The show must go on????

[octave]

Since my son moved to Wellington I have done many many trips over there.  It can be an interesting landing at Welly when it is windy.   Something I usually do is have a coffee or three at Spruce Goose cafe which is very close to the runway and affords opportunities for some aviation photography as well as the surrounding hills that look down on the runway.

 

This video shows the airshow put on to celebrate the opening of Wellington airport back in 1959.  The weather was less than perfect but the show went ahead anyway.

 

 

 

 

[facthunter]

IF you can't handle winds, you don't go far in flying in New Zealand.  Nev

 

 

[octave]

IF you can't handle winds, you don't go far in flying in New Zealand.  Nev

 

 

 

For sure.  Although as the locals say "you can't beat Welly on a good day"  On some of my trips over there I have hired a a cessna (with instructor of course) and had some great flights but only on a "good day"  They do have some challenging conditions over there.

 

 

[Yenn]

I was just wondering where the aerodrome was in Wellington when I read on and sae NZ mentioned. The penny dropped, not NSW.

 

 

[octave]

I was just wondering where the aerodrome was in Wellington when I read on and sae NZ mentioned. The penny dropped, not NSW.

 

Good point should have added NZ

 

 

[spacesailor]

WHAT

 

You fly from Victoria Australia to Wellington NZ.

 

I am surprised, I thought wello NSW.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[octave]

You fly from Victoria Australia to Wellington NZ.

 

By Air New Zealand (or Jetstar when I m feeling hard up) 

 

 

[IBob]

octave, by all accounts that was an airshow that could have gone horribly wrong:

 

A Short Sunderland doing a low pass hit the runway and tore a hole in it's keel.

 

A Vulcan landed short, damaging it's undercarriage and associated plumbing before climbing out and diverting to Ohakea for an emergency landing.

 

And the entire airforce display team went much lower than planned, due to cloud cover.

 

Here is a recent article:

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/116818277/wellington-air-show-near-tragedies-remembered-60-years-on

 

 

[spacesailor]

I was thinking that your Tecnam had Great economy & Large fuel tanks. LoL

 

I was going to calculate the distance, speed, & fuel burn,  (2600KLM ) just to see how many litres of gas you would have to carry.

 

I know it,s possible by way of Queensland to Norfolk Isle, to Auckland. Or was it Lord Howe Isle.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[old man emu]

Wellington International Airport (NSW) is located approximately 5 nM NNE of the city of Wellington. (12 km by road along Goolma Road)

 

The airstrip is operated by Dubbo City Council and, surprise! surprise! it has introduced an $8 landing fee. Use of the the Bodangora Airstrip will cost $315 and training flights will be charged at $70 per month, per plane. (The meaning here is not clear -OME) Charity flights will not be charged.  Wellington Aero Club president Mark Conn was among those against the landing fees. Mr Conn said it would cost ratepayers more to collect the fee than the fee itself would be worth. In the past, there had been no fees because of the large amount of voluntary work done at the facility. Council said there was also very little recorded information about the use of the facility. There had only been four requests to land recorded by council in the past 12 months, showing there was very little use or the system of planes calling ahead to request landing was not being adhered to.

 

Landing fees at Wellington / Bodangora Airport will be applicable from 1 August 2018. Operators of Recreational Aircraft can register with Avdata on 02 6262 8111. Regular inspections are not carried out by Council, however a special inspection can be arranged for a fee of $99.00.

 

Location

 

• Latitude - 32° 28'S  
   
  
• Latitude - 148° 59'E
   
  
• Height of Runway above mean sea level; 426 M (1,400')
   
  
• World Aeronautical Chart (WAC) No: 345.
   
  

 

Directions

 

• 13/31 - Length 1500m Width 60m
   
  
• 05/23 - Length 900m Width 45m - 2% average incline to North
   
  
• Stock fence 30m from centre line on runway 05/23 (Western End - North Side)
   
  
• Hills in circuit area affect night landing approaches
   
  
• 80m Guy Wired Steel Lattice Mast - Long 149.06206 - Lat 32.39131
   
  
• Strip 05 - Not suitable for departures due to rising terrain.
   
  

 

Surface

 

• 13/31 - Sealed 15m wide - gravel shoulders 3m wide
   
  
• 05/23 - Unsealed central gravel strip 10m wide both directions.
   
  

 

Runway Lighting

 

• Permanent runway lighting is available on runway 13/31.
   
  

 

Fuel

 

• Available by arrangement with BP Dubbo.
   
  

 

[Thruster88]

I was thinking that your Tecnam had Great economy & Large fuel tanks. LoL

 

I was going to calculate the distance, speed, & fuel burn,  (2600KLM ) just to see how many litres of gas you would have to carry.

 

I know it,s possible by way of Queensland to Norfolk Isle, to Auckland. Or was it Lord Howe Isle.

 

spacesailor

 

Ben Buckley flew non stop Maĺlacoota to NZ in a Rotax 582 powered lightwing, epic. 

 

 

[octave]

octave, by all accounts that was an airshow that could have gone horribly wrong:

 

A Short Sunderland doing a low pass hit the runway and tore a hole in it's keel.

 

A Vulcan landed short, damaging it's undercarriage and associated plumbing before climbing out and diverting to Ohakea for an emergency landing.

 

And the entire airforce display team went much lower than planned, due to cloud cover.

 

Here is a recent article:

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/116818277/wellington-air-show-near-tragedies-remembered-60-years-on

 

I was especially amused by the log book entry of the copilot of the Sutherland  "touch and go"  The vulcan could have ended tragically as could t of the aerobatics team. I use the term show must go on ironically.

 

 

[onetrack]

I'm at a loss to understand how the pilots of the Vulcan and the Sunderland got their flight approaches so wrong.

 

And what was the reasoning behind the massive risk of trying to go as low as possible? - at the expense of destroying a mega-dollar (or mega-£) aircraft, and potentially causing an airshow disaster like the 1952 Farnborough disaster?

 

I can understand the RNZAF Vampires undertaking a serious level of risk, because they are an acrobatic display team, used to tight formation flying, and disciplined manoeuvering at high speed.

 

But the Vulcan pilot and the Sunderland pilot were simply guilty of gross negligence or carelessness, whereby "showing off" seemed to take priority over disciplined airmanship.

 

 

[spacesailor]

I & lots of other AIR CADETS (atc), could have been another tragedy, casualty.

 

 Systerson airshow  prototype VX770 crash 1958, Nottingham UK.

 

Marching on the runway, with the V-Bomber slow flying over the top of us.

 

(Mother would not have been pleased)

 

spacesailor

 

 

[octave]

I'm at a loss to understand how the pilots of the Vulcan and the Sunderland got their flight approaches so wrong.

 

 

 

I think not so much the approach but the poor weather.   The issue would be why persevere rather than go around.

 

I suspect that the since this occured in 1959 things have changed a lot in terms of safety.  Still a cracking good yarn. 

 

 

[Marty_d]

I like how the Sunderland copilot recorded "touch and go" in his log.

 

Would have been a sphincter-tightening touchdown when they did land it on water afterwards...