Kiwi Ingenuity - Getting There from Here...

Problem:

1. If your home stadium is off-limits for the whole season because of earthquakes so you have to play all your home games somewhere else; and,

2. A cloud of Chilean volcanic dust crosses the Pacific and closes air space to jet travel in your country,

How the heck do you get to your next away game as the competition heads to the finals? Throw in the towel, start a riot like those Canuck fans???

Answer:

Pull an airworthy DC 3 prop aircraft out of the air museum and load the team aboard. Takes a bit longer, a bit noisier but... link

Now, that is Kiwi ingenuity...

Go Crusaders!

Top Flight

Teal Flying Boat, circa 1940s.

For those of us without the stamina and grace of a godwit, mechanized flight is the means by which we must travel. Above, a TEAL Solent flying boat crosses the Tasman sea and is about to make a water landing. Times have changed and we trans-Pacific travelers may expect a shorter (still 13 hours!) and more comfortable flight with TEAL's descendant, Air New Zealand.

Air New Zealand 747 in Lord of The Rings theme.

Air New Zealand Plane on Lease to German Airline Crashes Into Mediterranean

The first Air New Zealand A320 to join the fleet lands at Auckland airport in 2003

An Air New Zealand Airbus A320 leased to German XL Airways for the past two years crashed into the Mediterranean Sea while on a test flight.

The seven people on board - four Air New Zealand pilots and engineers, a New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority official, and two XL Airways pilots - are presumed dead.

The aircraft was being tested in Perpignan, south-east France, prior to being returned to Air New Zealand and flown back to New Zealand later this week.

The aircraft was 4 years old and had accumulated approximately 7000 flight hours in some 2800 flight cycles. Air New Zealand began to introduce the A320 150 seater aircraft into its fleet in 2003. The airline operates the A320 on its Trans-Tasman and Pacific Island routes. There were 12 A320s in the airline's fleet at the end of August.

The crash occurred 29 years to the day that an Air New Zealand DC10 on a tourist flight crashed into Mt Erebus, in Antarctica, killing all 257 passengers and crew. That crash was the worst in the company's and New Zealand's history.

Air New Zealand Cuts 200 Jobs

Reflecting weakening international demand, Air New Zealand has announced 200 layoffs from its 11,500 work force. Half the layoffs are from international cabin crew with the balance being in non-shop floor engineering and head off staff. Labour cost savings are estimated at NZ$20 million per year.

The airline has already cut long haul capacity to the United Kingdom, China, and Japan by 8 percent and expects the reduction to reach 13 percent by June 2009.

Last week Air New Zealand said it was not cutting domestic flights for now as demand on the main trunk and Queenstown routes remained good.

Qantas airlines, however, has announced it will cut in its flights within New Zealand by 25 percent by late January and it is not restoring its Wellington-Christchurch flight. Aviation industry commentators suggest that while Qantas is winding down flights, its budget fare subsidiary, Jetstar will step into the breech to fill some of the flights. Jetstar as applied for an operation certificate from New Zealand"s Civil Aviation Authority.

Should Jetstar step into the NZ domestic market, Air New Zealand will have to adapt its domestic business strategy to meet the new competition. Air New Zealand's budget fare subsidiary, Freedom Air, was shutdown earlier this year having seen off a previous round of competition since 1996.

Seagulls Over Rongotai - Landing At Wellington Airport

Landing at Wellington, NZ, is always a delight especially when the nor'wester cross winds are howling away...

An up close and personal look at the barnacles on the rocks on the southern approach over Cook Strait, a little pitching, a little yawing, a few bunny hops along the runway, braking before you head into Evans Bay, and you can always go around again for another turn...

Apparently the RNZAF B727 (see below) was carrying a group of US senators and wives on this next one, according to someone who left a comment on YouTube who said s/he was loadmaster for this flight. A senator's wife having safely landed nearly fell over the railing disembarking in her haste to kiss the tarmac! The airport was closed to civil traffic at the time. Those air force pilots might have old equipment to fly, but they sure know how to fly it. (Think they have a 767 now, but no fighter aircraft... that's the kind of air force NZ has these days.)

Hats off to the pilots who do a fine job landing in the Windy City. Arriving by sea is more dangerous. Brings back memories... pass another paper bag.