Thanks guys, sorry been away for a week.
The banner photo's are from an old collection taken from a Cessna 172 on many a 80's South Island Tiki Tour convoy cross country flights from the North Island down to Queenstown and Milford Sound via the South Island West Coast VFR flight legs Nelson - Westport - Greymouth - Hokitika - Franz Josef - Haast River following State Highway 6 through to Lake Wanaka with either Weather dependent the Cardrona Saddle or Kawarau Gorge routes into Queenstown.
It was back in the days of non Jet Traffic. As Mount Cook operated the Hawker Siddeley HS 748 in and out of Queenstown NZQN when there was only a small Flight Service Operational unit of the Ministry of Transport Civil Aviation division based at NZQN. It was not a busy domestic airport, as it is today with it's International Airport status with larger Jet traffic arrivals and departure requiring a Airways Air Traffic Control Tower.
The below photo is the original Queenstown NZQN Terminal Building in background of our preflight checks prior to departure October 1987
The Banner photos are just a few memories, a snap shot in time of my real world aviation adventures, in seeing a convoy formation join up of an overtaking faster Piper Arrow 3 PA28-R200 along the return flight trip back home to the North Island.
The Banner Photo on the left is October 1987 looking down on the PA28 Arrow as it overtakes the C172. The geographical area is known as Central Otago above the Clutha River while transiting north of the Cromwell township, heading east towards Tarras in Central Otago en-route leg from Queenstown NZQN to Omarama NZOA.
The Banner Photo on the right is from June 1987 in the location area known as the Mackenzie Basin with the Hydroelectric workers Township
Twizel for those that hadn't already guessed it, with the Winter Snow backdrop as the same 2 light aircraft convoy formation joined up en-route leg from Queenstown NZQN to Ashburton NZAS.
Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 6:59 pm