Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:43 pmI flew from Tauranga to Wellington for a "mini break" recently. Booked it through Grab a Seat so the price wasn't too bad, and the hotel we stayed at gave us a pretty good deal too ( a bit over $300 for 2 nights stay). Flew on Air Nelson's Q300s both ways.
Going to Wellington, our aircraft was ZK-NEG.
I asked the flightie if the jumpseat was available on my first flight (which was NZ8571). She said she'd ask the captain but that they didn't usually let people in the jumpseat anymore, and it was even less likely as there was some kind of line training going on on our flight. She came back and confirmed that the answer was no
. But that wasn't too much of a problem, as it was my first in a Q300 for ages anyway, so I was happy to sit down the back 
Landing at Wellington was fairly uneventful, as there wasn't a lot of wind at all.
I'm not sure whether I preferred this calm landing or the bumpier one I had when I last flew to WLG in a Saab
Both were good 
.
On the ground at WLG.
Visited Te Papa and all the other main attractions in Wellington, which was all good
. Lots of yukky smokers in Welly though 
Then on the way back up, we nearly missed our flight as the shuttle wasted time waiting for other airport bound passengers who didn't show. There were also lots of roadworks and lane closures in the city.
We made it to the airport in the end, at which point we realised we had left the camera (containing all our photos) on the shuttle. I sprinted back to the shuttle, who was now down in arrivals about to leave - I don't think I've run so fast in my life
. This was followed by more running to gate 4 to meet our aircraft. We were the last to board, and this was after the final boarding call too. ZK-NEB was to be our ride back to TRG.
Once again, I asked if the jumpseat was available. I was told the same thing about jumpseating not normally being allowed now, but Sarah (our FA) said she would ask anyway.
A few minutes later she came back, and from the look on her face I was sure the answer would be no. Pleasant surprise though, she told me the pilots had "said it was ok and would I please come this way?". Yay!
Unfortunately, not the best photo.
There was 32 POB and it was a pretty hot day for Wellington, NEG struggled to climb her way out of Wellington.
We used pretty much maximum climb power, and we were still slower than normal. Engine temperatures were a bit peaky as well apparently.
The warmer weather was better for jumpseating though, as Captain Peter said that there had been a huge cell stretching from Hamilton over to Tauranga, obscuring the view of the country below.
Once we had reached our cruise altitude of 19000 feet, the temperature hovered around zero degrees - hotter than normal.
Home is somewhere over there (that's Lake Rotorua and Mokoia Island in the middle)
Heather, the first officer, was the pilot flying for our leg. Aside from taxi, she did most of the work while Peter handled radio calls etc, before engaging the autopilot shortly out of Wellington.
Radio was pretty much silent for us, but we listened to ATC lecturing someone doing lessons make a few blunders. "Er, ABC, what are you doing? Would you mind getting on Parra, because your current heading is going to take you to somewhere you don't wanna go" or something along those lines. This was followed by "that's Ohakea - you can't land there". The student was someone known to the pilots.
As it was not busy, there was lots of conversation between us - stuff about school, flying, careers, camps, the news, a fire below us, etc - just general chit chat.
They mentioned some crew room gossip about someone from around Rotorua who waits for Grab a Seats to Wellington to come up purely so they can ride in the jumpseat... I wonder who on earth that might be???
It's not me BTW.
Tauranga and the Mount. You can see the reflection of some paperwork.
We landed at Tauranga a bit farther along the runway than Heather would have preferred, but the anchors were slammed on and we made the turn to the terminal no worries.
Thanks Sarah and many thanks to Peter and Heather for letting me ride the jumpseat, as this was the first time I've jumpseated in the Q300.
Wellington spotting pictures - some really dirty windows at Wellington airport
Click for bigger versions
I also have some video which I will work with and upload.
Going to Wellington, our aircraft was ZK-NEG.
I asked the flightie if the jumpseat was available on my first flight (which was NZ8571). She said she'd ask the captain but that they didn't usually let people in the jumpseat anymore, and it was even less likely as there was some kind of line training going on on our flight. She came back and confirmed that the answer was no
. But that wasn't too much of a problem, as it was my first in a Q300 for ages anyway, so I was happy to sit down the back Landing at Wellington was fairly uneventful, as there wasn't a lot of wind at all.
I'm not sure whether I preferred this calm landing or the bumpier one I had when I last flew to WLG in a Saab
Both were good .On the ground at WLG.
Visited Te Papa and all the other main attractions in Wellington, which was all good
. Lots of yukky smokers in Welly though Then on the way back up, we nearly missed our flight as the shuttle wasted time waiting for other airport bound passengers who didn't show. There were also lots of roadworks and lane closures in the city.
We made it to the airport in the end, at which point we realised we had left the camera (containing all our photos) on the shuttle. I sprinted back to the shuttle, who was now down in arrivals about to leave - I don't think I've run so fast in my life
. This was followed by more running to gate 4 to meet our aircraft. We were the last to board, and this was after the final boarding call too. ZK-NEB was to be our ride back to TRG.Once again, I asked if the jumpseat was available. I was told the same thing about jumpseating not normally being allowed now, but Sarah (our FA) said she would ask anyway.
A few minutes later she came back, and from the look on her face I was sure the answer would be no. Pleasant surprise though, she told me the pilots had "said it was ok and would I please come this way?". Yay!
Unfortunately, not the best photo.
There was 32 POB and it was a pretty hot day for Wellington, NEG struggled to climb her way out of Wellington.
We used pretty much maximum climb power, and we were still slower than normal. Engine temperatures were a bit peaky as well apparently.
The warmer weather was better for jumpseating though, as Captain Peter said that there had been a huge cell stretching from Hamilton over to Tauranga, obscuring the view of the country below.
Once we had reached our cruise altitude of 19000 feet, the temperature hovered around zero degrees - hotter than normal.
Home is somewhere over there (that's Lake Rotorua and Mokoia Island in the middle)
Heather, the first officer, was the pilot flying for our leg. Aside from taxi, she did most of the work while Peter handled radio calls etc, before engaging the autopilot shortly out of Wellington.
Radio was pretty much silent for us, but we listened to ATC lecturing someone doing lessons make a few blunders
. "Er, ABC, what are you doing? Would you mind getting on Parra, because your current heading is going to take you to somewhere you don't wanna go" or something along those lines. This was followed by "that's Ohakea - you can't land there". The student was someone known to the pilots.As it was not busy, there was lots of conversation between us - stuff about school, flying, careers, camps, the news, a fire below us, etc - just general chit chat.
They mentioned some crew room gossip about someone from around Rotorua who waits for Grab a Seats to Wellington to come up purely so they can ride in the jumpseat... I wonder who on earth that might be???
It's not me BTW.Tauranga and the Mount. You can see the reflection of some paperwork.
We landed at Tauranga a bit farther along the runway than Heather would have preferred, but the anchors were slammed on and we made the turn to the terminal no worries.
Thanks Sarah and many thanks to Peter and Heather for letting me ride the jumpseat, as this was the first time I've jumpseated in the Q300.
Wellington spotting pictures - some really dirty windows at Wellington airport
Click for bigger versions
I also have some video which I will work with and upload.
