Not sure how they snuck the Globemaster in but they did.....

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Not sure how they snuck the Globemaster in but they did.....

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#2138811 3-Dec-2018 20:29

As a side since it's come up a few times.. Same model, different mission/role. Antarctic mission (20 return trips) are done for the season until January when they start pulling back out again.

Here we see 3 different 'tails'. McChord/green tend to do bulk logistics. Charleston/yellow are occasional (presumed DoD or specialist crew) and Stewart/black seem to do a personal/staff drop/pickup at each end of season

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#2138812 3-Dec-2018 20:29

freitasm:

I've moved this thread to Transport although was tempted to move to Politics...

Agree. A simple topic about C17's turns into a political fest. Sigh

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#2138813 3-Dec-2018 20:34

timmmay:

Did it have three engines? We saw a HUGE grey plane that looked like it had three engines approach Wellington airport from the north on Sunday late afternoon.

4 engines. Its not huge, but its way cool. Im in ChCh, they had Starlifters, and C5 Galaxy's. The C17 isnt big. They have a walk through each year here. I work from home, I am in view of the flight path! Its cool

I also saw some fighter jets the other day, checked NZRAF we dont have any, the A5 Skyhawk are mothballed (and shrinkwrapped) so it may have been OZ aircraft. Same day there was an RNZAF 757, so must be related

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#2138815 3-Dec-2018 20:40

tdgeek:

I also saw some fighter jets the other day, checked NZRAF we dont have any, the A5 Skyhawk are mothballed (and shrinkwrapped) so it may have been OZ aircraft. Same day there was an RNZAF 757, so must be related

Can't gauge them on that anymore :/ C130/757 do a 3-weekly rotation for movements from the other bases to/from Burnham so here more often than we realise. And Outside that when running with KIW callsigns usually on international/chartered duties.

What day was it, I can troll the logs and see, I've not been made aware of any Jets visiting, but there has been a few RAAF tankers and a BBJ training. And the Strikemaster has been out and about visiting its sister up north.

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#2138824 3-Dec-2018 20:59

tdgeek:

4 engines. Its not huge, but its way cool. Im in ChCh, they had Starlifters, and C5 Galaxy's. The C17 isnt big. They have a walk through each year here. I work from home, I am in view of the flight path! Its cool

I also saw some fighter jets the other day, checked NZRAF we dont have any, the A5 Skyhawk are mothballed (and shrinkwrapped) so it may have been OZ aircraft. Same day there was an RNZAF 757, so must be related

Must've been the angle.

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#2138836 3-Dec-2018 21:13

Oblivian:

tdgeek:

I also saw some fighter jets the other day, checked NZRAF we dont have any, the A5 Skyhawk are mothballed (and shrinkwrapped) so it may have been OZ aircraft. Same day there was an RNZAF 757, so must be related

Can't gauge them on that anymore :/ C130/757 do a 3-weekly rotation for movements from the other bases to/from Burnham so here more often than we realise. And Outside that when running with KIW callsigns usually on international/chartered duties.

What day was it, I can troll the logs and see, I've not been made aware of any Jets visiting, but there has been a few RAAF tankers and a BBJ training. And the Strikemaster has been out and about visiting its sister up north.

My history tells me nothing, so it was only on FR24 I looked, but maybe a week ago, give or take a day or so

It was a fighter jet, it has LARGE wing end attachments, I assumed extender fuel tanks

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#2138841 3-Dec-2018 21:21

30/11 or the 1/12?

No ZK-VPR, but we had a Learjet 36A that did a medical evacuation Saturday morning and left N51GJ https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N51GJ/history/20181130/2010Z/NZCH/NSTU meeting that description

Look like that from below

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8828569

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#2138844 3-Dec-2018 21:25

Oblivian:

30/11 or the 1/12?

