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Post by expatkiwi on Aug 30, 2012 13:50:14 GMT 12
Being old enough to remember flying on NAC Friendships (and a DC-3) though I never flew in a Vicount, I remember the (lone) steward on friendship flights handing out sweets.
I had thought that the pitot tube on the friendship's port wing was a machine gun, and that the view of the glowing exhaust on the Rolls Royce Engines meant that the plane was on fire.
My most memorable NAC flight was from Auckland to Wellington where the airport had just opened after several days of gale-force winds had closed it. Still, the winds were high enough so that the approach was definitely a bounce-and-a-half. After we landed and the hatch was opened, my cap blew away in the strong winds... Still, I was sad at the merger of NAC to Air New Zealand.
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Post by beagle on Aug 30, 2012 16:17:36 GMT 12
Lost count of how many times I flew across the ditch from Blenheim to Wellington and back.
Pretty sure it had all gone Air NZ by the time i was doing it but there were a few hairy rides.
first flight was a scenic flight around Dunedin in a Viscount, way back in around 72-74.
From memory it the huge price of $2
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Post by TS on Aug 30, 2012 18:29:59 GMT 12
I can remember my very first flight with NAC back 1966. It was a flight from Auckland to Christchurch in a Vicount. I can still see those props starting to turn..... Ahhhh wouldnt it be nice to see that again, any four engined prop aircraft really....in the skies at an airshow. ( Dreams are free arent they?)
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Post by slackie on Aug 30, 2012 20:50:00 GMT 12
Remember flying to CH on a Viscount ex PM or WN I think?? Can't remember many details.
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Post by beagle on Aug 30, 2012 21:03:34 GMT 12
Never flown on a DC-8 or 747.
Ya don't see too many heavies on the main trunk routes, but I did catch a flight in a DC10 from CHC to AKL on a sunday night.
Then once the other way during a week day on a B767. I had been at the bar a few hours before boarding and the guy I was seated next to up and left after me rambling on and on about some thing while he was trying to concentrate on something important on his lap top.
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Post by jonesy on Aug 30, 2012 21:21:25 GMT 12
My elder sister was a hostie for NAC, I remember seeing photos of her in her uniform, must have been on DC-3's. My first experience was Wgtn to Akl on a 737, with my name and address written on a piece of card tied to my shirt, going to visit relatives. Incredible experiences for just a young chap!
Just to note, I no longer need my name and address on that piece of cardboard attached to my clothes.....
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Post by Peter Lewis on Aug 30, 2012 21:28:04 GMT 12
Back in the day, we got free flights to WN on NAC for AHSNZ committee meetings.
This was supposed to be subload on Saturdays only, as that was their quietest day of the week.
Once, turned up at the WN domestic terminal to find that the 737 back to AK was either full or cancelled (can't remember which).
Was offered the alternatives of either staying overnight in WN and flying back on the Sunday morning or taking a Friendship flight back to AK that night.
Friendship was flying WN-NR-GS-TG-AK, so you can guess which option I took.
I think the total trip time was something like four hours, but hey it was great fun.
Lets face it, I had no plans for the rest of the night anyway.
I remember on one leg - Gisborne to Tauranga I think - I was the only pax on board.
A good insight on how the rich and famous travel.
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Post by beagle on Aug 30, 2012 21:32:19 GMT 12
oh the drone of 4 hours. mind you, you might have been able to get a few 40 winks in there somewhere.
Did ya wait till the hostie was in the cockpit then go and raid the tea trolley for lollies and biscuits.
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Post by beagle on Aug 30, 2012 21:33:14 GMT 12
Just to note, I no longer need my name and address on that piece of cardboard attached to my clothes..... but your t shirts and undies have iron on tags still  ? |
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Post by jonesy on Aug 30, 2012 21:53:19 GMT 12
Just to note, I no longer need my name and address on that piece of cardboard attached to my clothes..... but your t shirts and undies have iron on tags still ? Yep- just in case I get REALLY lost! |
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Post by beagle on Aug 30, 2012 22:01:38 GMT 12
I have accidently taken someone elses bag home with me after aflight. It was exactly the same as mine.
Once home and started to unpack, oops, rang the airline and they said that mine was still there and some angry customer was after his.
Only a few months later the same thing happened but this time I checked it, oops not mine, hid it behind a pole away from the carosel then spotted this guy about to go out the door with mine so managed to catch up with him and ask for my bag. He gave me a funny look so told him to open it. So where's mine he said, buggered if I know I replied.
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Post by andym on Aug 30, 2012 22:04:55 GMT 12
My 1st flight was apparently in a Viscount although I was too young to remember that. My mother was a flight attendant on DC3's, Viscounts and F27's and up until last month I was flying F27's, my favourite turboprop. My last night on the Fokker was in ZK-NAO. We are almost the same age  |
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Post by beagle on Aug 30, 2012 22:12:11 GMT 12
So you would have some good flying experiences to share with us.
Nothing with "plummetting" in it as it scares all of us.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 30, 2012 22:23:05 GMT 12
My only memories of NAC are from MOTAT and Ferrymead, all before my time it seems.
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Post by beagle on Aug 30, 2012 22:25:54 GMT 12
take it Cambridge wasn't that big enough for a stop
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 30, 2012 22:59:49 GMT 12
We have Rukuhia (Hamilton) airport just down the road Beagle - much closer to my home than Harewood is to your's.
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Post by expatkiwi on Aug 31, 2012 2:43:43 GMT 12
The longest NAC Friendship flight I was on was from Auckland to Nelson back in 1974. I was 10 at the time, loved airplanes, and thought that such a long direct flight to Nelson (previous trips had stopovers in Wellington) would involve a Viscount. I was disappointed on that latter score.
I vaguely remembered (I must have been six at the time) boarding a plane with my parents and asking my mother why the aisle was uphill. I didn't know that that I was in an NAC DC-3. I had thought it magic that once the plane had taken off that the aisle was level...
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 31, 2012 13:08:07 GMT 12
My parents were on the last ever NAC Friendship flight to Norfolk Island, then a week later came home on Air New Zealand. I can find out the dates from Mum if you want.
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Post by expatkiwi on Aug 31, 2012 14:45:38 GMT 12
My parents were on the last ever NAC Friendship flight to Norfolk Island, then a week later came home on Air New Zealand. I can find out the dates from Mum if you want. I do remember a TV short that showed an NAC pilot talking about him taking the last NAC flight. Two days later, Eye Witness news showed the friendship landing, an interview with the captain and the last passenger to disembark the plane, then the plane being taken into a hangar and the Air New Zealand lettering and koru being applied to the tail and forward fuselage, obliterating the NAC Godwit and lettering. I was only 14 then, but I did realize that an era had ended. |
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Post by Tony on Aug 31, 2012 19:55:15 GMT 12
My first flight ever was Wellington - Woodbourne on ZK-BXB not long after it was repaired after it settled onto it's wing after a MLG folded (no u/c pin?) So I guess 1961/62? I would have been about 11 or 12 at the time. Flew solo as well. Returned on ZK-BXD and diverted to Paraparaumu. Window seats both ways  |
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