Comments for New Zealand

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/aviation/news/article.cfm?c_id=556&objectid=10761107

hi

Hi, is the airport closed to international arrivals today? Due snow?

Reply to @Ozguy: Thanx very much, Ozguy!

I was on my way to New Plymouth when i saw the sign indicating an airfield "This Way". What is one to do on plane spotting tour of NZ? I'll give you three guesses! You'll only need one i think.

That was 4 years ago and i'm planning a further tour of NZ so any info of airfields anywhere in NZ, whether in the North or South Island much appreciated!

There's a great flying training and aircraft hire outfit - Nelson Pilot Training.

they have a website: flyNPT.co.nz

They are great for converting your license for temporary NZ PPL. Great instructors and very good value for money.

The cheif flying instructor, Dave Marriott, is really experienced.

Great Airport, Great Air Traffic Controllers, Great Nav Aids. i.e. VORTAC, ILS, GPS approaches. Very Good Aero Club on site.

They have a Great Flying Club, Some great people passionate about flying. Very handy location to sneak away to for a fly. User friendly runway, needs a packed lunch to get from one side to the other. Tend to get a bit spoiled for the little narrow ones. Easy to find; bear left a little at the big bridge and look for the big buildings. Watch for the "big Birds" tho.

I was raised as child in Taharoa for a few years before the steel company came, there was no road access to the small village where the small farms were dotted around, where the owners of the land were situated.

Access back then was on a small boat with a seagull engine across the lake known as lake Taharoa.

To get to the small farmhouse, locally known as it is today as the point named after Albatross point the small penninsula which juts out into the sea.

Life back then was so relaxed people were self sufficient, the phones were on the party line system.

I could go on and on. I visit the family and the small homestead when I go back to New zealand, as my fond memories of that place and the elders who have past on have cemented a special place in my heart for what it used to be and what it has become today.

Comment from @Capitano.Nico - "Usable around low tide. Check tide tables."

Reply to @rdsair: very sad news.

The Former Wigram RZNAF Air Force Base or Wigram Airport is Closed

1800 ft elevation

You need permission to operate at this strip

600m in length

outstanding airstrip

A great place to land for a snack break under the eye of Mount Cook

An awesome airport for seeing lots of USAF aircraft involved in Operation Deep Freeze regular visitors throughout summer are C-17, C-5 and C-130.

What used to be a little aerodrome has now got a lot bigger. A variety of aircraft from warbirds to helicopters operate from this airport daily.

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.