NZFF

In a word ...fantastic.
Phone shat itself , camera played up ... but it was fantastic.
Hard to pick a highlight , but if i had to it would be the F-16 display , and seeing the JSDF 767 in the air , and beat up buy the F-15's

I really hope the plan to base a squadron of them here works out.

Sorry , should have explained ... the KC and the Eagles were on monday morning/ afternoon , along with F-18s and Singapore hercs.
That lot was a show in it self .... F-15s took off with wind behind them (odd) straight into a hard left turn , and back over the field at about 300 feet.
The front one had the old "cone" forming forward of the wing , just before the end of the runway , they both went vertical and were gone .... jeezz .

Your very lucky to see them fly I wanted to see the A400 fly and the F-15s including Kc135 but I had to be there Sunday evening.

Splitpin wrote:I really hope the plan to base a squadron of them here works out.

Strange , Singapore .. , maybe because so many expatriates living here .. would be great to see .. almost a WWII reverse .. except no Buffalo's this time round.

Talking to one of the F-15 Pilots about coming here , he said its all about space .
Over there , in singas ," full throttle on the f-15 for more than 10 minutes puts you in another county , and all the limits involved."
But here ... room to spare , plus the variety of terrain. But the space was the big thing.
They do train pilots in Oz , but Im not sure if its on fast jets.

Aviator 1 wrote:Your very lucky to see them fly I wanted to see the A400 fly and the F-15s including Kc135 but I had to be there Sunday evening.

Av 1 ... will get that book to you this week , thanks for your patience.

Cheers Marty. glad you enjoyed the show. I think in time New Zealand armed forces will have allot more its like the huge howitzers that came to practice at the desert road. There they can use live ammo
and hit nothing but dirt. I think they were from Japan when they fire the range is so long they could hit populated area. It would be good to see the F-15s operating here if they follow though.
When New Zealand bought the Texan trainers most country's that buy the likes of them and the Pc9 end up going from them to Jets. well the only Jet here is the 757 or something from the warbirds collection.

Just to add a bit more .... the planning and organization was perfect.
Always space on the fence line , food, and water for miles .... very well done.
The park and ride was also excellent, lots of busses, on closed roads .

And of course (from my point of view) Air New Zealand were right on the money. 3 fantastic flights, all on time, great service.

The ATR flight up direct was amazing ... only got to 19,000 feet , but to see the top of the south looking like Afganistan was sobering.
Dash 8 from palmy to wellington was quick but wonderful, and a Koru flight back to chc just topped it off .... well done ANZ.

And just a bit more ..... I recommend the "Big 5" motel on park street in Palmerston North ... really nice people who own it.
And Avis rental cars at the airport ... ask for Ross, he's a gem.
As for Palmerston North itself, what a great place ... super friendly people, clean , easy to navigate , gas is cheap ... wonderful place.

Splitpin wrote:Talking to one of the F-15 Pilots about coming here , he said its all about space .
Over there , in singas ," full throttle on the f-15 for more than 10 minutes puts you in another county , and all the limits involved."
But here ... room to spare , plus the variety of terrain. But the space was the big thing.
They do train pilots in Oz , but Im not sure if its on fast jets.

It is funny when you do look at the geography, the size of the country in population, one thing I did like and again so similar to Malaysia in many places yet they have all those pretty pointy aeroplanes .

Splitpin wrote:Just to add a bit more .... the planning and organization was perfect.
Always space on the fence line , food, and water for miles .... very well done.
The park and ride was also excellent, lots of busses, on closed roads .

And of course (from my point of view) Air New Zealand were right on the money. 3 fantastic flights, all on time, great service.

The ATR flight up direct was amazing ... only got to 19,000 feet , but to see the top of the south looking like Afganistan was sobering.
Dash 8 from palmy to wellington was quick but wonderful, and a Koru flight back to chc just topped it off .... well done ANZ.

Yep it's abit dry up that way, and it's pretty standard to 'only' get to FL190.

Aviator 1 wrote:When New Zealand bought the Texan trainers most country's that buy the likes of them and the Pc9 end up going from them to Jets. well the only Jet here is the 757 or something from the warbirds collection.

Ahh no. The only country that I know goes from turboprops to combat jets is Switzerland and they use PC 21s which are a step above Texans and P C 9s. Most countries that have combat jets have LIFTs (advanced jet trainers)

Didn't mean to sound derogatory with the "only" .... far from it in fact.
19000 over that sector was perfect, just wish I had, had my camera in the cabin.

Splitpin wrote:Didn't mean to sound derogatory with the "only" .... far from it in fact.
19000 over that sector was perfect, just wish I had, had my camera in the cabin.

One thing I mentioned to a lady who sat in my window seat return flight heading to Wellington, explained exactly why I needed my W/seat, I never had a problem with space , but typical I show point of references on that flight to her , she got to understand exactly what I was on about ... biggest thing was appreciated why I needed that window seat ! , spoke to her couple times afterwards .. "only" my seat !