Neha Jain: http://newzealandaviationnews.blogspot.com/11

1. Behind the Scenes: How Boeing Delivered Air New Zealand’s First 777-300ER
Dinner hosted at the Experience Music Project in downtown Seattle the night before the delivery.

Air New Zealand’s first Boeing 777-300ER was recently delivered to the airline, then flown to Los Angeles before heading to Auckland. Being able to show off the new interior was quite exciting. This was a huge deal for Air New Zealand, Boeing and airline geeks around the world. Boeing and Air New Zealand worked hard to make sure the hand over was not a small celebration and I wanted to share what happens behind-the-scenes on a VIP aircraft delivery.

The event really started the day before the delivery. Boeing employees, Air New Zealand guests, the media and other VIP’s were invited to take a special tour of the Boeing factory and attend a celebratory dinner. Due to scheduling I had to choose to either take a tour of the factory (which I have done quite a bit previously) or take a ride down to LAX on the new plane. Needless to say, I didn’t make the tour.

After the factory tour, people were invited to dinner, which was hosted at the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum in downtown Seattle. The dinner was quite the fancy affair. “The venue - Experimental Music Project (EMP) was a good fit for the delivery dinner as it followed ANZ ’s branding of clean, modern, sleek, technologically advanced and fun as well as all the lighting etc that are part of their new interior and product,” Linda Lee with Boeing International Communications explained to me.

Everyone was in business suits and fancy h’orderves and drinks were being served when I arrived. Although we had free access to roam the facility, I decided to stay and talk with Air New Zealand and Boeing folks. We were housed in a very large room with a huge LED wall with an Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300ER displayed on the wall. On either side was a projected Air New Zealand logo and on the other a Boeing logo. The purple hue of the lights really matched the feeling of the inside of Air New Zealand’s new 777-300ER.

The Future of Flight's Gallery was closed off for the delivery celebration. Where you see the projector screen were the large doors that opened to reveal the new 777-300ER (click for larger).

After things calmed down we all sat in our assigned seats. Sitting on one side of me was Andrew Baker who is the Cultural and Customer Ambassador and on the other was David Wilson who is the Boeing 777 Deputy Fleet Manager and was one of the pilots taking the new 777 to Auckland. Cool. I care very little about celebrities on TV or in movies. For me, these people are celebrities. It was wonderful speaking with them and the rest of the guests at the table about airlines, airplanes and the whole business.

Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren of NYCAviation, who was also covering the event, pointed out that he enjoyed how Air New Zealand set up the seating. “Air New Zealand peppered in more than just the communications staff at the media tables. We had David, the first officer, and Chris, one of the premium cabin flight attendants at our table among others. To get their perspectives and pick their brains provided a much more frank and real discussion; one you may not have had at a table with only communications staff parroting talking points.” Oh yes, the food was not too shabby either.

What kind of dinner would it be with out those special speeches? There was a lot of thanks and appreciation that was shared between both companies and it was all well deserved. Although the dinner was a very fun and informational event, one couldn’t help but be excited about actually seeing the plane the next day.

Being December in Seattle, I was expecting rain. The airline-delivery gods were smiling on us and gave us one beautiful day. Our flight was scheduled to leave from Paine Field at 3pm, but were asked to show up at the Future of Flight by 10am. I really didn’t know the full plan for the day and I was totally fine with that. I knew I was there at 10am, plane was leaving at 3pm and I had my return flight back to Seattle. Everything else was going to be an adventure.

Going outside to check out Air New Zealand's Boeing 777-300ER for the first time.

When most airplanes are delivered to an airline there isn’t a huge ceremony. On the east side of the airport, Boeing has a building where the airline’s crew will show up, some paperwork is signed and the aircraft is flown off. Actually during the ceremony, two other airlines took delivery of other Boeing 777-300ERs: Qatar and Turkish Airlines with little fanfare. But with certain milestones, airlines like to make a little bigger deal about their delivery. “Events and deliveries vary based on the airline customer i.e. Is it a first of model, milestone delivery, participation and attendance levels etc. This obviously was a large event as it was ANZ’s First 777-300ER and the world introduction of their new interior and branding,” Lee stated.

On the Future of Flight’s gallery floor there was a large stage and chairs set up. The gallery was closed to the general public during this event, but it provides one heck of a backdrop for celebrating an airplane. After some more speeches and some paperwork signed, Boeing handed over the keys — literally. Now, the keys aren’t used to actually start the plane, but I was told they do access the cockpit door. At this point, the airplane is no longer Boeing’s and belongs to the airline (well the bank I guess). After the handshakes and big smiles, the large hangar doors opened to show the shiny new Boeing 777-300ER.

