Helicopter Deer Hunting 1973

Thanks again to Gary Wandrey from the USA for these pictures of helicopter deer hunting up the Styx Valley near Hokitika in 1973... I remember the deer recovery using Hughes 500s rather than the Hiller UH12 as photographedDoes anyone know the name of the pilot and shooter???Also included a couple of...

Two new ones and a classic

Air Chathams Douglas DC-3 ZK-AWP rolls for flightseeing from Tauranga on 24 February 2018. It sounded beautiful and reminded me of watching the NAC DC-3 takeoff from Hokitika A new one for me was a very smart looking Cessna 182 Skylane ZK-KHW at Tauranga on 24 February 2018 Over at Whakatane...

Bye Bye Biplane

I had five minutes at Tauranga today and I caught 4 biplanes... Grumman ^-164A Ag Cat ZK-RTA at Tauranga on 24 February 2018Boeing-Stearman B75N1 ZK-USA at Tauranga on 24 February 2018Boeing-Stearman A75N1 ZK-USA at Tauranga on 24 February 2018NuWaco T-10 ZK-WTW at Tauranga on 24 February 2018And...

The Essential Nature of Airports and Regional Airlines

Cyclone Gita, other major weather events and earthquakes have proved the fragility of out roading networks and the importance of local airports and air operators in the likes of Kaikoura and more recently Golden Bay. But it doesn't take much to thing of other areas where in the event of a major disaster...

Connecting Kaikoura Again

Air Kaikoura is once again offering an air service from Kaikoura to the north, albeit briefly. State Highway One is closed both north and south of Kaikoura due to slips caused by Cyclone Gita. With the road closed to the north at least until next Monday Air Kaikoura are operating flights between Kaikoura...

Flying into Martins Bay in 1976

Thanks to Gary from the US of A for sending these pics in of flying into Martins Bay in 1976... This is a part of the country not many of us have seen....

A couple of Island trios...

This is the first photo from Puerto Rico to feature on this blog... Taken at San Juan on 15 February 2018... J Waipouri writes, I’m out and about and thought you might appreciate this photo in light of Kiwi Regional and Air Chatham's foray into Saab’s in recent years. Seaborne use Saab 340 aircraft...

Changing the Model

Sounds Air is to introduce fare classes. Up until now Sounds Air has had a set fare with you book 2 months in advance or 2 hours in advance. Their latest e-newsletter, issued today, says, "At the heart of Sounds Air is our passengers. After 30 years of service, we recognise that our passengers' needs...

An interesting day out...

Mat from Avcraft Engineering at Fielding has sent in this email. He writes... We're running an avionics focused customer day on 25th Feb to coincide with the AOPA Annual Fly In. It's quite a unique opportunity to meet the manufacturers and discuss avionics without a sales pitch. Join...

Increased Blenheim Frequency

Starting Monday 19 February, Sounds Air will be offering new flights on their Wellington - Blenheim route. The new flights will operate Monday to Thursday with flights leaving Wellington for Blenheim at 12:45pm and leaving Blenheim for Wellington at 1.45...

Air Albatross - The Cook Strait Commuter

On the 27th of April 1981 the Wellington Aero Club commenced a Wellington-Blenheim-Nelson service for carriage of The Dominion newspaper using a Cessna 320. By mid-July the Club realised that the courier service, which operated on temporary licences, was becoming problematic and it was decided to discontinue...