NZFF

by **ardypilot** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:43 pm

Hi all- just got back from a great sunny holiday in the Fiji, staying on Malololailai Island which a few other members here have been to previously and posted photos from.

I managed to get a jumpseat on the 777 for the outbound leg of the journey which was one of the coolest things I've experienced recently, especially after years of playing around with instrument approaches in flightsim! The highlight of the trip was seeing another Air NZ 747 heading back to Auckland along the same track as us: starting out as a tiny spec in the distance, then within seconds, closing in an an immense speed with it's nose out at a near 45 degree angle to account for drift (150knot winds in the jetstream at FL380), it zoomed in to fill the whole windscreen then passed 1000 feet below us!

Thought I'd share the few snaps I took here with you guys, as Antony and others have done in the past:

Business end:

Serious circuit breakers:

TAS 480:

777's for Dummies:

Autopilot panel indicating 38,000 feet AMSL:

POS
BOLAX

(The actual name of an ifr navigation waypoint on the edge of Auckland's oceanic airspace!)

Throttle stack:

Automated checklists!

Establishing on the localizer:

Long finals, runway 02, Nadi:

Landing vid, as seen from the flight deck:

And pulling up to the gate:

'The Steed'

We then caught a Hughes 500 over to the resort, passing over the 777 we arrived on as it departed:

Base leg of the island strip (is there scenery of Malololailai for FS?):

Ex ZK-HSN:

Plane spotting in paradise:

Pacific Sun Twotter:

Pacific Sun BN Islander beach landing vid:

And parked up under the palms:

I've also got a few other non aviation related snaps on my facebook if anyone's interested. The island really is a beautiful place- would fully recommend it to anyone

Cheers!

by **Anthony** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 5:06 pm

Awesome stuff Andrew!

You lucky, lucky thing getting the 777 jumpseat

. I've done my fair share of jumpseating but never in anything like a 777. Who wouldn't love to jumpseat in one though?
Cool pictures too - thanks for posting them up.

by **benwynn** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 6:11 pm

Awesome Andrew. Looks like you had a really great time. I think I remember NZ advertising for free hotel transfers via helicopter a while ago, pretty neat. The 777 Jumpseat is so comfortable too

by **deeknow** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:14 pm

Sweeeeet !!!! ... nice work Andrew. Lucky bugger. Nice detailed shots in the cockpit there. She's a nice clean looking panel huh? Wonder if they miss the old steam guages at all

by **NZ255** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:40 am

So what was it like in cruise? Did you go back to your seat, talk about stuff, say nothing?

by **ardypilot** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 1:26 pm

benwynn wrote:
QUOTE (benwynn @ Oct 5 2009, 07:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I think I remember NZ advertising for free hotel transfers via helicopter a while ago, pretty neat.

Not free this time unfortunately, although relativity cheap compared to the other method of transfer (Ferry) since the Fijian dollar is pretty low compared to the NZ$.

QUOTE

So what was it like in cruise? Did you go back to your seat, talk about stuff, say nothing?[/quote]
They have what is known as a 'quite flightdeck' up to 10,000 feet which took out 5 or so minutes after takeoff roll (watching the A380 land from the cockpit at the taxiway hold was pretty awesome too), but after that I had a heap of questions and seeing as both pilots trained at Ardmore and we all knew mutual friends, we had some interesting discussions- got some really informative views from insiders in the industry on how to further a piloting career, and then all of a sudden we were on the ground at NFFN!

Last edited by ardypilot on Tue Oct 06, 2009 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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