iscover
On the Airbands
0 comment
Those of you with communications receivers covering the HF aviation bands may have copied VH-EWG calling Honolulu for a selcal check on 5643 kHz recently.
Selcal for the aircraft is CK-AG. Shortly afterwards, VH-EWF called Auckland on the same frequency with a selcal check on CK-AF. And just where were these two F28 Fellowship 3000 twinjets owned by Ansett Express? On a charter somewhere exotic in the South Pacific? No way! In a maintenance hangar here, onshore. . . within Australia! An Ansett New Zealand BAe146 crew at Palmerston North recently found themselves in a “tight” situation recently. . . and passengers were asked to give them a hand to push the jet out of its parking bay, when the crew found they were hemmed in by other close-parked aircraft! The Ansett NZ “Whisper Jet” should have landed at Wellington if everything had gone to plan, but it was diverted with about 20 other aircraft into Palmerston North due to fog. The upshot was there were no tugs appropriate to tow the aircraft out, and the Captain was reluctant to power up the engines in case they struck one of the surrounding aircraft. Ansett New Zealand public relations manager John Cordery confirmed that the Captain had requested all able passengers to assist them in their plight to safely push the aircraft out from the bay. All hands were on to push the four engined aircraft clear of the obstructing aeroplanes, in what I’m told was a very tight spot. At one stage in the man/woman-assisted taxi to the tarmac, there was less than a metre between the BAe146 and another aeroplane.
Apparently the unusual “movement” was handled in very good humour. I’m just wondering if the passengers all got letters later on requesting them to join the Ground Crew Union! John McClelland from Brockville in Dunedin is our correspondent. He didn’t actually monitor the situation, rather he read about it in his copy of the Otago Daily Times.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Australian Aviation a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Australian Aviation as a preferred news source.
