southern accent So we're sinking to the level of NZ psyops? You ain't fooling me. I know it doesn't exist. Y'all just film it on location in the Falklands.

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WellThatsJustPerfect@reddit

German accent Vot are you sinking about?

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SuDragon2k3@reddit

The Royal New Zealand Navy Stealth Aircraft Carrier.

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olivia_inspiration19@reddit

sounds like a limited edition flying tractor

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Zealousideal-Ad3413@reddit

Well. I had the James Bond theme playing in my head during that takeoff!!!

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bombaer@reddit

So they inherited the British technology of aircrafts ugly enough to use earths repulsion for lift.

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HotRecommendation283@reddit

Not entirely fair, sometimes they make accidentally beautiful things! - Spitfire …. I guess that’s it

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BCVinny@reddit

Tempest, Mosquito, Lancaster, all the old supermarine seaplanes, half their biplanes, Harrier just off the top of my head.

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HotRecommendation283@reddit

It appears the famed British sense of dry humor has failed this time 😔

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Pitiful_Eye_3295@reddit

We got it. :D We just want to share our love of other beautiful British airplanes!

Also beautiful:

Hawker Seahawk
Supermarine Scimitar

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crshbndct@reddit

Vampire, Goblin, Tornado(joint) TSR.2, almost every 60/70s jet, Comet, etc

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TwoShedsJackson1@reddit

Fletcher FU-24 is the most common top dressing plane in New Zealand.

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aka_Handbag@reddit

Except it’s based on an American design

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DC-3Purple@reddit

That thing is gorgeous what do you mean?!?!

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dwgoodnz@reddit

Was originally American. Look up Fletcher aircraft. FU24.

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AndHeCycledAway@reddit

Awww man I was actually excited to visit that subreddit :(

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jeepsaintchaos@reddit

It would just be full of narco runways in the Amazon, and pictures of the ocean whenever we hear about a plane crash.

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NotMuch2@reddit

Is the horizontal stabilizer dragging and kicking up dust towards the end of takeoff?

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Minority_Carrier@reddit

NZ pilot practicing that STOL operation

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coloradokyle93@reddit

Looks like an Elmers glue bottle filling up the plane😂

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BitterGas69@reddit

What a perfectly shaped bit of earth for that use!

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TacTurtle@reddit

Doing an aborted takeoff or go around would be ... interesting.

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404-skill_not_found@reddit

One way in, one way out. Kinda like my ex.

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hat_eater@reddit

There is a mountain gliding school and flying club in Poland with similar profile which has been in use since 1936.

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BitterGas69@reddit

Exquisite. What another beautifully functional chunk of the globe!

There’s so much cool shit out there.

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gta31@reddit

Wow as a aviation nut I got goosebumps, bravo.

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willmontain@reddit

Not a makeshift runway ... but rather a very specialized runway for a shorter takeoff with a heavily laden plane.

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ThatMBR42@reddit

Weird looking tractor too. Lots of wonderful weird in this one.

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It's the back of a truck! They get driven down the road normally, but when they get to the strip, the loader driver gets in the loader cab at the back of the truck and drives from there. The fert is often dumped on site in a bunker by a dump truck, so the loader just scoops it out of the heap and dumps it into the aircraft. They often have a fuel tank between cabs so the aircraft can be fueled periodically. Here's a slightly better video of one in action.

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ThatMBR42@reddit

Neat. I thought that's one thing it could be.

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newMattokun@reddit

They land with the wind? Wow.

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Grizzlei@reddit

Literally never seen this beauty before today and now I’m obsessed. What a cool workhorse! Even caught the attention of my wife who thinks it’s the coolest (which should come in handy whenever I get the chance to buy one🤞🏽).

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7five7-2hundred@reddit

Check out the PAC P-750 XSTOL, a development of the Cresco with a passenger cabin.

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Cold-dead-heart@reddit

Went skydiving from one, fantastic workhorse

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Shankar_0@reddit

This was built by engineers.

Screw your esthetic. This thing is 100% fit for purpose.

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westherm@reddit

The passenger version (750XL), which has way outsold this model, is one of the worst turbine aircraft used for skydiving operations (one of the primary uses of the model). Fuck the PAC. All my homies hate the PAC.

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7five7-2hundred@reddit

Why is it one of the worst turbines for skydiving?

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westherm@reddit

Everyone extols their STOL virtues, but they don't climb fast. Quest Kodiak, which has a similar pax capacity and engine way out-climbs it. Stock caravans are just slow I guess, but there are a lot more of them with upgraded engines (Blackhawk, Garrett, etc) that climb like stink.
Insides are usually not well paneled so there's a lot of exposed metal edges (strinkers mostly) that are snag hazards for your gear.
Ceiling is hella-low so you're bonking your head constantly.
The way the fuselage narrows makes towards the tail empanage means the sliding doorframe that is used in skydiving versions is another head bonk hazard, especially for tandem students who don't heed the "watch your head as you get in the plane warning."
The wing spar is a giant box beam that cuts through the floor in the front of the cabin. Again, tandem students don't listen, and trip on it. When a tandme student is a fatass, it can also be a pain to get them to move their shitty little legs over it as you work back to the door.
The forward edge of the door jumpers exit from is right by the trailing edge of the port flap assembly. Jumpers often hit their head on it during certain types exits (angle or head down exits). Not great for jumper safety and a recurring maintenance issue.
Air circulation is terrible in them, if you're anywhere sunny and that rear door isn't open, it's a flying greenhouse. Which leads to...
If the pilot is flying with the wrong airspeed/climb rate and the rear door is open, there's a nasty Helmholtz/cavity resonance. Ever been in an SUV with only one window is down? This is that +20dB.

