Te Kowhai last Saturday 16-1-2019

On my way down to Te Kuiti last Saturday I called in to Te Kowhai where I had arranged to meet Paul Parsons to check out his Minicab that I had not seen for many years.

Paul pushed out ZK-CZT for a photo in the sun, thanks Paul.  It has a slightly different colour scheme to when I last photo'd it way back in 1991.

Detail of the fuselage stripe which features Paul's wife's and his name as well as a MAF logo and an Ichthys (click to enlarge).

Also parked at Te Kowhai was Neil and Sarah Colliver's Vans RV 10 ZK-RVT.  Again, this aircraft has not been posted much on this blog.

It now carries the name "The Eagle" on the engine cowling.

Then the ex Marcus Mewett KR 2 ZK-KRZ arrived on a trailer.  This aircraft had its registration revoked in March 2018 but it seems we might see it flying again.

And just as I was leaving, the locally owned Robin DR 500 ZK-TZA arrived back on the field.

Pioneer Aero This Afternoon 18-1-2019

I travelled back to Warkworth from another Stratford run today, so a trip to Ardmore was in order.  All the interest was around Pioneer Aero:

The Jerry Yagen P 39F Airacobra ZK-COB2 is getting very near to test flying with full throttle engine runs scheduled for 6 pm ( I wanted to head North to beat the traffic so I didn't stay around).

And Brian Hall's Super Trojan ZK-TGN must also be getting near to flying again.

Pauanui

Some of the interesting visitors that called into Pauanui over the weekend included the unique Cvjetkovic CA65 ZK-FNY over from Matamata

Down in the Waterways amongst the boats and houses was Heliflite's Bo105CBS-4 ZK-HYT

And en route from the Aero Club championships at North Shore was the Hawkes Bay & East Coast Aero Club's Tecnam P2008 ZK-ZZB

More photos from last weekends Ashburton SAA fly in

Bargeld01 has provided these photos taken at the SAA fly in last Saturday at Ashburton.

The delay in posting being due to my being out of wifi range.

In the Ashburton Aviation Museum is this Proctor ZK-APH.

It is actually the fuselage of ZK-AQK (c/n Ae.79) with vital parts from ZK-APH (c/n Ae.126).

 Cessna 172M ZK-FGV (c/n 17265485) has been listed with John Lissington of Otorohanga since 17-04-2016.

 Zennith Zenair CH601 ZK-JQT (c/n 6-9817) was down from Stratford.

 The Sonex ZK-SXR (c/n 1531) of Gary Briggs is a first time visitor to Ashburton.

 And the local Avid Heavy Hauler ZK-WEN (c/n 1226D) arriving.

'Just a nice pic'

 The Gary Marsh CH601 HDS ZK-DBZ (c/n 6-2284) aka 'Red Baron' arriving back.

Paul Carran's Vans RV-8 ZK-EYT2 (c/n 8145) scrambling out.

Twin Squirrel ZK-ICK at North Shore 14-2-2019

As well as the Flying New Zealand Championships, there were other movements at North Shore yesterday.

One of these was the recently, (October 2018), registered AS 355 F1 Twin Squirrel ZK-ICK which stopped in briefly to drop off some passengers,

and then it was off again.

Flying New Zealand 2019 National Championships at North Shore

North Shore airfield was a hive of aeronautical activity today as the Flying New Zealand 2019 National Champs were underway.  I had not really focussed on this major event so I was surprised to see so many aircraft on the field.  The Championships run from Wednesday 13th to Saturday 16th of February.  There were around 20 or so visiting aircraft from the Aero Club scene, including a couple that have not been posted on this blog previously.

A new aircraft for Auckland Aero Club is the Piper PA 28-181 Cherokee Archer III(?) ZK-JPA2.  manufactured by the New Piper Aircraft 2000 Inc.  This aircraft is ex VH-AYC and was first registered in New Zealand on 7/11/18.

Also not previously posted on the blog is the Cessna A152 Aerobat ZK-FWK that is also a Sparrowhawk conversion (with an uprated up O-235 producing 125 HP).  It is registered to Air Hawkes Bay Ltd of Hastings, which is the commercial arm of the Hawkes Bay and East Coast Aero Club.  It has been around since 1990

This afternoon the bombing competitions were being held and this is why the Tauranga Aero Club's Cessna 172N ZK-TAB is climbing out minus its door.

Tecnam P2008 ZK-ZZB is from the Hawkes Bay and East Coast Aero Club.

And remarkably still together after all these years (they were both first registered here in 1972), were the Piper Cherokee 140s ZK-DEK of Ian Begbie from Ashburton,

 and ZK-DEL of the Mid Canterbury Aero Club also from Ashburton.

There seemed to be a lot of Cherokees around, including the formulaic PA 28-181 Archer II ZK=EBZ from the Mid Canterbury Aero Club (a choccy fish for the answer).

and PA 28-181 Archer II ZK-EQZ from Tauranga Flight Hire.

Pauanui

Visitors this week to Pauanui airfield included Pete Walton's Titan T-51 ZK-WSV from Whitianga which has been re-engined with a 400hp Chev V8 motor and sounds impressive.

And Maule M5-210C ZK-SLS from Ardmore in its striking colour scheme.

Grand Champion from SAANZ Flyin at Ashburton

Following judging on Saturday, the Grand Champion aircraft of the SAANZ 2019 flyin was John and Trish Crawford's Bushby Midget Mustang ZK-MMI.  A spectacular aircraft!

This aircraft was started in the US way back in 1965 but didn't progress past a bare airframe stage until it was purchased by John Crawford around 4 years ago.  It is powered by a Continental O-200 engine.

This is the eighth Midget Mustang to have been registered in New Zealand.  I have posted the history of our other Midget Mustangs at: Midget Mustangs of New Zealand (1) and Midget Mustangs of New Zealand (2).  And a subsequent post on our first Midget Mustang ZK-CWO  HERE

Thanks to Bruce Cooke for the photo.

Looking Forward to Wings Over Wairarapa

There are 10 days to go until the Wings Over Wairarapa airshow and the 10 day MetService weather forecast looks good.  I am looking forward to the show and I am really hoping for light winds so The Vintage Aviator can put a lot of their aircraft up.

Here is a foretaste of what we could see:  a FE 2B, two BE 2s, a Bristol F 2B and three SE 5As.  Only at Masterton!

Thanks to Ray Deerness for the photo.

New Zenith CH 200 at Tauranga

It is a long time since our last Zenith CH 200 was registered in New Zealand (it was in 2006).  I have posted the histories of the seven examples we have had at: https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2013/05/zenith-ch-200s-of-new-zealand.html

However in January 2019 another CH 200 was registered:

ZK-CCT2 (c/n CADL 259-200) was registered to the I Glover and D Waddell Syndicate of Mount Maunganui on 22/1/19.  I understand it is the one that was nearly completed by Frank Sleath of Tauranga back in the 1990s which was registered ZK-FFS (c/n AACA/258) on 13/3/90 but which was cancelled as withdrawn on 13/3/08.

Thanks to Mark Pattenden for the photo.