Good day at Ardmore

[cwyckham]

I work at Ardmore airport in Auckland, New Zealand. It's a GA airport and is the busiest airport in NZ! It's a lot busier than Auckland International, but is uncontrolled. I've been on final with five other aircraft, and there's two parallel runways (one grass) with both sharing the same downwind. It can get a bit nuts.

This is a really cool airport sometimes. Not as cool as van Sant in PA, but not bad. Every once in a while the DC3 (actually, a Dakota) will fly in, you get Harvards taking off in formation a few times a week (three in formation today, great sound), and today I saw the Catalina land for the first time. What a great old aircraft.

They actually have sight-seeing trips over the city on Sundays in both the DC3 and Catalina, but I haven't done it yet.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

Yeah, busy airports can be a lot of fun, even if they have a tower, that's why I like Boeing Field, WA.
Nice PIX of the the Catalina.

 

[cwyckham]

The DC3 just landed as well. My office points to the downwind leg, so if something interesting goes by, I have time to run out front and watch them land. Sorry for the poor picture quality, they're from a camera phone.

 

[flyersfan31]

Nice pix! Thanks for sharing. That's a lot more interesting than the airports I've lived near!

 

[HPNFlyGirl]

I am jealous. You have an office with a runway view.

 

[gkainz]

I am jealous. You have an office with a runway view.

So do I. Wish is was "a runway with an office view"!

 

[ausrere]

I am jealous. You have an office with a runway view.

If my office had a runway view, I'd get ZERO work done!

Went to a two week technical school in Colorado Springs once where I was seated next to a window that had an excellent view of the Air Force Academy's runway with operations towing up gliders and landing jumpers. I still don't have a clue what that class was about.

 

[cwyckham]

I am jealous. You have an office with a runway view.

Well, technically it's an office with a downwind leg view. But that gives me enough time to run out the door and see the runway for important landings like the DC3 or Catalina. It helps that the cool airplanes tend to sound cool so that I'll look out the window and see what's going by.

I'm also in the same building as the aero club that I'm a member of, so I can walk out the door and go for a fly on my lunch hour.

Chris

 

[HPNFlyGirl]

I'm also in the same building as the aero club that I'm a member of, so I can walk out the door and go for a fly on my lunch hour.

Chris

Sucks to be you. Man...if I want to fly during my lunch hour I have to end up taking off the rest of the day. Which is what 1/2 a day.

Oh....how I miss working for the airlines. Miss the smell of jet fuel in the morning.