That's my list of grievances so far. I'm sure the other jumpers lurking here have their own. That or some rookie who's only jumped a PAC and a 182 will defend the PAC because they don't know anything.

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Shankar_0@reddit

That's fair, but my tall ass wouldn't view this as a skydiving platform at first glance.

I will always have an abiding love for the good ol' caravan.

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westherm@reddit

Back to your original comment, as a skydiving engineer, I fucking hate this plane. Twin Otter is the GOAT skydiving plane.

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Metalstug@reddit

You beat me to the punch. I work on PACs and I also hate them, I'd much rather have a Garrett or Blackhawk caravan, or even the odd PT-6 206 than the PAC.

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Vandirac@reddit

The SR-71 wasn't built by fashion designers, y'know

I am all for function over form, but at some point you need to take some action -even a performative one- and slap some painted flames, a shark mouth, a colored band on your contraption to avoid being bullied at airshows...

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airfryerfuntime@reddit

Esthetics definitely played a role. The guy who designed the SR71 asked his wife if it looked 'fast enough', and he apparently took her input.

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Vandirac@reddit

I don't remember this from either Kelly Johnson autobiography nor from Ben Rich's history of Skunk Works, but I'll surely take the word of an internet rando over theirs...

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AlliRmbrIsDrtSkyDrt@reddit

What's the source for that story?

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Buttfluff509@reddit

Planes as ugly as that accent

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novwhisky@reddit

Runway or half-pipe? Friggin cool either way.

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roehnin@reddit

the airport is as interesting as the aircraft

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Airwolfhelicopter@reddit

That plane has a very boopable snoot

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rufos_adventure@reddit

that... is a carrier take off and landing. no room for error.

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E5VL@reddit

Can someone explain to me what this aircraft does? The description in the video is confusing and contradictory... Do they deliver Lamb? Why they loading the aeroplane with a hopper instead of crates of lamb?

Keeping ample Soil Conditions? What does that mean? They monitor the ground with some kind of radar/lidar/moisture meter?? So why they do they need that hopper???

I'm confused.

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Zebidee@reddit

It's a cropduster.

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joshwagstaff13@reddit

Aerial topdresser.

It's with fertiliser, rather than insecticide.

Here's a modified RNZAF Avenger during topdressing trials in 1946.

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Matt-R@reddit

It air-drops fertilizer on crops. https://www.ravensdown.co.nz/services/spreading/aerowork-aerial-spreading

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richdrich@reddit

A lot of NZ pasture is hilly and lacks essential nutrients, top-dressing by air is the best (if expensive) way to rectify this and allow for healthy sheep.

The pilots who do this are a bit crazy, I feel. There is a definite overlap with Robbo pilots (Lots of R22/44 in NZ, some of them even get quite a lot of hours on them before the inevitable hard landing :-)

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Dangerous_Face_6581@reddit

Landing must be fun on this "runway"

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KommandoKazumi@reddit

Learn to fly 3d is wild in 2025

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random_fist_bump@reddit

Those are a big advancement from the old FU24, and they were a lot of fun to ride in. You fellas need to go watch Jimbo https://youtube.com/@jimboburgess and see what it's like to do that.

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dwgoodnz@reddit

Spent a morning in the jump seat of one…strip not unlike that. 4G turns all day…landing within meters of the same spot every time, all day. Amazing accuracy and airmanship.

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MadGepetto@reddit

Looks like a modernized Fletcher Defender.

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dwgoodnz@reddit

It is. Fletcher defender was basis for FU24 piston powered aircraft. Turbine engine and time made it into PAC750..

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pootismn@reddit (OP)

It’s based on a design by John Thorp of Fletcher, so they definitely share some DNA

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s0ul_invictus@reddit

They cow-culated that drop perfectly.

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Forte69@reddit

I love the way it sinks when it’s being loaded

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RefinedAnalPalate@reddit

What are they loading into it?

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demon_grasshopper@reddit

Fertiliser. Its quite common and the most effective way to spread fertiliser on some pretty rugged hill country in NZ

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BlacksmithNZ@reddit

It's turboprop for good reason; that is a lot of fertilizer being loaded into a single engine aircraft.

They probably make good fire fighting aircraft as well

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Ok_Past_573@reddit

That is just fun to watch

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xerberos@reddit

It just hurts thinking about that landing gear.

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Rhiazen@reddit

Helps stop alot of rocks and fod beating up the lower surfaces and horizontal stabilizer leading edges. Still get alot of damage though, the outer rib section of the horizontal stab especially. The fertilizer is like sand blaster and corrosive as. These machines work hard and get real beat up.

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DingleBerrieIcecream@reddit

Very curious about the tiny little mudflaps behind each wheel

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23karearea32@reddit

A lot of these airstrips have stock grazing on them when not in use so they help keep the muck from getting all over the wings. They also stop some of the stones that get kicked up from hitting the tail.

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alfalfalfalafel@reddit

they're probably there to flap the mud when it's in season..

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hyprkcredd@reddit

Whaaaaaaat? Crazy man!

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JoaoEB@reddit

Agricultural aviation kills a lot of pilots.

The agricultural pilots:

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