The reason???

The deputy chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has resigned after an "error of judgment" involving an airline he part owns and a competitor. The crown entity, which oversees aviation safety, said deputy chairman Peter Griffiths had resigned after passing on information regarding the suspension of an airline. This was Tauranga-based airline Sunair Aviation, and the information was given to Great Barrier Island-based Barrier Air, which Griffiths bought 25 per cent of in April this year. Griffiths, and CAA chairman Nigel Gould said this was an error of judgment. Sunair had also received an apology from both Griffiths and Gould. "That said, it should be acknowledged that Peter's intent was to offer Barrier Air assistance to Sunair in order to minimise the adverse effect on its customers and when he initiated the contact with Barrier Air he did not realise that the suspension was not yet in place," the CAA said. "Despite that good intent, Peter freely admits to an error of judgement and has submitted his resignation from the board." Gould said the resignation and an internal debrief in this "very rare" case was sufficient to address the issue. Regulatory decision making was done by the Director of Civil Aviation, independent of the board, which meant while there were obvious risks to having people involved with aviation on the board, it also provided advantages. "On balance, providing that conflicts of interest are managed correctly and board members do not act on information held then the benefits of having some sector knowledge/involvement on the board outweighs the risks." Griffiths was also chairman of Z Energy and a director at NZX-listed Metro Performance Glass, having previously been BP New Zealand managing director. Griffiths' CAA profile said he had a lifelong interest in aviation and aircraft. Sunair was grounded by the CAA for the second time in less than a year earlier this month. The CAA said this decision was the result of an audit of Sunair records which found a number of anomalies and omissions in maintenance records. "These findings created a reasonable doubt about the airworthiness of the aircraft operated by Sunair and the Operator's maintenance control and the quality assurance systems intended to ensure their airworthiness."

Source : https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/97015269/akl--hamish--caa-director-resigns-following-error-of-judgment

Sunair Grounded 2

Tauranga-based airline Sunair Aviation has been grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority for the second time in nine months. The authority has suspended Sunair's Air Operator Certificate, along with the Certificate of Airworthiness for the Sun Air fleet, on September 8. A spokeswoman for the authority said the action would ground the Sunair fleet and suspend all Sunair flight operations for an initial 10 day period. "An investigation into the company by the CAA is continuing," she said. On December 6 Sunair Aviation Ltd's Air Operator Certificate for 10 days, reissuing it on December 16. Sunair chief executive Daniel Power said in a statement that the authority had "concerns with the company" and had suspended Sunair's Air Operator Certificate while they investigate the concerns. "We hope to have these matters dealt with quickly, allowing a speedy return to the safe operation Sunair has provided for the past 30 years." A Bay of Plenty man who said he was a regular Sunair customer said he got one day's notice that his flights had been cancelled. He asked around and heard the company had been grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority. "Obviously I'm pretty dissatisfied. I've flown with them before because it's a convenience but I'm seriously considering the larger operators because this is just inconvenient." In March this year, Sunair Aviation became the first regional non-jet operator in the North Island to be selected as a preferred air carrier on the All of Government panel. The airline tendered for the panel in 2016 and, after an exhaustive process, was advised that its application had succeeded. The new status became effective from the beginning of March, 2017, to begin carrying government personnel.

Source : http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11921291

ZK-JZL

Pacific Aerospace's test bed platform, PAC 750XL ZK-JZL at Hamilton on 11 September 2017

Another Air Asia X Scheme

Air Asia X's Airbus 330 9M-XXP arrives in Auckland on 10 September 2017

Barrier Fliers

Fly My Sky's BN Islanders, ZK-PIY  

and red nose -PIZ at Auckland on 10 September 2017

Barrier Air's Cessna 208B Grand Caravan ZK-SDB at Auckland on 10 September 2017 

Air Chathams' freighters

I was delighted to get photos of the two Convair 580s Air Chathams are using on a four night a week air freight service between Auckland and Christchurch. Both ZK-KFH and ZK-KFL are being used...

Convair 580 ZK-KFH at Auckland on 10 September 2017

ZK-KFL and ZK-KFH together on the ramp at Auckland on 10 September 2017
There is a better picture of ZK-KFL here http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nz/2017/09/auckland-domestic-ops.html

Classic Fieldair Freight

With the retirement of Safe Air's Bristol Freighter fleet on the 30th of September 1986 Peter Vincent and Alan McGreevey saw the opportunity to establish an air freight service. To this in mind he imported Douglas DC-3C VH-PWM (c/n 11970) from Australia and also acquired the use of ex Fieldair Douglas DC-3 ZK-AWP. It had retired from topdressing on the 11th of May 1985 and had remained in storage at Palmerston North until it received freighter conversion for Classic Air Services Ltd., a Fieldair associated company, in late 1986.

