West Auckland Airport Parakai is available for General Aviation, drop-in visitors welcome. Radio 123.5 in MBZ.  Due to frequent skydiving, please join downwind, base or final (not overhead).  Visitor parking by the hangars down taxiway

North Shore Airport NZNE,  Temporary Closure:   North Shore NZNE will be closed temporarily from 17:00 on Monday 17th June to 08:00 on Tuesday 18th, as notammed.    Check notams before using NZNE on Tuesday 18th in case of any postponement or delay in reopening.

Application for Airport Authority status:   The time period for submissions to the Ministry of Transport on our application is now completed, and we wish to thank the many people who we know took the time to make a submission.   This is greatly appreciated.

Reminder of Summer...   Pauanui NZUN.   John Issott (instructor) took this photo on a cross country flight with his student to Pauanui.   As Pauanui is on the East side of the Coromandel Peninsula, its necessary to cross the range to get there from Auckland.  Often its possible to go over the top as the clouds just form a thin line along the range with clear air both sides, but that only works if the tops are low enough to let you over below the Auckland international Airport NZAA approach airspace, which is around 6500ft in this area.  Usually there are gaps near Whitianga, or you can cross 20 miles north at Colville town.   In strong SW winds there can be quite strong turbulence in the lee of the ranges and its necessary to climb level above the tops out to sea before going over.

Pauanui is a good place for a student cross country with instructor...  technically challenging enough to teach the decision making when crossing mountain ranges, and a nice place to visit too.  Good cafes in the village 500m to the SE of the airfield.

John Issott photo.

Hangar Doors...   Doors on aircraft hangars have a well deserved reputation for being unforgiving...   they have to be large enough to clear a wide span, light enough to be easy to operate, and also strong enough to hold back a considerable area of windage without blowing in during a storm.   A combination of factors similar to aircraft themselves, and like aircraft they also tend to be expensive to fix...  :(

The Airport Manager, Simon Lockie, writes:

Hello All,

Recently one of the hangar doors was damaged by incorrect operation followed by a well-meaning attempt to fix it which unfortunately made matters worse.

This required a call out by a door specialist followed by a bill for $800.

Please be careful and take your time with the doors. In the future repair bills will be passed on.

Special instructions are not unique to this hangar either, hangar doors are by their nature large, complicated, expensive and get messy quickly if things go wrong – Much like aeroplanes.

Many hangars will have a specific set of operating instructions for the doors.

If any group of people should be able to reliably follow a simple list of procedures, it should be us pilots.

If you are not sure, please ask someone.  

Instructors: Please ensure you brief all your students on these procedures.

How to Open the Doors:

• Press UP buttons.
• Touch absolutely NOTHING else until the doors have come to a stop.
• Stay close to the buttons in order to stop the doors if anything unusual occurs.
• Visually check that both lower door rollers are clear of the mullion track.
• Unlock the pins and slowly slide the mullion to the side.
  • Don’t let the mullion hit the stops at the end of the track at speed. They are only there as a backup. You should slow the mullion.
• Secure the lower Mullion pins.

How to Close the Doors:

• Unlock and slowly slide the mullion to the centre.
  • Don’t let the mullion hit the stops at the end of the track at speed. They are only there as a backup. You should slow the mullion.
• Secure the Mullion pins Top & Bottom.
• Visually check the pins are secure and the mullion tracks are aligned with the stationary door tracks above.
• Press DOWN buttons.
• Touch absolutely NOTHING else until the doors have come to a stop.
• Stay close to the buttons in order to stop the doors if anything unusual occurs.

If the doors appear to be moving unevenly or strangely, stop them immediately by pressing the button.

Let me know if anything is unclear, or if there are any point to add to these lists.

Regards,

Simon Lockie

Airport Manager
West Auckland Airport, Parakai

W: www.westaucklandairport.co.nz     
P: 09 420 8010

M: 021 354 458             

Whangarei Heads: Flying between Manaia and Whangarei Heads, heading south past the Oil Refinery at Marsden Point.   This is a scenic area, and nice to visit with a stop for lunch at the excellent cafe at Whangarei Airport... or to visit the Whangarei Flying Club at their base at the Western end of the hangar row.  

There are a few points to be aware of in this area:

-- A flight training area for Whangarei NZWR is just north of here at Ocean Beach (just behind the aircraft in this photo).

-- There is a restricted area of around 1 nm centered on the refinery, so go around rather than over it...  quite apart from the legalities, could spoil your day if you were overhead when they had some kind of emergency and needed to flare off the product under high pressure in the retorts. 

-- Fishing kites are often flown off the long beach south of the refinery (Ruakaka and Waipu beaches), and not always below the 500ft limit.  So if there is an offshore wind, its best to fly down on the landward side... or quite a bit higher and close to the beach.    Kites have been seen well above and out to sea of an aircraft flying at 600ft down this beach.

Whangarei Heads.  Mainaia Mountain to the right and Marsden Point Oil Refinery on the point in the centre.  Whangarei Heads mountain just off the picture to the left.

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Coming Events:

COROMANDEL NZCX:  Second Sunday of each month from 12:30. Clubhouse Ph 07 866 2055. Click here for airfield details.

WHANGAREI NZWR: Last Saturday of each month at hangar 10, the Western end of the row of hangars.  Whangarei Flying Club meeting at 10:30 with lunch to follow.  Clubhouse phone 09 436 4053.  Click here for airfield details.

MATAMATA NZMA:   Last Sunday of every month from 12 noon. BBQ flyin.  BYO meat for BBQ + gold coin.  Click here for airfield details.

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Tower and Engineering