Nothing you haven't seen before

[Anthony]

Hey guys

More pics for you . I've been pretty good with Grabbing a Seat recently - several to Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland over the last little while. I had a GAS trip ROT to AKL on Saturday which was good but uneventful. Auckland airport isn't really the best for spotting, unless you go airside or go for a walk, neither of which I was able to do due to a tight turnaround and everyone I know up there still being away on holiday.

I did get two decent pictures at AKL though. The 767 looks really really good with the winglets I think.


And the 747 is always a graceful machine to look at. Truly the Queen of the Skies.


Then it was time to fly back to Rotorua. A flight which I almost missed too. When I turned up, only five minutes past that 20 minute period, I got the look of death from the gate agent. I made it though, and I wasn't the only late passenger.

I love the first moment when you break through the cloud...


And I also like the quite picturesque approach into Rotorua (rwy 36):


Rotorua doesn't get much in terms of variety. Lots of flights in and out on the Beech 1900D, the Q300 and the ATR. We also have EUD, the skydiving Fletcher; and Volcani Air Safaris' Squirrel and R44 helicopters based at the airport. We get the odd visit from some Gulfstreams and BBJs, plus a bit of GA traffic in and out. And the A320 to and from Sydney on Mondays/Tuesdays and Saturdays.









At this point I went up and paid a visit to the tower (who, as always, are only too happy to have visitors. Thanks Shane). I wasn't the only visitor either Then the A320 from Sydney showed up - nearly two hours late. I don't think the A320 has ever been on time arriving in or departing Rotorua.



People still line up at the airport fence to see the A320 come in. It seems word about where it's best to stand has gotten around. The A320 parks up at a stand pretty close to the roadside (due to its wingspan and our small apron). When it 'pushes back', anyone standing at that fence gets a pretty decent shot of jetblast. Probably around 15 people lined the fence while the A320 was here.





The tower has a really great view of the airfield (and a really great view of the lake and city as well). Being in the tower is also an interesting experience - you see everything and you hear everything tool. NZONE (the skydiving operator) were on short finals when they lost all their electrics, followed shortly by radios. I saw EUD over by the hangar with its nose off, and four or five people standing around with "what do we next?" on their faces. NZONE were really busy that day too: EUD was in and out almost non-stop. NZONE aren't the only source of 'whoopsies': a couple of GA aircraft got in the way of each other, Volcanic Air Safaris sunk a boat from a new parasailing operation on Lake Rotorua, and EUD insisted on switching between runway 18 and 36 in pursuit of as much tailwind as possible (and in violation of the informal 'don't land on 18 rule', which is designed to help them avoid hitting the landing skydivers).

So nothing new or amazingly exciting, but I figured it was a different view (and one that not everyone gets to see all day) so I thought I most post them up.

Cheers
Anthony

[Splitpin]

Nice shots Anthony, i agree with your comment about the 747......they are a rare sight down in CHC these days.
I like the inflight overwing shots....really makes me want to grab a seat too.
Thanks for shareing, and would you mind if i "played" with a couple of them ....all credit to you of course........a couple of them are just asking to be tweaked
Cheers, take care

[Ian Warren]

You said it Spiltpin , 747's indeed nearly gone , replaced by the twins ,heck years ago i didnt even think we would see a 74 at CH .. then they all seem to come 74's /C5 all around the same period and to think , all we could introduce was a DC-10 , we are now going back to the Deek with the 77 s ... wonder now ANZ has gone european with domestic how long will the American types stay ... 78s will they ?

[Anthony]

Thanks. Go for it Splitpin. I would usually run them through Photoshop, but my main computer is out of action, so I'm stuck without all my usual programs (including flight sim ). Just make sure you post them up.

[Splitpin]

QUOTE (Anthony @ Jan 11 2010, 12:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks. Go for it Splitpin. I would usually run them through Photoshop, but my main computer is out of action, so I'm stuck without all my usual programs (including flight sim ). Just make sure you post them up.

Thanks Anthony....sorry,i wasn't commenting on the quality, they look fine.....i meant i would like to alter them a little ...... i will post when done, thanks for that