There's never any shortage of traffic to your Aucklands or Wellingtons or Queenstowns, but there's much less into some of our smaller regional centres. This week's SNO aims to correct that as we travel to three of the least visited tower-controlled non-military airports in mainland New Zealand.
Many of us know New Plymouth (31 movements in the last six months) best as the first waypoint on flights out of Auckland for points south. Similarly, Palmerston North (43) is best known to some as that blur off in the distance out the right of the aircraft about twenty minutes into that Wellington-Auckland flight. Gisborne (29) relatively undiscovered status is reflective of its location off to the side of literally everything else in the North Island.
Not only are each of these airports interesting in their own rights, the routes between them some of the most wild and scenic parts of the North Island. Between Gisborne and New Plymouth (180nm) witness the wild beauty of the Ureweras, slumbering Lake Taupo and the Volcanic Plateau, as well as the relentlessly rugged King Country. The quick jump between Palmerston North and New Plymouth (110nm) overflies the Manawatu Plains, the rolling hill-country of Taranaki, and forested wilderness of the Whanganui National Park. The leg between Gisborne and Palmerston North (150nm) crosses the Ruahine Ranges and skirts the Kaimanawas, passing over the sun-drenched Hawkes Bay.
Pick any of these three airports - NZGS, NZNP, or NZPM - and spend the evening flying to the others. To make life more interesting for the controllers and other pilots pick your starting location at random, and then flip a coin to decide in which direction to do the circuit.
These routes suit a variety of aircraft: real-world they would typically be the ATR72, Dash 8, or similar, but feel free to come along in whatever you think you'll be able to land in one piece.
The airports were also chosen for their proximity: only the leg between New Plymouth and Gisborne will have any real time at cruise altitude. This week you'll spend more time arriving and departing and less time with your feet up. Total time for the three airport circuit should be somewhere in the vicinity of 1.5-2 hours so the goal here is for everyone to complete at least three legs.
- Event Times: Sunday 17th August 2008 1900-2330 NZST / 1700-2130 AEST / 0700-1130 UTC
- Flight Time: approx 1.5 - 2 hrs round trip
- Flight Plan Route:
NOTE: Start the evening at ANY of the three airports and fly in either direction.
Clockwise
NZPM/NZNP: (PMNP3) PM H336 RUGVI H205 NP
NZNP/NZGS: NP H191 GS
NZGS/NZPM: (GSPM3) GS H467 PM
Anti-clockwise
NZPM/NZGS: (PMGS1) PM H467 GS
NZGS/NZNP: GS H191 NP
NZNP/NZPM: (NPPM3) NP H205 RUGVI H336 PM
Click on the image below to view the preferred routings in the airspace map:
- Airport Details: New Plymouth Airport
Likely arrival r/w 05: VOR/DME RWY 05; or RNAV RWY 05 (from NZPM, via the TUIHU1A RNAV Arrival)
Likely arrival r/w 23: VOR/DME RWY 23; or RNAV RWY 23 (from NZPM, via the TUIHU1B RNAV Arrival)
Likely departure: Straight out - Airport Details: Gisborne Airport
Likely arrival r/w 14 - Non-RNAV: VOR/DME RWY 14
Likely arrival r/w 14 - RNAV: RNAV ARRIVAL RWY14 (from NZPM: HAWKE transition; from NZNP: ELMER transition), then RNAV RWY 14
Likely arrival r/w 32 - Non-RNAV: VOR/DME RWY 32
Likely arrival r/w 32 - RNAV: RNAV ARRIVAL RWY32 (from NZPM: APINU transition; from NZNP: ELMER transition), then RNAV RWY 32
Likely departures r/w 14: NUHAKA ONE (NUH1) or TUNA ONE (TUN1) or NICK ONE (NIC1)
Likely departures r/w 32: PAUA ONE (PUA1) or CITY TWO (CIT2) or CRAY ONE (CRA1) - Airport Details: Palmerston North Airport
Note: due to NZPM's location and the foibles of our weather data, wind direction can change significantly here multiple times per hour.
Likely arrival r/w 07: VOR/DME 07; or RNAV RWY 07
Likely arrival r/w 25: VOR/DME 25; or RNAV RWY 25
Likely departure r/w 07: RWY 07 CHARLIE TWO (to NZGS or NZNP) or RWY 07 ECHO TWO (to NZNP)
Likely departure r/w 25: RWY 25 ALFA THREE (to NZNP); RWY 24 BRAVO TWO (to NZGS) - Charts/Airspace Info: Charts for all the procedures listed here are available by clicking on the airport links above.
General Airspace information and details for all VATNZ airports available from the VATNZ Airspace Reference site. - Priority ATC Positions:
NZNP_TWR - New Plymouth Tower
NZGS_TWR - Gisborne Tower
NZPM_TWR - Palmerston North Tower
NZCH-A_CTR/NZOH_CTR/NZCH-W_CTR - Enroute Control
Note: If you're providing ATC on the night, please give priority to these positions. They are not an exclusive list, but they are the ones that will see the most action this Sunday.
To reserve a particular ATC position, please post a message to that effect (including the times you expect to be online) in this thread. If possible, also book your position using vroute - large numbers of bookings in vroute attract additional traffic. - Late-comers/Shorter Alternative: Late-comers or people looking for a shorter flight should consider flying only one or two of the legs. That said, this week's legs are all short so ideally most pilots will fly at least three of them. The goal is to concentrate as much traffic as possible - heading in multiple directions - above the Central North Island.
- None of this week's airports have an ILS. For tips on how best to manage without one, be sure to check out this excellent Non Precision Approach tutorial from VATNZ member and real-world Air NZ flight crew, Steve Hall.
If you have any questions please feel free to email me, or reply to this thread.
Nick