No ZK-VPR, but we had a Learjet 36A that did a medical evacuation Saturday morning and left N51GJ https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N51GJ/history/20181130/2010Z/NZCH/NSTU meeting that description

Look like that from below

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8828569

Quite possibly. Same wing end tanks, it had a red emblem on the tail, Id not expect to be seeing it that early, might it have landed the night/late afternoon before? It was landing not taking off

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#2139221 4-Dec-2018 13:06

timmmay:

Did it have three engines? We saw a HUGE grey plane that looked like it had three engines approach Wellington airport from the north on Sunday late afternoon.

C17 is roughly 3/4 the length/width & weight of a Jumbo, with similar engines, but has a much fatter fuselage to accommodate bulky loads, so they are not a small plane by any stretch of the imagination and one of the biggest aircraft that can get in and out of Wellingtons short runway.

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#2139246 4-Dec-2018 13:57

@sbiddle I agree the C-17 is a big as is probably more than we need to replace the entire fleet of C130s but maybe one could be useful. The remaining aging C130s could be replaced with the C130J or the Airbus A400. We need capability to land in dodgy places like Waiouru something I doubt a laden C-17 could do.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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#2139248 4-Dec-2018 13:58

tripper1000:

C17 is roughly 3/4 the length/width & weight of a Jumbo, with similar engines, but has a much fatter fuselage to accommodate bulky loads, so they are not a small plane by any stretch of the imagination and one of the biggest aircraft that can get in and out of Wellingtons short runway.

But its got no cargo and will likely be carrying a light fuel load on Takeoff-

You could probably get an empty A380 in and out if you tried real hard....

Air NZ landed a 747-200 at Wellington back in the late '80s as a test of whether it could be used as an emergency alternate

and United actually did land a 747-200 after a flight from Honolulu was unable to land in Auckland in 1991 when it was deemed unable to get to CHC)

(The below photo is not Photo-shopped)

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#2139269 4-Dec-2018 14:41

Majority of the 747 visits were in desperation and or empty tests When not the NasaSOFIA/QF 747SP age which were perfect for it. Seems the US detour was due to minimum fuel load if it continued to CHC

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/back-in-the-day-air-nz-lands-a-boeing-747-jumbo-at-wellington-airport

As for an A380, You would be in a whole lot of doodoo if you were to do so.

Not rated runway, or taxiways for the width/clearance requirements let alone the weight bearing. (Note CHC and AKL have upgraded parking stands to stop sinking into tarmac..)

I suspect the paperwork has changed for the higher powered/capable -400 models these days to not allow it anymore.

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#2139271 4-Dec-2018 14:45

I was only comparing for a relative size difference for an observer on the ground.There's not much point comparing the 747 vs C-17 they are designed for different jobs. C-17 is a tactical STOL aircraft, so is designed to operate out of shorter (even unpaved) airstrips than the 747. B747 is designed for cheap tickets to a holiday destination.

C17 can land in at Max weight in 1/2 the length of Wellingtons runway (3,000 ft needed, 5,955 ft available) and get airborne with 170,000 lbs of cargo (but not max fuel as you say).

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#2139272 4-Dec-2018 14:47

Getting back to invisibility to FlightRadar and suchlike web-based aircraft trackers, presumably this particular aircraft had permission from Director of CAA to fly into Wellington without a transponder? Which I would have thought would be a significant headache for ATC.

Assuming it was just transporting that one guy, it seems a hell of an uncomfortable way for him to fly in and out of Wellington. If it was me, I would have preferred AirNZ, even cattle class.

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#2139276 4-Dec-2018 14:52

MikeB4:

The visit is probably serving a double purpose as the US is trying to sell the RNZAF Globemasters to replace the C130s

The C-17 production line has been closed for three years now, there aren't any more and never will be.
So the US aren't trying to sell them to anybody, especially not the RNZAF.

Gerry Brownlee, when Minister of Defence, initiated a study to see if we should buy the last two or three of the production line. Conclusion: they were waay to big for most of our use cases, and waay too expensive.

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