A FewAviation Snaps

A casual interest of mine is commercial aviation & the machines used.  So I have a few snaps relating to this. (Click on images for larger views.)

Wellington


View from of the southern approach to WLG from a Cessna 402. The terminal buildings are to the right of the runway; to the left is Mt Victoria and Mt Kaukau in the distance. Several of these pictures were taken from the sea wall at the south end of the runway, a popular aircraft spotting location.


Boeing 747-219 ZK-NZX (in old Air New Zealand livery) at Wellington Airport for the opening of the new terminal.  This is the third time WLG has seen a full-sized B747 (Qantas flew 747-SPs into WLG for a while), the other two being when a United 747 diverted, and a test landing.  The runway at WLG is too short for regular B747 operations.  NZX was exported after the terminal opening.  Ansett BAe 146 in foreground.  Mt Cook Airlines ATR-72 behind NZX's tail.
 


Ansett New Zealand BAe 146 on approach.
Boeing 737-33R ZK-NGA in Air New Zealand "Millennium" livery.


Air New Zealand 737-219 Advanced on short final. Note hushkit ducts on the rear of the low-bypass JT-8D engines to mix surrounding air with the core and bypass airflows.


Qantas B767-338ER VH-OGT lines up for takeoff into the Wellington northerly.
 

Farnborough 1998

I attended the Farnborough airshow in September 1998.  The following snaps are from the static and aerial displays:


Bell 609 commercial tiltrotor.


Antonov An74 STOL transport.  Note overwing ("USB", Upper Surface Blowing) engine arrangement, more or less copied from the Boeing YC-14 prototype. Still, I've always admired Antonov's ability to turn nitwit ideas into production aircraft.


Thai Airlines' (then) new B777-300.  Longer than any other airliner, the -300 has cameras (on the tailplane and below the fuselage) so the crew can see where the landing gear is on the runway.


Airbus A300-ST Super Transporter, aka Beluga.  Followon from the Aero-Spacelines Boeing 377 Guppies of the 60s.


Burbank Aeronautical II's B707-320 with Stage III hushkits.  Note the nacelles on the JT3D engines, ducting the bypass flow right around to be mixed with the core flow coming out of the tailpipe, as opposed to the traditional short bypass duct normally seen on JT3D equipped B707s.  Clamshell-style reversers (deployed on the No. 4 engine above) are fitted behind the mixer.  Less obvious are the inlet changes, involving a noise reducing (and allegedly efficiency improving)  inlet extensions and leading "bulb" on the fan spool.  Missing are the winglets,  flown before this picture was taken but suffering a minor problem when the aircraft was due to depart for Farnborough.  The winglets were reportedly installed when this aircraft was shown at Paris this year (1999).


The Vickers Vimy replica used to re-create the Smith brothers' flight to Australia, and now being prepared to re-create Alcock and Brown's first crossing of the Atlantic.


Airbus A330-200 hits the brakes.


Lockheed Constellation in Military Air Transport Service colours.
 

Ugly offspring of the Comet, an RAF Nimrod shows off its heritage.
Show's over.  Concorde takes off into the sunset.