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Otago Daily Times
09-08-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Queenstown airport's amazing 90-year flight path
In 1935, when the tiny Queenstown airfield was licensed to become an aerodrome, who'd have projected its growth over the following 90 years? In the first of a two-part series, Philip Chandler provides an overview of how it's become New Zealand's fourth busiest airport, tracking key milestones including controversy over its ownership. Next Thursday marks Queenstown Airport's 90th anniversary as a licensed airfield, however the first plane landed four years earlier, on January 4, 1931. A large crowd watched an NZ Airways Simmonds Spartan biplane land in the Frankton racecourse, with deputy mayor Bill Anderson officially welcoming Captain Trevor 'Tiny' White. A newspaper report said the racecourse "will probably be known in future years as the Queenstown airport", and noted nearby farmer Mr J.E. O'Connell had "harrowed a piece of ground especially for the landing". For a time the airfield also doubled as a golf course with golfers stopping play to let planes land. The first regular service from 1938 was the Wigley family's Queenstown-Mount Cook Airways — today's airport entrance is Sir Henry Wigley Dr. However, as a forerunner of Covid's effect on the operation, the airfield closed during World War 2 to become a Queenstown Home Guard training ground. After the war, several ex-WW2 pilots formed Southern Scenic Air Services, adding Milford to their scenic flights when its airstrip opened in 1952. In 1964, Mount Cook Airlines was licensed to fly in DC-3s, triggering the first terminal build and the lengthening of the grass runway. In 1968 the new Hawker Siddeley turboprops saw the runway and apron sealed. Former mayor Sir John Davies — whose late dad Bill managed Mount Cook Airline's light aircraft division from the airport— recalls passengers and their luggage being weighed at the airline's Rees St office, from where they were bussed directly to the plane for boarding. By '74, however, a new terminal had check-in facilities. At the time the airport was owned 60% by the three local councils — later amalgamated into Queenstown Lakes District Council — and 40% by the government. In '88, when the government was shedding assets, then-mayor Davies' QLDC bought the government's share for $3million, becoming the country's only council to own an airport outright — Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) was set up to run it. Davies also announced the board aimed to introduce jet services. "Within an hour, Christchurch Airport chairman Morgan Fahey rang me and said, 'young man, you don't understand aviation, you'll never get a jet into Queenstown'." That was proven wrong when Ansett NZ started a BAe 146 'whisper jet' service in '89 and Air NZ followed with Boeing jets in '92, hushkitted to soften their noise after a number of locals had campaigned against their introduction. In 1995, Air NZ introduced the first direct flight to Australia to turn the former airfield into a fully fledged international airport. Davies, who also had stints as QAC's chairman, says he also got airlines to agree to higher landing fees to fund terminal expansion, as sometimes passengers waited 45 minutes on the tarmac before using congested baggage and Customs areas. To his shock, QAC in 2010, with council support, sold 24.9% of the company to Auckland International Airport for $27.7m, claiming it would benefit from that airport's expertise and strategic connections. Davies was part of a Queenstown group who invested $365,000 in a legal battle to prevent the move, however there was an 11th-hour agreement whereby Auckland placed a lid on its shareholding — it had wanted an option to lift its stake to 50%. He estimates the airport's now worth about a billion dollars, "so what they sold for $27m would today be worth $250m". The sell-off also saw Queenstown's council foregoing 24.9% of all future dividends from the airport. Meantime, ZQN's continued expanding hugely — between 1995 and 2018, QAC invested $120m-plus in capital expenditure including four terminals, two control towers and six runway upgrades or extensions. In 2012, required navigation performance (RNP) technology greatly improved the reliability of jet services. Then in 2016 came another game-changer — the introduction of night flights, till 10pm, which spread the airport's operating hours. Improvements to pave the way for night flights cost about $20m. Today the airport's the fourth busiest in NZ and the only one, so far, to have jumped ahead of pre-Covid passenger numbers. And what used to be an airfield 'out of town', surrounded by Frankton Flats farmland, is now slap-bang in the midst of the Whakatipu Basin's main commercial and residential hub.
Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The world's first jump jet: How we got the legendary Harrier II
The Hawker Siddeley Kestrel was the aviation world's first jump jet, a Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (or V/STOL) aircraft, a milestone in aviation history. Originally known as the P.1127, it was later renamed the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel. Its evolution led to the British Aerospace Harrier and ultimately the McDonnell Douglas AV-8 Harrier II. No Runways After the Korean War, interest in V/STOL aircraft was high. Military planners and aircraft manufacturers believed the concept would eliminate the need for runways, which were vulnerable to air-launched runway denial munitions, as well as cannon and mortar fire. Designers began to research ways for military aircraft to take off vertically from small patches of open space. The Pegasus Engine The Pegasus vectored-thrust engine is the heart of the Kestrel/Harrier aircraft. The Pegasus moniker came from Bristol's tradition of naming their engines after classic mythology figures. Its original design and theory behind the vectored-thrust engine came from Michel Wibault, a French aviation designer. His design called for four harnessed rotatable jets, two of which were positioned on either side of the compressor for vertical lift, along with a main jet which was directed using a fixed central tailpipe. Development of the engine and aircraft began in 1957. Sir Stanley Hooker of the Bristol Aero Engine Company, along with Sir Sydney Camm and Ralph Hooper of Hawker Aircraft, started exploring ways to increase power while reducing the size and weight of the engine. By 1959, a working engine was ready for testing, but the thrust of the original engine was only 11,000 pounds instead of the promised 13,500 pounds. First Flight In October 1960, initial flights of the prototype were conducted with the aircraft tethered to the ground. This testing allowed the pilots to familiarize themselves with the hovering controls. In November 1960, the first untethered flights began, and by September 1961, the transition from vertical to horizontal flight was achieved. Summer In Paris In June 1963, the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 made its debut at the Paris Air Show. While it performed well for most of the demonstration, the landing didn't go well, as viewers watched the aircraft perform a 360-degree turn and then lose power, resulting in a hard landing that destroyed the undercarriage. Dreihundert Zwei! In 1965, a Tripartite Evaluation Squadron (TES) was formed at West Raynham, Norfolk, England, comprising top pilots from the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the United States of America. This team would conduct trials of the Kestrel FGA.1 for their respective air forces. West Germany sent Luftwaffe Col. Gerhard Barkhorn as their representative. Barkhorn, who gained notoriety for destroying a total of 301 aircraft during World War II, was testing one of the Kestrels on Oct. 13, 1965. As he was hovering, about to land, he cut the throttle approximately one meter above the ground. The Kestrel dropped like a stone, destroying the landing gear. Barkhorn climbed out of the cockpit and, while examining the damage, exclaimed, 'Driehundert Zwei!' German for '302.' Coming to America Following a meeting and a rumored unauthorized test flight between two Marine Corps pilots and representatives from Hawker Siddeley at the 1968 Farnborough Air Show, the Marine Corps decided it wanted the Harrier for close air support and carrier operations. As Hawker Siddeley produced the Harrier, an arrangement had to be made with the U.S. defense contractor McDonnell-Douglas to produce this foreign-made aircraft. Between 1971 and 1976, the Marine Corps procured 102 AV-8A Harriers and 8 TAV-8A two-seat training aircraft. Off To War In 1980, British Aerospace delivered the first of 57 FRS.1 Sea Harriers (also known as the 'Shar') to the Royal Navy. They proved their worth just two years later in 1982, when the United Kingdom went to war in the Falklands. Operating from carriers in the war zone off the coast of Argentina, they provided air defense for the British Task Force. They shot down 20 Argentinian aircraft with the loss of just two Harriers. AV-8B Harrier II In December 1983, the Marine Corps received its first upgraded Harrier II. This version was an extensive redesign of the AV-8A Harrier. The Harrier II was upgraded with a larger composite wing, an additional hardpoint on each side, an elevated cockpit, and an upgraded version of the Pegasus engine, producing 23,500 pounds of thrust. The Legacy The Harrier was an outstanding weapons system that served for decades through war and peace, but Father Time comes for everything sooner or later. By 2027, the last of the Marine Corps Harriers will be retired, and the squadrons will transition to the new kid in town: the Lockheed F-35B Lightning II. 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Toronto Star
26-04-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Cadillacs, corporate jets and war stories: Flying high with Canadian banking's former king of all he surveys
White with blue stripes and discreetly lettered CF-BNK, the Hawker Siddeley jet sat on the tarmac like an ocelot straining at an unaccustomed leash. An aircraft is the ultimate business status symbol, the corporate magic carpet awaiting the owner's bidding. A black Cadillac pulled up. Out clambered Bill Mulholland, chairman and CEO of Bank of Montreal from 1979 to 1989, with the measured gait of a man who knew that whomever he was meeting would patiently await his often belated arrival. Opinion articles are based on the author's interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
