New Zealand News

The new aircraft, complete with winglets, stretched upper deck and two crew flight deck will be configured for 450 passengers 33 on the 747-200s. It is reputed to be costing the airline less than the basic NZ$195 asking price as a result of an agreement made when the airline purchased three 767 aircraft in 1985.

Yet to be decided for the 400 series are the engines, though the company is expected to stick with Rolls-Royce and nominate the RB211-524G.

The extended range of the 747-400 (8200 statute miles, up 920 on the 200 series) will be appreciated in light of the airline’s rapidly extending route sector ranges. While limited non-stop services from Auckland to Los Angeles have been flown for some years, the number was increased from one to three a week in November, and a similar frequency was inaugurated on the headwind-prone LA/Auckland route. In preparation for the Los Angeles/ Auckland non-stops, the airline successfully carried out 747 landing trials on the short Wellington strip, enabling Wellington to be listed as an alternate should Auckland or Christchurch be closed.

The final three months of 1987 saw an unusually steep increase in the airline’s services, with an Auckland/Frankfurt terminator, a Dallas call on some London flights, a doubling to four direct Singapore services a week and the picking up of the non-stop Auckland/Hong Kong service (flown a year-about in arrangement with Cathay Pacific).

A shortage of capacity was largely eased by the October arrival of a leased 767 which is being flown still in partial Varig livery. The lease lasts until this August when a new 767 will be leased from ILFC.

To allay pilot protests over the long sectors, crew rest modules have been installed in the 747s and 767s on the non-stop transpacific, Singapore and Hong Kong services.

Air New Zealand is still planning to gain access to Australian domestic services – despite the setback of the new domestic policy announced by the Commonwealth’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Senator Gareth Evans. “We consider the door still ajar,” the airline’s public affairs director, Mr Bob Wallace, told Australian Aviation.

An earlier suggestion that a case might be fought on a constitutional basis now had “little allure”, he said. But the airline was pinning some hope on talks between Senator Evans and New Zealand Minister of Transport, Mr Bill Jefferies, and the possibility of making an entry in association with an Australian company (as discussed once with East-West Airlines) had no been discounted.

Meanwhile, the idea of a merger between Air New Zealand and Qantas, floated by Senator Evans, was received coolly by Air New Zealand and slightly more warmly by Mr Jefferies. Mr Wallace described it as anti-consumer and said it would affect the role each company played in promoting its home country as a tourist destination. Mr Jefferies, while playing it down as “a possible scenario among many”, agreed that a merger would add weight to two small airlines in combating the mega-carriers. Air New Zealand later emphasized the need for developing cooperation between the two.

Stockmarket Crash Slows Anz Privatisation Aims

The world stockmarket slump has raised uncertainties about the pending sell-off of 25% of Air New Zealand. It was hoped to go ahead with the public float in 1988.

In mid-November, investment adviser Murray Rutherford, a member of the company Francis Allison and Symes, predicted very little chance of a successful sell-off under present conditions. Local companies were not sufficiently cashed up to buy into a big entity like the airline and overseas corporations would not be looking at New Zealand investment for some time. The Commerce Commission would be unlikely to approve a Brierley Investments buy-in while it had a stake in Ansett New Zealand, he pointed out.

A report was being prepared on the proposed sell-off by the Wellington broker, Jarden and Co. , for the Government. Jarden analyst Paul Baines said he expected it would be released before the end of November. It would consider all the options, how much the airline was worth and how many shares would be in the float. However, the report was commissioned four weeks before the world share market slump.

The airline is still keen for the sell-off to go ahead. A spokesman said a decision could be made in December when the Government advisers, Credit Suisse and First Boston, as well as Jarden, met with the airline’s advisers.

First Locally Built Glasair Takes to the Air

The first flight in New Zealand of the Glasair two-seater coincided with renewed speculation about this popular US aircraft.

Three years ago, the manufacturer, Stoddard Hamilton Aircraft, came within inches of having the Glasair manufacturer transferred to this country. The idea was to make the fully built-up aircraft in New Zealand and certified locally, thus avoiding entanglement with the US product liability laws. A general election and a flat refusal by the incoming Wellington Government to provide initial aid quashed the plan.

Behind the New Zealand enterprise were Auckland businessman Tony Hayward and former Air New Zealand Captain, Dave Clemow. Industry intelligence is that the plan was never abandoned absolutely, and that recent behind-the-scene discussions have centred on the possibility of the new Glasair 11 being built in New Zealand. The Mark Two has a tricycle undercarriage as opposed to the One’s tailskidder, and the redesign has reduced the post-factory manhours needed to complete the aircraft from 2000 to 1200.

The first local Glasair was built by South Island farmer Mark Elworthy and flown from Timaru by RNZAF Iroquois pilot Phil Murray. The sleek home-built weighing in in standard form at a MAUW of 1600Ibs is by nature of its fibreglass construction slippery- the book puts the Vne at 220 knots, cruise at 115 knots and a climb of 2000fpm. The Elworthy machine is powered by a 150hp 0-320 Lycoming.

Murray described the aircraft as “a pure delight to fly. Stalls are a breeze; not as docile as a Cessna 172, but at one point I had the aircraft in a very uncanny nose-up attitude with flap and no power, and it just wanted to fly on with very little control buffet and no requirement to release back pressure. The tendency to drop a wing is there. ” Another Glasair is under construction in Auckland by Air New Zealand aircrew member Greg Laird.

