New Zealand airport comments

This great airstrip might be closed for good.

They will cater for you up there.

Luckily (or maybe not) the rail transport is not that advanced and under utilised and you could wait all day to see a train!

My route took us from CHC to the Westcoast, past the glaciers and Mt Cook to this nice place. You need to ring ahead.

There once was a cafe/restaurant. No more. The airfield is home to the Croydon Aircraft Company - specialist restorers of vintage wooden aircraft. Tiger Moth and other De Havilland aircraft available for scenic flights and flying lessons. The De Havilland Dragonfly is one of only two flying anywhere. Airfield is grass and well maintained. Visiting aircraft welcome. No fuel.

Thanks SkydivingNZ for permission for a quick in-and-out on your strip.

Flew ZK-SBK (Cessna 172-P) into here on 28 Sep 2008.

They are building the first airport viallage in the South Island of NZ here.

First trip here for me was on a cross country trip for my PPL on 6 Feb 2003 in a Piper Cherokee PA-28-140, ZK-CUY.

It was a dual trip with Anushka Painter. Corrie and Jordan came along for the ride.

I remember there being an onshore breeze requiring a good crosswind landing - the seal is only 10m wide.

18 October 2005 - my first landing at Whangarei, having grown up north of Whangarei near Hikurangi.

Aircraft was ZK-CNY, a Piper PA-28-160 upgraded to 180hp.

From memory I landed about 30 cm high and bounced accordingly - I'll blame that I was flying from the right seat.

A sealed and grass strip conveniently close to Twizel, and great little town in the Mackenzie Basin. My first landing here was in an Robin Alpha 2160 ZK-RBN on 30 December 2003, a few days after getting my rating for this aircraft. My father was my passenger, and we enjoyed calm and clear weather on a great cross country outing from our home base of the Canterbury Aero Club at Christchurch. We carried on from Pukaki to Omarama airfield (NZOU), then down the Waitaki Valley for a stop at Timaru Airport (NZTU), and then home to Christchurch.

Every two years, this airport hosts "Warbirds over Wanaka", a major international show attracting over 100,000 spectators:

http://www.warbirdsoverwanaka.com/

If you zoom in on the satellite photo a bit, you can see that the Palmerston North-Gisborne railway line crosses the runway.

Actually, just remembered that I made a number of dual flights from Wigram in an RNZAF Airtrainer way back in 1982, but they were all dual, so don't really count.

First time here was in Oct 05 in CNY with BSC. Can't remember who landed - might have been me?

Did some touch and gos here in a CT-4E dual flight in 2004

First time here was when going for a dual flight in a CT-4E in 2004

First landing here late 2006 - precautionary landing after experiencing a total electrical failure.

First visit in ZK-CUY on a pre-PPL cross country from Christchurch

Winter 05 in an Archer

Touch and go in ZK-RBn 31 Dec 05

I first landed here in ZK-RBN on 31 Dec 05.

We did a scenic flight in a C172 out of Taupo, over the huge Lake Taupo (itself filling the caldera of a massive volcano that erupted last 1,800 years ago, and there are some theories that the Ice Age would have been caused by the ashes from its largest explosion 26,500 years ago), then down to Ruapehu, a 9000ft volcano which is still active. A unique experience and a must-see for anyone visiting New-Zealand north island.

Without question the windiest airport on earth.

A good airport in a lovely city.

Many of the taxiway identifiers are painted on the concrete, and this makes them difficult to read, especially at night or when it is raining.