Air New Zealand 733's Options

[Kelburn]

This question has pondered me for a while now. I didn't get round to asking either of the five 737-300 pilots I met in the flight deck at the end of my flight.

So what routes do they use for:

NZWN-NZAA and NZAA-NZWN.

Any help would be appreciated as I really feel like doing the flight I was on.

P.S. I will post the videos asap ust got to transfer them from one c to my laptop and then upload them

[greaneyr]

I would imagine they would be the standard routes listed in the AIP. AAWN2 and WNAA4 are the most likely, I would say.

Go to www.aip.net.nz then Aerodromes, then Auckland/Wellington and look for a document called 'standard route clearances'. It will list all standard route clearances for that particular aerodrome.

[AlisterC]

I can pretty confidently confirm that they use the standard routes available at aip as mentioned above. I don't ever fly that route, but every single time I fly the NZCH-NZAA-NZCH route, or the NZCH-NZWN-NZCH route I have without fail been on the standard routes for those airports.

[Kelburn]

Thanks.

Specifically what STAR's do they use (I have suspicion they use the RNAV 23R and 5L)

[NZ255]

Standard Terminal Arrival Route. ATC assigns planes a STAR (available from the AIP) according to the airport/ runway in use. And the pilots look up that STAR/SID (Standard Instrument Departure, if the plane is leaving the airport) on the FMC and flies the navaids that the STAR consists of. This is to take load of ATC. Get it?

[AlisterC]

I think you mean 23L or 5R as the other two runways are closed and used like a taxi way at NZAA.

[Alex]

STARs depend on the active runway and route. Look at the Standard Route tables, then see where the STARs start ... join the dots.

With the idea of RNAV arrivals you have there... I don't think all of Air NZ's 737's are RNAV capable/certified?

Alex

[NZ255]

Whoops - I didn't read the question properly

[greaneyr]

With the idea of RNAV arrivals you have there... I don't think all of Air NZ's 737's are RNAV capable/certified?

You might be confusing RNAV with RNP. RNAV stands for aRea NAVigation, which is just navigation using multiple aids rather than tracking on a single source. GNSS (formerly GPS) is a form of RNAV, so I'd say flying RNAV arrivals is possible in all ANZ 737s, although I may be wrong. There are also RNAV approaches into Auckland which are RNP0.3, so in that case there would be limitations in certain aircraft flying them. Mind you, the RNAV approaches don't have anything like the same minima as even Cat I ILS so there's no reason for them to fly those approaches. Airways are introducing RNAV approaches to allow for redundancy and to allow the decommissioning of NDBs around the place, but at this stage they won't tackle ILS.

[AlisterC]

At least when i read the Pacific Wings magazine discussing RNAV into Queenstown, it stated that of the Air NZ fleet, I think only 5 were being equipped with the required nav equipment to fly the RNAV approaches into Queenstown. So, if you're flying to Queenstown on an Air NZ 733, you'll probably only get on 1 of 5 from their fleet of 15 everytime. Also not all crew are trained on the rnav approach, just enough
An NG Boeing, or A320, now they are equipped enough by default

[greaneyr]

At least when i read the Pacific Wings magazine discussing RNAV into Queenstown, it stated that of the Air NZ fleet, I think only 5 were being equipped with the required nav equipment to fly the RNAV approaches into Queenstown.

Yup. Again, the Queenstown approaches have associated RNP types. There were only so many ANZ 733s that were approved to the RNP levels demanded at NZQN.

RNP does not equal RNAV. They are different concepts. The good-old GPS non-precision approach is actually classed as RNAV, just to put it into perspective. Any suitably equipped aircraft can fly those. All you need is an approved GPS receiver.

[Kelburn]

sorry I did mean 23L and 5R.

I thought it was the visual RNAV approach cause it appeared to be the only approach resembling the one I took.
This pic shows an approximation of the only 737 approach route I have taken into Auckland (Green for 23L and red for 5R)



So can anyone tell me what approach that may be (Like the RNAV, we get lined up with a 4 mile final))