Once again the Black Sands fly-in at Ragland on 12-13 November was a hit.
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The arrival of Black Magic
Air New Zealand’s fifth Boeing 777-300ER, ZK-OKQ, and the last in the current deliveries of its B777 fleet, arrived in Auckland on 12 January after a 14hr flight direct from Paine Field, Seattle. The airline’s chief pilot, Capt David Morgan, was at the controls and on board were CEO Rob Fyfe and a small group of Air New Zealand technical staff.
Painting some of the Air New Zealand aircraft in an unusual black scheme is part of Air New Zealand’s sponsorship of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and the World Champion All Blacks rugby team, and this B777 is the world’s largest commercially operated aircraft painted in this way.
The all-black paint scheme is overlaid with a design featuring New Zealand’s silver fern extending across the rear fuselage and up the lower part of the vertical fin, surmounted by the trademark koru. The complex task of producing it took 14 expert Boeing painters working in shifts 24 hours a day for just over a week, two days longer than it normally takes to paint a B777 and using some 700lt of chrome-free primer and paint.
Prepping and painting the aircraft entirely black took one and a half days, followed by a further five days for the intricate detail of the overlaid silver fern and the koru symbol. The remaining time was spent on the finishing touches.
“Without a doubt, it was one of the most challenging paint jobs we’ve ever done,” says a Boeing spokesman, “but the paint team was up for the challenge, the results are absolutely outstanding and we are very proud of what the paint team has achieved.”
On its arrival into Auckland the B777 was displayed alongside newly painted Air New Zealand Link Beech 1900D ZK-EAG and is the latest aircraft in the airline’s 103-strong fleet to get an all-black makeover. By mid-year the airline will have six aircraft featuring the all-black livery — the B777, two Airbus A320s and three Beech 1900D turbo-props.
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Black Beech already seen at Masterton
Masterton has already seen the first black Beech 1900 airliner, ZK-EAG. Operated by Eagle Airways as part of the Air New Zealand Link service, it visited the Wairarapa on its first scheduled passenger flight from Auckland.
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New helicopter makes first flight
AgustaWestland completed the first flight of its prototype AW189 twin-engine 8t class helicopter on 22 December. The helicopter made its public debut at the Paris Air Show last year and the first prototype made its maiden flight ahead of schedule. AgustaWestland aims to achieve civil certification for the AW189 in 2013 and to start deliveries in early 2014.
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