A Royal New Zealand Airforce (RNZAF) plane making its final flight after 55 years in service became the most-tracked aircraft in the world during the route, on flight tracking site Flightradar24.
Flight NZ7004 took off from the RNZAF’s Auckland base in Whenuapai on Monday afternoon and flew over Hamilton, New Plymouth, Ohakea, Masterton and Wellington before landing at RNZAF Base Woodbourne, west of Blenheim, where it will be retired.
Commenting on a social media post on the Lockheed C-130H Hercules’ final flight, the RNZAF said the plane could not fly any further south for safety reasons.
“NZ7004 is nearly at the end of its service life, so we are using the very last couple of hours we have on the airframe as effectively as we can for this final transit”, the airforce said.
Flightradar24
The RNZAF flight path of its final journey.
“We aren’t allowed to fly the aircraft for longer than this planned transit, due to the strict airworthiness and safety rules we have in place.”
NZ7004 entered service in 1968 and has flown to countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, the Solomon Islands and East Timor.
The Hercules has carried out numerous humanitarian, disaster relief and search and rescue missions in her time in the force, as well as flown to Antarctica.
Gavin Conroy/Marlborough Express
The Lockheed C-130H Hercules.
In 2020, the New Zealand government signed a $1.5 billion deal for five new C-130J-30 Super Hercules planes to update the C-130H fleet dating back to 1965.
The first of the five existing aircraft was retired in February.
Do you have any memories or images of the C-130H fleet? Email them to travel@stuff.co.nz