Commercial floatplanes in New Zealand started off with Cessna 180s, progressing to C206s, C185s and, yes, Beavers.
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New bizjet demonstrator visits Auckland
Visiting New Zealand last month was Embraer’s light business jet, the Phenom 300 from the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial jets up to 120 seats and one of Brazil’s leading exporters. The Phenom 300 light jet accommodates up to 11 occupants in a spacious interior designed in partnership with BMW Group Designworks USA.
Based in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Embraer was founded in 1969 and designs, develops, manufactures and sells aircraft for the commercial and executive aviation markets. The company has been present in the Asia Pacific region for over 30 years, since the introduction of the EMB 110 Bandeirante, its first commercial aircraft, to Australia in 1978.
The Phenom 300 is said to be the fastest aircraft in the light business jet category, reaching 453KTAS or 0.78Mach, and can fly up to 45,000ft with a cabin pressure of 6600ft. Its fuel burn for the first hour of flight is 629lt/hr and the second hour 436lt/hr with six on board.
Range is 1971nm, flying around 5.15hr with one hour reserve, allowing operations from Auckland to Melbourne and into the Pacific to Apia. Direct operating costs are around $US1600/hr and list price is $US9.5m ($11.67m) fully equipped.
A clean sheet design, the Phenom 300 entered service in 2010 and is certified for single pilot IFR operation. The example visiting Auckland, PT-TRT c/n 88, left Brazil in mid-February and visited many Asian airshows before its arrival here.
The Phenom 300 has no APU and uses a twin battery system for starting its two Pratt & Whitney PW535F-E engines, each of 3600lb thrust. The Prodigy Flight Deck 300 was developed for the aircraft and uses three 12.4in interchangeable displays. The flight deck is notable for its lack of clutter and overhead switches.
During its stop in Auckland the 300 was operated out of Air Center One at Auckland International Airport. During a short flight, at a takeoff weight of 6500kg (MTOW is 7951kg), the aircraft was airborne in just over 300m using 85 percent thrust and into the climb in excess of 5000ft/min. At MTOW the Phenom 300 is said to take around 25min to climb all the way to its maximum ceiling of 45,000ft.
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National aerobatics among the best
Thursday, practice day at the New Zealand national aerobatics championships, had weather just right for the 16 pilots to get aloft and practise their intricate sequences of loops, rolls and stall turns, all in a little box somewhere over the top of Waipukurau aerodrome.
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Friday, the first day of competitions, dawned somewhat grey and overcast — not good flying weather and especially not the weather for flying aerobatics. -
Air force ceremonial review
“Bands playing, Colours flying, Swords drawn, Bayonets fixed.” At 11.00 on 3 April the RNZAF exercised its privilege to march down the main Wellington streets with a 200-person (in the old days it was a 200-man) guard, complete with Royal Standards and the Central Band of the RNZAF.
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