NZ5235

Auckland to New Plymouth


I was able to checkin just in time for my flight to New Plymouth. However as the AKL-NPL-AKL flights were booked separately, I could only check in for my first flight, not the return. I managed to find a Check In person and got her to manipulate the system to check me in for my NPL-AKL flight. With two boarding passes in hand, I made my way down to the departure gates

NZ5235 to Auckland, Seat 17D

A boarding call was made over 15minutes later than the ETD. I was eager to get going, it was a bit of a risk this New Plymouth jaunt. I didnt want to miss my connection back to Whakatane. We had one of the far regional gates. I had seat 17D for the trip down to Taranaki, right at the back of our rear loading ATR 72-500. Upon boarding I was excited to see our older ATR 72 had been fitted out with the new ATR 72-600 interior. It looked very smart and clean.

Seat Back of the new ATR 72 interior. 

We took off to the West, climbing over a gloomy Manukau Harbour. The Plane was rather full, luckily the seat next to me remained empty. We climbed to 16.000ft and made our way south.

Leaving the Coast behind

We seemed to head quite away out to see, before turning to head more towards Taranaki.

Front making its way towards the North Island Coastline

The Captain came on to announce very miserable conditions in New Plymouth. He mentioned that the airport was only a tiny bit below crosswind limits for the ATR, and only one attempt at landing will be made otherwise the aircraft will turnaround and head back to Hamilton or Auckland. Hamilton, seemed I was doomed to end up there that day.

We started our descent into a bleak Taranaki morning.

Descending into New Plymouth

On passing through the cloud layer we were pushed around a bit by the strong winds. On approach to the airport, it seemed the wind intensified and it was a really hair raising landing. In my top five for sure!

We taxied to the terminal, and shut down. It was a horrid walk from the aircraft to the terminal, the wind was whipping sea mist everywhere.

My ride to New Plymouth, Mount Cook Airlines ATR 72-500, ZK-MCY

Auckland to New Plymouth

Aircraft: ATR 72-500
Rego: ZK-MCY
Seat: 17D
Flight Time 44minutes