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Queenstown to Wellington,
NZQN - NZWN
We take the 12:00 noon resort
shuttle to the Queenstown airport, getting there about 12:30
p.m. for a scheduled 2:00 p.m. departure. Derrick King meets
us at the terminal and quickly gets us out on the ramp where
we proceed to load the airplane. Derrick is the General Manager
if Milford Sound Flightseeing but today he is wearing the
hat of the Universal Aviation contract handling agent and
is doing a superb job.
After we are fueled, he takes
Pam and me up to the Queenstown tower to meet the personnel
there and to review the IFR departure procedures. The weather
is still mostly overcast, but with enough breaks that a climb
out on course will probably not be a problem. We ask who was
on duty when we arrived, wanting to "kiss his feet" for providing
us with the proper altitudes on the approach. Dave is not
on duty now, so we must thank him in absentia. The rest of
the staff are very helpful and caring, and we enjoy visiting
with them. We verify that, this time of year, the tower normally
closes at 7:30 p.m., so Dave had stayed a little extra for
us when we arrived four days ago.
We return to the airplane and
enjoy the temperate climate while waiting for departure. Pat
and Ashley arrive right on time and soon we are loaded, started,
and on our way. We are still using the Number 2 compass system
to drive the pilot's EHSI, with the hope that the replacement
compass compensator will be waiting for us in Auckland.
ATIS information Hotel: 0057Z.
Expect the VOR-DME-A approach. Runway 05 in use. QNH 1005.
Wind 030 degrees at 10 knots. 60 Km visibility. Few clouds
at 3,500 feet, broken clouds at 5,500 feet. Temperature 14,
dewpoint 7. Forecast winds at 2,000 feet are 060 degrees at
15 knots. We are cleared via the Flight Planned Route, maintain
FL270, squawk 5753. Pam makes a wide 360 degree left turn
to comply with the departure procedure and to gain some altitude
before leaving the valley. At 12,000 feet we are told to contact
Christchurch control on 129.3. They tell us to fly our present
heading. Then, a few minutes later, they verify that we are
GPS equipped and clear us direct to Cape Campbell for the
Star 16 arrival. Cool! We call up that arrival procedure from
the GNS 530s' databases and select the Cape Campbell transition.
Easy.
We never see the ground. It is
cloudy and we are in IMC much of the time, with our ice vanes
deployed which cuts our speed. Plus, we are fighting a fairly
strong headwind.
An hour and seven minutes after
takeoff we pick up the ATIS for Wellington. The ILS to Runway
16 is in use, it's "damp" at the airport, and the winds are
160 degrees at 25 knots with gusts to 35 knots. Light rain
showers are in the vicinity and it is 12 degrees Celsius.
With such a strong northerly wind at altitude and with southerly
winds on the surface we expect a lot of turbulence on the
descent and slow our airspeed and get the cabin sign turned
on accordingly. However, it remains surprisingly smooth throughout
the descent.
Wellington begins to provide
us with radar vectors for a right downwind for the ILS 16
approach. We are under the clouds from quite far out and have
a good view of the huge whitecaps on the Cook Strait below,
between the two major islands of NZ. On the vector, we observe
that the radar has quit working, with an "RT Fault" message
in view on the Avidyne display. Dang! Just when we thought
we were close to having everything in working order!
Pam makes a great touchdown in
the very, very, gusty wind conditions and we taxi the short
way to our handling service, Capital Jet Services, and are
met by the handler.
A car is waiting to drive Pat
& Ashley to the helicopter that will whisk them off to their
lodge. Pam and I tidy the airplane and I reactivate the avionics
to see if the radar fault will remain. Wouldn't you know it?
Now the radar works fine! Gotta love those electrons!
The car and driver, Collin Miller,
a very nice gentleman, returns for us after dropping P & A
off and soon we are heading to our hotel, the West Plaza,
downtown. Collin offers to give us a little tour of downtown
Wellington. New Zealand's capital, to get oriented, and we
find it very interesting. Pam has a little trouble keeping
her eyes open during the tour, however, enjoying the smooth,
warm, comfort of the limo and the soothing voice of Collin.
We check into the hotel and are
assigned room 308. Not the greatest; not the worst. That night
we eat dinner on Queens Wharf, at "Shed 5," which the hotel
receptionist had recommended. It was about a 15 minute walk
there, and it rained fairly heavily as we strolled, umbrellas
raised in hand. The ambiance and food is good, our waitress
is a well-traveled young lady who will probably be pursuing
a music degree in the States soon, and then we take a taxi
back to the hotel.
Overall, an easy, fairly short,
day of flying, and one stop closer to the termination of World
Flight 2001.
Looking for Arizona |
Queenstown Tower - Mike, Chris, Rose, and John with
Pam |
Rainy final to Wellington |
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