't type that! leave that mouse!

[HardCorePawn]

was it you?

[towerguy]

nah, was on a spot of leave for a week

[HardCorePawn]

Lucky guy... I think I am going to get some forced leave soon... I have stacked up a wee bit too much for HR's liking... like 3 months worth!!

Maybe I should just quit and get it paid out