Wearing Classic Air titles and NZ Railways' 'Speedlink' titles, Douglas DC-3 ZK-AMR arrives at Christchurch on 19 February 1987

A 12-month contract was signed with the New Zealand Railways Corporation to fly its freight under the Speedlink brand from Wellington to Christchurch, Nelson and Blenheim. Later a weekly flight to Auckland was introduced. Services began on the 15th of September 1986 with ZK-AMR flying the inaugural flights under the command of chief pilot Neil Abbott. The normal Nelson service saw two DC-3 flights a day, at 7am and at about 5pm with the Dominion newspaper being flown to Nelson on the morning service.

The Star reported on the arrival of the first flight to Christchurch: She swept in from the north through the cloud blanketing Christchurch Airport yesterday, hung for a brief moment over the main runway, then settled at the end of her inaugural freight run. Classic Air Ltd's 44-year old DC3 - ZK-AMR touched down shortly before 1 pm after an uneventful flight from Wellington with 2 tonnes of Railways Corporation cargo.

Classic Air's first flight into Christchurch on 15 September 1986
The Star, 16 September 1986

While the first flights operated as Classic Air the shareholding of the company had changed. Well established topdressing and engineering company Fieldair had purchased Alan McGreevey's majority shareholding and the company was rebranded as Fieldair Freight. ZK-AMR was still wearing Classic Air titles in February 1987 after which the Fieldair Freight logo was applied to the tail. Peter Vincent later sold his shareholding in the company and Fieldair became the sole shareholder.

Douglas DC-3 ZK-AMR with the Fieldair Freight titles at Queenstown on 24 October 1987...

...and in full Fieldair Freight colour scheme at Nelson on 14 January 1990.

Douglas DC-3C ZK-BBJ ended its topdressing career on the 5th of May 1987. It was then converted to a freighter and was registered to Fieldair Freight on the 18th of February 1988 joining ZK-AMR and ZK-AWP.

Douglas DC-3C ZK-BBJ in full Fieldair Freight colours at Nelson on14 August 1990

The Fieldair Freight service lasted for seven years and ended when Airwork won the contract to carry NZ Post's mail and parcels. The final services were flown on the 26th of March 1993.

Five months after the service ended Douglas DC-3C ZK-AWP was still looking quite sharp at Wanaka on 29 August 1993. It never wore the full Fieldair Freight colours.

Another Red Nose...

Joining Fly My Sky's BN Islander ZK-SFK with a red nose is stablemate ZK-PIZ. Thanks to MRC Aviation for these pics taken on 7 September 2017

 

Auckland Internationals

A look at the international arrivals at Auckland on Sunday 6 September 2017

Air Asia X's Airbus 330 (M-XXH arriving from Kuala Lumpur.
The special livery remembers its the company's Group Chief Operating Officer Anaz Ahmad Tajuddin who died earlier this year.

Setting off on the world's longest scheduled route, Auckland to Doha, is Qatar Airway's Boeing 777-200 A7-BBA

Arriving from Guangzhou, China Southern's Airbus 330 B-6135

On the taxi for departure, Cathay Pacific's Airbus 350 B-LRO

Arriving from Sydney LATAM's Boeing 787-9 CC-BGC

Coming in from Brisbane, locally based Dassault Falcon 900EX N146EX

FedEx's McDonnell Douglas MD-11F N572FE arrives from Honolulu 

My first photos of Air New Zealand's Boeing 787-9 ZK-NZK

and repainted Airbus 320 ZK-OJO

Qantas Airbus 330 VH-EBP

Another Fly My Sky Variation

Another Fly My Sky scheme to look out for... Painted over the weekend, BN Islander ZK-SFK is now wearing a red nose for Red Nose Day. Red Nose Day is Cure Kids’ biggest annual appeal, aiming to raise $1 million for child health research. This year, Red Nose Day is taking place during the month of September, with Red Nose Day itself on September 29th.

Thanks to Grant from Fly My Sky for sending the pics and well done Fly My Sky for supporting the cause.

For bookings on Fly My Sky see http://www.flymysky.co.nz/

For my profile on Fly My Sky see http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nz/2011/11/fly-my-sky.html