Microflite Helicopters Melbourne-based Microflite Helicopters deliberately targets the “upper end” of the charter, corporate and aerial filming roles with a growing fleet of new and near-new Eurocopter helicopters. Pacific Wings visited the company with the nice red helicopters on the big red continent recently. Hawkes Bay and East Coast Aero Club—80 Years Young Graeme Claridge summarises a very successful first 80 years of ...

The Boeing 737—40 Years’ New Zealand Service NAC was one of the first airlines in the world to embrace the type that has become the world’s most popular airliner. Graeme Mollison outlines the 737’s first 40 years of successful service with NAC and Air New Zealand. AVEX 2008—Small Steps to a Big Future Last month, Pacific Wings was one of 38 exhibitors at ...

A New Era For Qantas—First A380 Delivered When Qantas received the first of 20 Airbus A380s it has on order, Pacific Wings was one of those invited to attend the delivery ceremony in France and join the delivery flight home to Australia. Vision and Excellence—General Flying Services’ Story When Rob Neil visited Melbourne recently, he spoke to Ross Carrington, the owner of General ...

Plastic Fantastic—The Cessna 400 It may have begun life under a different name, but the Cessna 400—the range-leading latest addition to Cessna’s world-leading family of piston singles—is an appropriate stablemate to its high-winged siblings, according to Graeme Mollison and Geoff Cooper, who both flew the Cessna 400 during its recent New Zealand demonstration tour. The Red Checkers—Part 2: The Airtrainer Era This second ...

Red Checkers - Part 1, 1948-1976 Part one of a two-part article by Dave Homewood (the webmaster for the popular cambridgeairforce.org.nz website) about the history of the Red Checkers - New Zealand’s longest-serving aerobatic display team. Auckland Airport ILS Upgrade - Putting the Precision Into Precision Approach Fog has long been the bugbear of operators at Auckland International Airport. However, as David Clemow ...

Radial Renaissance.

Since the advent of the jet, many true aviators have been mourning the virtual demise of the radial engine. Grieve no more, fellow radialists! As Rob Neil discovered, Melbourne’s Rotec Engineering is leading a global radial revival with its own remarkable “roundies”.

Sounds Even Better.

When Pacific Wings profiled Sounds Air in 2004, the future of ...

SportStar—Evektor-Aerotechnik’s Stellar Performer The Evektor-Aerotechnik SportStar proves that Mike Friend was correct in his article, Composites or Metal For Your Next Aeroplane? (Pacific Wings, March 2008), that aluminium still has a place in modern light aircraft. Rob Neil flies the SportStar and decides it is appropriately named. I Have Seen the Future—and it Looks Electric Senior aerospace engineer Mike Friend provides the first ...

Warbirds Over Wanaka 2008

Eleven airshows on and the biennial Warbirds Over Wanaka has proved that it remains New Zealand’s favourite airshow. The 2008 get-together of everyone with a passion for aviation within New Zealand had nothing “extraordinary” about it, yet it still had something special for everyone.

 

Norwegian Recovery-The Recovery of Focke Wulf ...