Jean Batten Mystery Solved

Discovery that New Zealand aviatrix Jean Batten died unbeknown to the world back in 1982 prompted a rush of regret and plans to commemorate her name. Most of the latter remain unresolved or were rejected.

The discovery was made by Auckland film makers, lan and Caroline Mackersey – some four years after official Government inquiries failed to find out why 73-year-old Miss Batten disappeared without trace from the quiet obscurity of the Spanish island of Palma Majorca. The Mackersey’s found she died of natural causes, following infection caused by a dog bite, in her apartment and for some unknown reason the matter was never properly relayed to the British authorities. Her remains were buried ignominiously, along with scores of others, in a paupers’ claypit in the municipal cemetery.

The immediate reaction was to return her body to New Zealand but this was deemed impossible. It was suggested Auckland Airport be named in her honour, also rejected. The possibility of an Auckland City Council sponsored scholarship for women fliers named after her could be a goer – though some councillors (all male) oppose the idea as ‘sexist’.

Whatever eventuates, there’s no doubting the poignancy felt over one of the country’s favourite ‘gals”. Jean, born in Rotorua, was originally destined to become a concert pianist, but that ended when she learnt to fly with the London Aeroplane Club in 1931. In the following years she was to make three attempts to capture the women’s solo record from England to Australia.

Her second attempt resulted in a night crash near Rome which cut her face, but six weeks later with her Gypsy Moth repaired, she dropped into Darwin after being buffeted by vicious storms over the Timor Sea, beating Amy Johnson’s record by four-and-a-half days.

Other records followed: the first woman to fly solo across the South Atlantic and an Australia-to-London record. In October 1935 she landed her Percival Vega Gull on a makeshift strip on the site of the present Auckland Airport after a record-breaking 10 day, 21 hour slog from London. Jean was always the epitome of flair and glamour- this time she climbed out wearing a white kidskin helmet (now in the Auckland Museum of Transport and Technology) and trailing a red, white and blue scarf.

She described herself as “a rather fastidious girl”. She wore white flying suits, always tucked a silk dress into the cockpit. Though the rubber around her goggles might be melting in monsoon heat, she never landed without a quick repair to makeup and a dash of cologne.

She had an astronaut-like professionalism in her flight preparations, filling notebooks with operational information before each leg. Food in the air was milk tablets, meat tablets and barley sugar. For months before a major flight she would go into training to reduce her fluid intake. While this resolved toilet problems in the air, it led on some occasions to severe dehydration. To the curious she’d say: “I’ve a silver lining to my kidneys. ” Jean was last in her home country in 1980, on the Auckland tarmac to welcome the British flier, Judith Chisholm, after she broke the 1936 London-Auckland Batten record.

“I flew out 16 years before she (Chisholm) was born, and in a wood and canvassed outfit”, Batten said. “I feel very flattered that someone should spend $65,000 to break my record. ” Actually, it was a gross underestimate. A single computer in Judith’s Cessna Centurion state-of-the-art avionics gear was valued at $80,000.

Auckland City Has Something That Sydney Doesn’t – A Real Heliport

Auckland, long left behind in the push for helicopter facilities, is to gain a heliport and an inner city helistop. The proposed heliport on reclaimed land at Barrys Point on the North Shore will encompass a passenger terminal, office block, large car park, six pads and hangarage for eight machines. The facility is to be developed by two companies, Hele-Travel Ltd which operates five helicopters mainly out of Ardmore, and a relatively new enterprise, Pacific Explorers Ltd.

The development is still subject to protest from a wealthy group of local residents who have been lobbying the owners of the land, Auckland Harbour Board, not to allow the construction.

Harbour Board approval has also been given for the use of a barge mounted helipad moored in the waterfront area of downtown Auckland, subject to a number of conditions. The McConnell Group, owners of the barge, are considering the purchase of two seven-seat Agusta 109s from the US, the twin engined machines enable operation with less restrictions over central city and motorway areas. The operation would be known as Ascend Enterprises and would concentrate on providing a commuter service between central Auckland and Auckland Airport – a seven minute service as against the 40 minute ground service. The proposal is believed to be budgeted at $4. 5 million.

Briefs

• The RNZAF has increased the returns of service from six to eight years for all incoming wings courses in order to secure longer tenure of pilots. All conversion courses were to have a two year return of service with the exception of instructors’ courses.

• The Nelson Aviation College has reached an agreement with Australian Civil Aviation authorities to enable pilots to qualify for both New Zealand and Australian commercial pilots licenses in 210 hours for the CPL(A) and 153 hours CPL(H). For the fixed wing licence the candidate would complete the 150 hour requirement in New Zealand, attend a nominated school in Australia for a further 30 hours flying syllabus, sit Australian regulations, then do a flight test. The college principal Walter Wagtendonk noted that instrument rating qualifications could similarly be cross credited, but the process was not as clear cut as it was for the CPL.

• Air New Zealand is in the process of providing fire-resistant materials in its 4500 aircraft seats, and is installing floor level emergency lighting in its 33 aircraft. The seats job was expected to be completed by next May, while the lighting job will meet the regulatory deadline of the end of 1989.

• Four people died when a Grumman Tiger aircraft en route from New Plymouth to Ardmore plunged into thick bush on the slopes of Mount Pirongia, near Hamilton, on November 3. The pilot of the aircraft, Lionel Hewlett (70) had been flying for 20 years. Preliminary investigations suggest Mr Hewlett mistook Kawhia Harbour for Raglan Harbour (30 kilometres north) and turned in-land, entering cloud.