June 2013 - New Zealand

Zurich (LSZH) to Auckland (NZAA):
A bigger plane than I've flown in quite some time  but I made the non-stop, overnight flight without incident or trauma and even did a fair job on the hand-flown approach and landing despite limited visibility and some weather!
For this FOTM Bill has suggested (and Air New Zealand use) a 737 model with seating for 120-170 passengers. New Zealand also use the ATR-72 as an adjunct to the 737s. The EMB-190 was designed and built as a "niche" aircraft with seating up to around 120 passengers. Smaller than the 737 the E190 is also lighter which allows it to fly into smaller airports and can basically fill the roll (in this case) of both the 737 and the ATR-72. With fully electronic and fly-by-wire controls the Embraer is a very sleek and modern jetliner and will serve as my ride this month.
The first order of business was to paint one of my E190s in Air New Zealand livery. The second job was to download a partial, domestic timetable from Air New Zealand. The third job this month was to report to the airlines HQ in Auckland and present them with my plan of flying their routes in my "June, 2003 FOTM Commemorative Livery" EMB-190.
By sundown that first day I had my ANZ nametag clipped to my collar and a well-functioning cabin crew lined up I had only to pick my first officers, real-world routes and real-time weather downloads.
Flight 547: Auckland to Christchurch
After spending three hours getting all approved there wasn't a better way to start the month than with a flight. Since the Embraer is new to New Zealand I figure Joao should be my FO for this flight. After exchanging greetings I sent him into the cockpit to get the weights and measures and flightplan loaded while I conducted my external walk-around. (too bad this flight is after dark) With everyone loaded and tucked, cross-checks completed and all, we pushed back one minute late and followed directions to the active where we were second in line behind a 737. We waited at the hold-short point for a 738 and CRJ200 to land and then departed to the northwest into clear skies. The flight to Christchurch was smooth and uneventful and we made a straight-in approach landing long. Shut-down at the gate was 7 minutes late.
Flight 5001: Christchurch to Queenstown
Since this is the flight/leg that Bill wanted us to do for his FOTM he was the perfect choice for my First Officer on this leg. Also, since Bill is still in the 20th century with his "approach plates" and all, I wanted him to see a real, working RNP approach which according to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Required_navigation_performance is becoming more common. The first photo shown on the wiki page is of an RNP departure flown by a Qantas 738!) While Bill did the external morning checks I got the pre-start checklists done and the flightplan loaded. I could tell that Bill really tried to deny that he liked the look, feel and functionality of the Embraer cockpit; he kept comparing it to the Fokker 70/100. We departed southbound and headed down the coastline to our first RNP waypoint which got us turned and set-up to fly down the valley into Queenstown. In the real-world, RNPs allow an aircraft to fly through a 5-meter box at the same speed, day or night or in any kind of weather! FS is not nearly that accurate but with a constant speed and rate of descent set into the autopilot, we can safely and accurately fly closer to terrain even in IMC (which today was not). Even with a notable crosswind we were able to hold coarse. When the "ONE THOUSAND" callout came I tuned the A/P to a ROD of just 500 fpm. At the "FIVE HUNDRED" callout I disconnected the A/P and landed on the marks! Bill will never admit how impressed he was.
Flight 5042: Queenstown to Christchurch
It's a quick turn around but Bill needed to get back to Christchurch to supervise the other Club Pilots. We do not need an RNP for today's southbound departure but you can look for "Navigation 201" on FS.com to see how they can aid in a departure emergency!)
We departed southbound and continued up through 12,000 feet before turning back and crossing near the airport to pick up our route back to Christchurch At this point I gave Bill the controls and he landed smoothly, on the marks, 9 minutes early!
Flight 548: Christchurch to Auckland
I figured we could end the day on an "easy" flight back up to Auckland. I chose Brad for this flight figuring things wouldn't get messed up too badly - In fact, in order to ensure that he was focused on his job and not some joke I had Brad as the pilot flying for this leg. Many in this club will be surprised to learn that Brad is actually an accomplished pilot and we made the flight without incident. The rainy landing was atraumatic and he had us shut down at the gate on time.
Weekend Get-Away Charter:
While I can appreciate an old or historic airplane as much as the next guy, I don't do well with slogging along at slow speed for hours at a time. 1: I don't have that much sim time. 2: I get bored. So, I have taken some of my aircraft (Caravan, Otter, Baron) and fitted them with Texas Turbine Jet Engines. (we will explore that concept further next summer (2014)) For those that had arrived into New Zealand already I had planned a weekend-long, Flight Club Get-Away. We loaded into the Jet-Powered Rogue Air Baron Friday afternoon and departed from Hobson,  flying 522 miles down to Mt Cook. The Jet-Baron cruises nicely at 12,000 feet, making 250 knots ground speed which means that this leg only took 2.5 hours to complete.  "Weekend Ho!" Tired and well-rested we returned to Auckland Tuesday afternoon.
Flight 421: Auckland to Wellington
I took Wednesday off and on Thursday Tony and I took the ANZ EMB-190 on a short hop to the Nation's Capital. We arrived at the gate 13 minutes late and neither of us can figure out why.
Flight 5331: Wellington to Christchurch
The next flight on this Thursday was from Wellington to Christchurch and featured Peter as my FO.This time we arrived 2 minutes early.
Flight 5383: Christchurch to Queenstown
Our last flight on Thursday featured Hans as my Co-Pilot - he flew a much slower, much less-advanced Dash-7 for his FOTM ten years ago and was "blown away" by the efficiency of the RNP flown in an EMB-190. We went missed the first time by to show Hans how we can easily load any approach or departure RNP flightplan and ended up arriving thirty minutes late.
Flight 8046: Queenstown to Wellington
I took Friday off. Saturday Tim and I certainly needed the RNP departure because we couldn't see anything! It was an ILS run into Wellington.
Flight 8440: Wellington to Napier
On Sunday I met up with Rik and let him fly PIC for the short flight into Napier. We arrived seven minutes early.
Flight 8459: Napier to Wellington
Later Sunday evening I had Salina fly PIC back down to Wellington.
Flight 5051: Wellington to Christchurch
The next afternoon Alastair rode as my F.O. for our return flight back down to Christchurch. Flight 5356: Christchurch to Wellington
Very early the final morning in NZ Alejandro sat in the right seat as we headed back up to Wellington again.
Flight 412: Wellington to Auckland
Two hours after our arrival Dick was in the right seat for the short flight back to Auckland. The next morning, before dawn, I set off on a trans-pacific flight to Kona, HI in preparation for the July FOTM