[CIV] Wellington, NZ - Convair 580

[Erik_7Xi]

While I mostly shoot military, paramilitary and law enforcement, I do have a soft spot for classics like the 727, the DC-8 and the Convair 580.

There are several Convairs in and around New Zealand but most of these are cargo haulers - only Air Chathams operates a scheduled passenger service, between New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, using the Convair 580. I could be wrong, as the airliner world is not really my thing, but I believe Air Chathams is the only airline in the world to use the 580 on its scheduled flights into Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington (2 times a week, with a third service in summer).

Unfortunately flight CV12 had a delay of nearly 2 hours - so its arrival coincided with the sun being located over the runway, so any shooting angle would result in rather poor lighting conditions.
Thankfully the departure was also delayed, so when CV21 left again for the Chatham Islands, the sun had moved in a better angle.














(This is my first experiment with Lightroom so the post processing may not be what it should be.)

To kill time during my lunch break at the airport, I also shot some of the local stuff (1900Ds, Q300s, Airbuses and 737s from Air New Zealand, Jetstar and Qantas) - I have no idea if this is of interest but if so, do let me know and I will post some of the local Wellington traffic as well.

[Droef]

Please do. And for the pictures above, the older, the better

[Flyingdutchman]

Reminds me of my time speding in NZ to catch these old bird. A true joy to still see them fly. You shots are nice and crisp, thanks for sharing.

[YS11]

It's still really amazing the old stuff,and of course some movements would be also nice

[Erik_7Xi]

OK, here's a selection from Wellington's traffic, I tried to show at least one of each of the 'regulars' although I added some more of the All Blacks Air NZ planes as these may be of interest.
(I have no idea if there's a black Q300 as well, I have not seen it I think).

Other things that come to mind are that 737 ZK-NGM is an ex-Transavia plane (all warning/exit messages are still in Dutch and English) and the Qantas 737 carries small "75 years Qantas" markings on the nose. Throughout the day, or the small amount of time I was there, the stream of Beech 1900s, Q300s and ATR-72s was nearly endless with once in a while a flurry of Air NZ 737s and Jetstar A320s dropping in, added with two or three Qantas 737s. I did not include the Lifeline Metroliner and Jetstream and WESTPAC Rescue BK117 - mostly because I was holding a cup of coffee and a sandwich when they came in I also did not shoot the aircraft of the local airclub (Cessna 172s and other small planes).

For those with an interest in civil helicopters, the Helipro pad is located at the waterfront in Wellington, which offers great photography angles. They usually fly a R22 and a Squirrel or two but nation-wide Helipro also operates Hughes 500s, BK117s and BO105s which sometimes can also been seen in Wellington. If its a nice sunny day and I am working in my office (instead at a client), I may just drag my camera bag into work - as my office is located right across the helipad.

[Polecat]

wow, wow and wow!! Really nice set Erik!!!
Partly a trip down memory lane, and partly just beautiful pics (of what has to be one of the best airline liveries in the world...)

[Derice]

Very nice set!
Taken airside or from a public location?
I only have some shots of the airport from mount victoria from when I was there in 2011.

[Erik_7Xi]

Thanks for the nice comments

All photos were taken from public places, outside the fence. Wellington airport is very open and has several good spots along the runway, taxiway and approaches.

I only used a stepladder for the head-on shots but you don't need one.

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[Shunn31]

What a beauty this Convair

[Erik_7Xi]

They have 3 Convairs (pax config). This one is normally based on Tonga in the Pacific (along with a DC-3!!). The two Convairs based in the Chatham Islands both have a beautiful green tail depicting the islands. I hope to get to shoot one of those as well this summer.

There are also 2 cargo Convairs flying out of Auckland. Once in a while we get an Australian regged Convair at WLG as well - not sure if it's actually based in Oz though.

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[Diarto]

What a beautiful set of photos! Incredible!!

[Erik_7Xi]

Very nice set!
Taken airside or from a public location?
I only have some shots of the airport from mount victoria from when I was there in 2011.

If I may be so bold to take your blog post photo as reference ( http://arnoud.raeven.nl/wp-content/gall ... g_3015.jpg ), from the Mount Victoria vantage point, all my photos were taken on the southern side of the airport (the right side on your photo above).

If you look carefully on the right side, you will see a tunnel - where the road around the airport is directed underneath the runway. That is where I took the head-on shots of the aircraft in the afternoon (and all other shots of them landing or turning onto the runway). The earlier shots, before the sun crossed the runway, were taken on the opposite side of the runway, at the other tunnel exit/entrance. There is a sea wall on both sides that brings you (more or less) level with the elevated runway.