Hood Aerodrome

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Hood Aerodrome
IATA: MRO – ICAO: NZMS
MRO
Location of airport in North Island
Summary
Airport type General aviation
Owner Masterton District Council
Operator Masterton District Council
Serves Masterton, Carterton, Martinborough
Location Masterton, New Zealand
Elevation AMSL 111 m / 364 ft
Coordinates 40°58′30″S 175°38′00″E / 40.97500°S 175.63333°E / -40.97500; 175.63333
Website
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06C/24C 1,250 4,101 Asphalt
06R/24R 1,060 3,478 Grass
06L/24L 450 1,476 Grass
10/28 1,042 3,419 Grass

Hood Aerodrome (IATA: MRO, ICAO: NZMS) is an aerodrome, located in southern urban area of Masterton, New Zealand it is only 1 NM South West from the town centre on South Road in Solway. The aerodrome was named after George Hood, a pioneer Masterton aviator who died trying to make the first Trans-Tasman crossing in 1928.[1] The aerodrome is used extensively for general aviation flights, and is also used for commercial flights, although Air New Zealand will stop serving the airport from 5 February 2014. Two new airlines have looked at re-instating a service to Auckland using larger aircraft than the Beech 1900 used by Eagle Airways but the runway will need to be lengthened to 1400m and widened to 30m first before it can start.[2]

History

Historically, Hood Aerodrome has been served by South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand in 1962–1966 and two locally-based carriers, Wairarapa Airlines which linked Masterton with Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Nelson and Christchurch from August 1981 to January 1997.[3] Then a new airline Air Wairarapa briefly flew to Auckland via Paraparumu in 2002.[4] In February 2009, Eagle Airways, a subsidiary of Air New Zealand Link commenced flights to Auckland. The flights are operated with a 19 seat Beechcraft 1900D. In September 2013, Air New Zealand announced the airline withdraw all service in Masterton from 5 February 2014, due to a lack of demand.[5]

Other Uses

The aerodrome is the home of New Zealand's 'Sports and Vintage Aviation Society', which has had a hangar on site since 1978. The Society is also developing the 'George Hood Museum of Aviation' on site, and since 1999 has held a biennial airshow, "Wings over Wairarapa", to support the venture. The museum building was dedicated at the 2003 show.

The aerodrome is also been used as a dragstrip for over ten years and there are plans to build a purpose built dragstrip.


See also

References

  1. ↑ Bowling, Kerri (16 August 2003). "Aviator’s family plot restored". Wairarapa Times-Age. Archived from the original on 2009-04-17. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  2. ↑ Walt Dickson (2013-10-30). "Masterton Runway Extension Needed". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2013-12-14. 
  3. ↑ http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nz/2010/11/wairarapa-airlines-revisited.html
  4. ↑ Airline has no illusions - Wairarapa Times-Age
  5. ↑ "Air NZ pulling out of Wairarapa". Wairarapa Times Age. 2013-09-04. Retrieved 2013-12-14. 

External links

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