Rotorua Spotting

[Alex]

Hi guys,
What better way to spend boxing day at the airport trying out a christmas present and seeing aircraft. So, here they are, about 20 shots, chosen from 50, chosen from 5 times that.


The skydiving fletcher in front of its hangar, it eventually had quite a busy two hours, with about 4 landings and take-offs


NZ5376 in from Christchurch, landed on runway 36


Now coming into the stand


On blocks, and getting everything off...


EUD taking off runway 36 for a single tandem drop


ZK-MCF taking off runway 36 down to Christchurch


An Air Discovery aircraft sitting on the ground, later someone came and started checking her out


NZ636 in from Christchurch, taxiing to gate 5


Turning in now


EUD taxiing to hold point A


QF4180 just about to backtrack to the apron


Edit; I seemed to have missed this one out, the Qantas has just vacated via D


NZ2353 in from Auckland


The Qantas at gate 6, I had to stand on a grassy pile of dirt to get this pic above the fence


The NZ B733 on blocks


Qantas and New Zealand Boeing's


NZ2354 boarding to Auckland


The Beech starting up


Taxiing to hold point C for runway 18


Airborne out of runway 18

Thats it from me, these have been cropped and resized and lost some of the quality during compression, if you want a large copy of something PM me. I have some more, so maybe I'll do them a bit later.

Thanks for viewing,

Alex

[Jimmy]

Great photos Alex Looks like you had a nice day out spoting, and not at boxing day shoping. (unlike some of us.. lol)

I really like the last one, I didnt know the apron at nzro was big enough for two 733s:lol:

James

[ZK-Brock]

Great Pics Alex.

[Alex]

Yea, the apron can take a fair bit, below is a pic from google earth, edited in paint to make it more realistic , at the same time as the two 737's, there was also a Beech, and probably room for another a/c.


Note, this is just a rough sketch, and should NOT be used for navigation

Thanks monkeybdg.

Alex

[ZK-KAG]

Primo shots with a primo camera!!!

You will get endless hours of joy outta that beast.. All my photos are taken on one of those. Next step tho is a zoom lens! Then you'll be in business!

[ardypilot]

Great shots Alex!

Rotorua is quite a busy airport huh? You seem to have great close access to a nice variety of planes- you have inspired me! Tomorrow I will go down to NZAA and do some spotting myself

Awesome Xmas pressie by the way

[Alex]

Yea, I was just using the 18-55mm lens it came with . I'll have to get a decent one and then I can impress you. (What have I got myself into, this stuff sounds expensive ).

Yea, its not a quiet aerodrome, but these were taken over about 2.5 hours so not exactly busy either.

Thanks guys,

Alex

[AlisterC]

Great pics Alex! Good to see Rotorua! B)

[JonARNZ]

Great photos, I like the Qantas 733 on gate 6 in particular.

Has VAS left the hangar and returned to the lake yet or are they still working on her?

[Alex]

Thanks Jon.

Yea, I would assume that was the case as none of the Volcanic Air Safari aircraft were on the ground today. I was rather hoping to catch them . I think I saw it overflying the aerodrome at about half past 11 though.

Alex

[ZK-Brock]

Hmm, it seems the RO runway is only 300m longer than the NS one. Do 737s that operate from RO use up all the runway when landing?

***edited to say"longer" instead of shorter ***

[Alex]

Hmm, it seems the RO runway is only 300m shorter than the NS one. Do 737s that operate from RO use up all the runway when landing?

Runway 18/36 at Rotorua is 1622m (5320ft) long, while runway 02/20 at Nelson is 1347m (4420ft) long.
Today when the Qantas landed on runway 18, it had its reversers on and spoilers up till about hold point D (the added taxiway to the runway on my google earth/paint map) then braked and turned to backtrack on the first turn point thingy.

Alex

[Alex]

And here are about 10 more, as promised.


Rotorua Tower


Rotorua VOR/DME


Passengers disembarking from their ATR


ATR starting up its left engine


EUD taxiing back to its hangar to pick up more skydivers


Qantas reversing on runway 18


Still reversing, and blurred from the APU exhaust from the Air New Zealand 737


Qantas taxiing back to the apron


EUD airborne out of the grass runway 18

Thats really about all of the good ones.
Thanks for the comments and thanks for viewing.

Alex

[G-HEVN]

I flew in EJY from Whakatane to White Island while I was in NZ last month. Great trip, and a nice plane. B)


(excuse the belly! Sometimes you don't think to pull it in until it's too late!


Nice view, if a bit smelly! A real kick with quite a wing drop from the turbulence downwind, too!

[JonARNZ]

Qantas reversing on runway 18 is another great one, really well framed with the lake in the background, great xmas pressie!

We almost need a new thread on the forum for real world aviation, as I'm sure we all have photo collections that would be worth sharing, particularly some photos of earlier years in NZ aviation.

[FlyingKiwi]

Great photos!

[Charl]

Great to see the real thing, RealNZ NZRO is pretty good if you compare.
Great shots too, and you have a lovely toy, looking forward to more.
Now can somebody explain the amazing painted apron turn signage??
My 737 never seems to be able to end up in the right spot