Coromandel Plane Spotting

[ardypilot]

While I was in the Coromandel, I managed to visit four airfields and do a bit of plane spotting- rural style. In this post I have attached 30 aircraft photos which I took on my holiday.

Thames
Home of the Hauraki Aero club, and servicing the biggest town on the peninsula is Thames airfield, NZTH


1. An ugly big Fletcher FU24-, ZK-CCT (cant wait for the FS version!)


2. ZK-DEA, a Piper Cherokee based in Paeroa


3. An old Cessna 172, ZK-BUZ registered in Hamilton


4. A newer Cessna 172, ZK-EFA has a boring paint scheme


5. ZK-WFT of Volcanic Air Safaris glowing in the evening sun


6. Helitranz of Albany's AS350, reg ZK-HST

Pauanui Airshow
I was fortunate enough to be on holiday on the day of the Warbirds fly in- what a treat it was! Read more here


1. NZ1052, a beautiful silver Harvard


2. NZ1091, a classic orange and gray Harvard


3. ZK-DOB, a small Cessna 152 getting airborne


4. ZK-BPQ which operates tandom skydives from NZUN


5. Inside BPQ- only one seat here, the pax sit on the floor


6. Yes sir, this is a cockpit of a genuine Tiger Moth! (ZK-AUE to be precise)


7. Standing in the middle of the runway


8. ZK-TBA- a classy Socata TB 9


9. A Moony Bravo no less


10. A c182 owned by "Joystick Aviation' of Pakuranga- the owners live just round the corner from me!


11. A long Piper PA-32


12. ZK-EXA, a Cessna T303 was one of the larger planes at Paunui that day. I was waiting for it to roll past me on take off but missed it close up, and only got this far away shot


13. A look inside ZK-HSE, a Hughes 369HS of Volcanic Air Safaris


14. A neat black and white Yak-52 owned by a Thames couple- man these things have short take off rolls!


15. ZK-DGY, a CT/4 Airtrainer on finals


16. Nothing beats lying on your back with a squadron of Harvards lifting off above you! Unfortuanty this is the only shot I got of the five beasts departing Paunui- I could have got some spectuacular shots but my bloody rechargeable batteries ran out of juice!

Whitanga
This airfield is pretty basic- an aero club, a few private hangers and a grass strip. I was hoping to see an BN Islander here but I came at the wrong time.


1. ZK- CKH, "City of Auckland"Â￾ DHC-2 Beaver used previously for Trans Antartic expeditions


2. Another Yak 52 from Thames


3. An Avid Flyer Speedwing Ultralight- no leg room in this thing! I also spotted this at Pauanui the previous day

Maratangi
The airport here is a single grass strip, no hangers, no buildings, no fuel pump- only a toilet block and a wind sock. Great Barrier Airlines fly here in the summer- but I missed the BN Islander that had landed here earlier.


1. A sleek Cessna 177B was the only aircraft parked at this strip


2. HTH refuelling out the back of a car"¦


3. HTH filming the Thundercats on the nearby beach

Thats all, Sorry for the large amount and size of images

[Ian Warren]

Pic 12 looks AMAZING ! be interesting to see if can be replicated in FS9/FSX

Thanx Trolly

[ZK-Brock]

Cool shots Trolly. I'm pretty sure BUZ - the 172 - is the oldest 172 in NZ.

[ZK-MAT]

Great stuff mate, thanks for sharing

(I think the captions on #3 and 4 are transposed in the first group)

Matt

[Naki]

Nice shots - I am off to the Corramandel (Hahei) this weekend for a few days.

[Charl]

My sympathies about the Warbirds!
I have had a videotape end, right at the bomb burst in a smoke-on display
Great plane spotting tour, and I'm sure some good material for the painters too!

PS What's that leather tube thingey sprouting from the dash of the Moth?

[JonARNZ]

Good on yer Trolly, great photos. Number 12 took my fancy as well, very atmospheric and amazing terrain.

[Naki]

It used for speaking to the front or rear passenger through their helmet - at least thats what I remember from my flight 20 years ago in a Tiger

[Charl]

Haha
WHupthruptuptupbrrrmm
SAY WHAT?
I SAID:" SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO INFLATE YOUR FLYING HELMET!!"

[Alex]

Nice pics Trolly, and like your new sig as well.

Alex

[ardypilot]

Thanks for your comments guys- Matt I will alter my above post in a minute, thanks for pointing out my mistake.

Here is some information on SUPER AIR which I found out today via e-mail:

We have a fleet of 22 aircraft operating from the Waiarapara to Northland.  Mostly the aircraft are resident at the airfields in Dargarville, Kerikeri,  Maungataroto, Pukekohe, Raglan, Thames, Tauranga, Rotorua, Te Kuiti, Otorohanga,  New Plymouth, Taupo and  Masterton(we recently purchased Air Services Ltd).
The current fleet is ZK :  BHG,BXS,CBA, CCT,CKA,CML, CQB CRY, DUJ, DZM, EFM, EGS, EGV, EGW,  EMW, EMX, JAA, JLU, JNX, LTQ  and the two recently built DZO and EME.  Our web site will show details of the pilots.
The main office is at Hamilton airport where we build and maintain the aircraft, and we have one pilot that flies from here.

[squirrel350]

We had a holiday home in NZUN we spent holidays there or in NZAA was always good weather in NZUN but my grandparents sold it a while ago and havent been back there for many a year will have to visit again some time soon.

Great pics I hate having to re-fuel helicopters from the back of a car carrying 2 20L fuel cans starts to hurt after awhile.

SQ350

[ardypilot]

I made a complied video of heaps of my other aircraft pics I took at the Coromandel, including a few of the ones above, in an animated slideshow on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNtwh1Y0u8A

Excuse the music- it's no Justin Timberlake soundtrack, but an old school favourite I found on cassette in my cupboard this morning

[HardCorePawn]

Excuse the music- it's no Justin Timberlake soundtrack, but an old school favourite I found on cassette in my cupboard this morning

there is a good reason that cassette was in your cupboard

Nothing personal, but that is quite possibly the worst song I have ever heard! lol

[JonARNZ]

I made a complied video of heaps of my other aircraft pics I took at the Coromandel, including a few of the ones above, in an animated slideshow on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNtwh1Y0u8A

Excuse the music- it's no Justin Timberlake soundtrack, but an old school favourite I found on cassette in my cupboard this morning

Loved the shots Trolly, now, we need to have a chat about music..

Pray tell, what year was this song your fave?

[ardypilot]

The music was Jason Donovan- Any Dream Will Do from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat (1991). When I was a toddler I was attempting to learn how my Dad's stereo worked and ended up shoving this tape into the cassette slot and hit the play button... quite happy with my achievement, I kept playing it over and over, hence it becoming my very favourite song during the time I was 2 or 3 year old

Apologies to all those who dislike it, I can understand why- its utter crap Perhaps I should have attached a warning: TURN OFF YOUR SPEAKERS WHEN WATCHING THIS VIDEO :!: