Wellies before the storm

[flyjoe180]

Crystal blue skies and a strong but not unpleasant northerly breeze preceded the three days of thunder storms, lightning and strong winds which we have had here. Flying in and out of Wellington the last week has been interesting to say the least. Anyway, some photos...

Wellington Aviation operate a few Beech Be77 Skippers (Tomahawk lookalikes - sorry Skipper fans, unsure how else to describe them) and this machine, a Beech C23 Sundowner 180. I had never seen one before.








The usual traffic, sorry but we don't have Spitfires test flying here at the moment.










These Sounds Air guys are really busy



Sometimes its nice to just watch others at work


Has anyone noticed the upper windows on the Air NZ 737's are covered or painted over Why is this?

[vs]

all new 737 NG's now no longer come with "eye brow windows" They are no longer required as TCAS and advances in radar control now mean looking out for traffic is as much of an issue. Would also save abit of weight and maintenance time

[vs]

your pictures remind me of how amazing Wellington is to fly into on a nice day!!!!! The Metro can sure give you a good work out on a windy day with those small ailerons!!!!!

[flyjoe180]

Thanks vs, it was something I noticed after I took that photo. I guess it also shields from the sun a bit better too. And yes, the Metro certainly can provide plenty of entertainment in the wind

[flyjoe180]

By the way VS, Happy Birthday!

[vs]

haha...cheers! I used to find sometimes the hardest part about flying metros into Wellington could be taxying into the gate....quite a hand full and certainly needs both crew to be on the ball!

[flyjoe180]

Which company did you fly Metro's for? What are you flying now, just out of interest (I noticed you seem to get to manage visits to a lot of aviation museums around the world!)

[vs]

I flew the Metro for Air Chathams and Airwork. Fly Boeing 747 400 now

[flyjoe180]

I noticed recently that not all the 'brow' (is this what they are called?) windows are blanked off on the 737-300's. Are the blanked off versions a feature of later production models?

[corsair67]

Joe, none of the most recently delivered Virgin Blue or QANTAS B737-700/800s are built with the brow windows installed, as can be seen in the following photos:

www.airliners.net/open.file/1266764/L/

www.airliners.net/open.file/1258434/L/

www.airliners.net/open.file/1239208/L/

Although as can be seen in the following photo, some of the earlier 737-700/800s that both airlines recieved still have them:

www.airliners.net/open.file/1174183/L/

I think that it was last year sometime when Boeing stopped adding the brow windows to the 737 airframes.

[corsair67]

Joe, I was wrong!!!!

Here's a Boeing media release:

SEATTLE, Jan. 26, 2005 -- Boeing [NYSE:BA] this week rolled out its first 737 without eyebrow windows, the four small windows above the front windshield. In the past the eyebrow windows helped provide better crew visibility, but today's advanced navigation systems have made those windows obsolete.

The design change reduces airplane weight by 20 pounds and eliminates approximately 300 hours of periodic inspections per airplane.

Retrofit kits to cover eyebrow windows will be available mid-2006 for the in-service 737 fleet.

[flyjoe180]

That explains it all then, cheers Craig. 300 hours of periodic inspection time is a lot! Some of the Air NZ -300's must be retrofitted with the blanks.

[thegrandvizier]

They're putting the blanks in as the checks are done. I think NQC's will be safe for a little longer, the next big check due July '08

[flyjoe180]

but today's advanced navigation systems have made those windows obsolete.

Umm, you reckon you could put NQC in that category?

[thegrandvizier]

You make a good point! :-)

[vs]

I imagine the eye brow windows must be heated to require that much maintenance over the years.