Since this was a few days before Christmas (er, non-denominational holiday time-frame) there was a Santa and two elves dancing around the plane with a big sign that read “Happy Holiday Air NewZealand!” I got too caught up looking at the new plane, others caught something a bit more touching. “Another correspondent working the event noted that he saw a few welled up eyes on the team as the doors pulled back – and I’m not surprised.” Dwyer-Lindgren explained to me. “To be able to share in that excitement and witness the deep pride they felt for their company and their plane was really something special.” The event was more than just getting a new airplane.

Me and Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren (with NYC Aviation) show off our boarding passes before getting on board at Paine Field.

Before any of us could take a look inside, Mr. Baker, in traditional garb, blessed the aircraft. Then it was finally time: checking out the inside. Since my blog about the interior already goes over that part of the event, I will skip it on this one. After we all had our tour, it was back into the Future of Flight’s gallery for some food and networking while we waited for the aircraft to be prepared for flight. This was a good time for most media-types to start writing out stories and checking the photos they took.

2. Light plane crash at Omaka airfield

A student pilot from Oman walked away from a light aircraft crash at Omaka Airfield near Blenheim just after 3pm today.

The 21-year-old flying student from the Nelson Aviation College has been in New Zealand for 11 months, a reporter at the scene was told.

Police said he was a little shaken but was not injured, after the crash.

The Cessna ZK-FGE reportedly came in for a routine landing at 65 knots, the plane bounced, a wheel collapsed and it went up on its nose before coming to a stop.

Vince Gardner, who flies with the Marlborough Aero Club, was second on the scene. He saw the plane crashed on its nose. He and another person who rushed to the crashed plane checked the pilot was all right, and turned the power off the plane, he said.

Omaka Airfield is a club field about 5km from Blenheim.

3. Emergency landing plane flies to Nelson
The Air Nelson Bombardier Q300 which made an emergency landing at Blenheim Airport on Wednesday has been flown to Nelson Airport for repair.

The flight from Hamilton to Wellington was diverted to Blenheim Airport after it could not lower its nose wheel.

The plane made a smooth emergency landing and no-one was hurt.

A spokeswoman from Air New Zealand, the parent company of Air Nelson, said the plane was moved yesterday.

The Civil Aviation Authority issued a special permit to fly the plane with its landing gear fixed in place to Nelson Airport, where it will be repaired.

A Bombardier engineer has flown from the company's base in Canada to help investigate the failure.

Air New Zealand had no plans to ground its fleet of 23 Bombardier aircraft after the nose-wheel failure, the second failure involving a nose wheel in just over four months.

A different Air Nelson Q300 made an emergency landing at Blenheim on September 30 last year.

Air NZ's Bombardier fleet has an average age of 3.8 years.

An Air NZ spokeswoman, Andrea Dale, said the two nose-wheel incidents did not appear to be related after first inspection by Air Nelson engineers.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) media manager Bill Sommer said the fault occurred on a different plane from last time, and was not exactly the same fault, so it was not considered a common problem with the fleet.

The CAA would want to know from a Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report what caused the landing gear to fail, he said.

The TAIC report on the September 30 emergency landing is expected to be released in April.

4. Air NZ offers mobile phone calls on new 'All Black' plane

Passengers on Air New Zealand's new black A320 will be able to make phone calls, send texts and check emails - if they are Vodafone customers.

The plane is one of two A320s which the airline is making "mobile phone capable" in the next month.

Passengers will pay roaming costs of $3.50 a minute and 80c for every outbound text. They will also pay $20 per megabyte of data.

Telecom is not offering the in-flight service.

While the move has been welcomed by some, aviation commentator Peter Clark believes the "annoyance factor" of people talking on phones in the close confines of an aircraft will upset some travellers.

"As a passenger myself I would find it extremely annoying, and extremely discomforting, to have a person sitting either side of me - if I was the person in the middle - both talking on a cellphone.

"I am a little concerned for the travelling public. I can't understand why people can't wait one hour and 20 minutes to make a voice call, to be honest."

In May last year Air New Zealand said customer feedback showed passengers did not want people talking into mobile phones on international flights. Spokeswoman Tracy Mills said that had not changed, but the new A320 was only flying domestically and not long-haul.

Customers would still be asked to keep their phones on silent or vibrate mode to minimise disruption to other passengers, she said.

However, she said the airline still had plans to install technology to allow mobile phone text message and email services in its growing fleet of 777-300s, which travel internationally. The service was expected to be running in November but has been delayed.

Voice services will not be allowed on these flights because of the potential disturbance during long flights.

A total of 16 A320s will be added to Air New Zealand's fleet over the next five years, including two which are expected to arrive later this year.

Ms Mills said the airline would evaluate demand for the service before deciding if it would be extended to the rest of the fleet. She said passengers would be able to use the internet but it would probably be quite slow.

The plane is painted black to support the All Blacks' World Cup bid.

Labour's communications spokeswoman, Clare Curran, congratulated the airline. "Domestic passengers deserve the best and this is a step in the right direction."

The plane is one of two A320s which the airline is making