WELLINGTON TO WHANGANUI / WANGANUI (WLG-WAG) on Air New Zealand Beech 1900D in economy class
Apologies for the long heading. A couple of days ago Whanganui / Wanganui was officially given joint names (Whanganui being the Maori spelling and Wanganui the European mis-spelling that has been in place for over 150 years). The river on the banks of which the city sits was renamed Whanganui some years ago and does not have dual names.
Anyway, with an earlier flight to Wellington I had time for a quick drink, bite to eat and check messages in the lounge. Sorry I don't have an accurate beer count but it was about 12. A long way short of past years when typically it was over 20.
Our flight was running a few minutes late. As I walked out to the end of the prop finger pier I saw an air force C130 Hercules lumbering along the taxiway. With luck I'll get to see that take off too.
With the wind still very strong from the north, it was a battle to make it out to our aircraft without losing boarding pass, papers, bag. I felt sorry for the co-pilot who was on passenger greeting duties and the ground staff who was finishing loading the bags. I used the bag drop to give some more legroom and took my seat. Due to the rebooking I lost my preferred seat but every seat is a window seat (except rows 1 and 2) and also an aisle seat so it was still okay. The flight was almost full. We had a short wait for the last passenger and then we were off, some 15 minutes late.
The Hercules took off in front of us. Not much of the runway was needed today thanks to the strong winds. We followed a Q300 out along the taxiway, but just short of the end we turned and stopped at right angles to both taxiway and wind. I'm not sure why as we were not lined up with any of the bits that join taxiway and runway. A few moments there to ponder what was going on before our turn came.
It was at this point I wondered if putting my carry on in the bag drop was a good idea? What if the bag gets taken into the terminal at Whanganui and left there while I continue onward. The bag has my keys, passport and other important stuff in it.
No chance to wonder any more as our take off roll is also very short and before we pass the other end of the runway we have already turned right to cross Miramar peninsula. A sharp turn back to the left and we are flying up the middle of Wellington Harbour but off the flightpath for the bigger aircraft. We lose sight of land over the Hutt hills with thick cloud banked up against the Tararua ranges, but emerge a few minutes later on the edge of the Horowhenua coast.
The rest of this short flight we have fine views and much lighter winds also. A few minutes later we are already descending and we land to the west. The direct path has saved several minutes so we are only very slightly late arriving.
Most passengers leave us here. One person hops on. We stay in our seats for the short transit (about 5 minutes).