Engine testing notification from WIAL

Karl Frost from Strathmore Park Residents Association (Inc)

We received this message from WIAL warning of high-power engine testing, hopefully it will be done quickly:

Message from Wellington Airport to neighbouring residents

This morning a bird strike unfortunately affected an Air NZ A320 aircraft departing the airport which meant that it had to return to Wellington. This aircraft is therefore now undergoing repairs at the Execujet hangar on our western apron. Once the repairs have been done, a high-powered engine run test is required before re-entry to normal service.

Depending on how quickly the repairs can be undertaken by the Air NZ engineers, the high-powered engine test could potentially be on Saturday afternoon, however it will more likely happen on Sunday or early next week. The engine test could take a couple of hours or so if all goes well (this consists of starting the engine off in idle and increasing the power system periodically at small increments to ensure that the engine is operating within the right parameters at each level), so residents may notice out-of-the ordinary aircraft noise during this time.

The location of the aircraft when this is happening will be towards the south of the airport on the main taxiway (parallel to the runway).

If you have any queries regarding this (or other airport noise), please do not hesitate to contact us by emailing airnoise@wellingtonairport.co.nz

Thank you for your patience and understanding.