Rangiora Friday 14th

I had a very pleasant waddle around at Rangiora yesterday afternoon (Friday 14th).

A bit of a stray was the Cessna 172M ZK-DRM (c/n 17263534) which has been with the Waitomo Aero Club at Te Kuiti since Mid-2007.

 I was great to catch up with the Quickie Q2 ZK-ZOO (c/n AACA/269) again.

Recently re-engined - it had its second flight today after over 20 years parked up.

Previous mention of ZK-ZOO HERE

 Planted nicely on terra firma was the Skystar Kitfox IV ZK-JFA (c/n C94080051/MAANZ/527) by maestro Paul Godfrey.

ICP Savanah S ZK-SUA (c/n 16-06-54-0476) now sports some vinyl markings.

It is on short finals for the seldom used vector 10.

Edwardian Era Replica Flying Machines of New Zealand - the Pither Monoplane

I have posted on the Edwardian Era Pither Monoplane previously at:  https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-pither-monoplane-replica-at.html  In this post I outlined a brief history of Pither's machine and the replica that was constructed by Colin Smith in the early 2000s.

I also noted that the replica Pither Monoplane flew several straight line flights at Mandeville on 18/2/04, flown by Gerry Chisum.  Above is a photo of one of those flights, copied from a Stuff article of the time.

Now to update the story, on 13/1/15 the aircraft was registered ZK-JAH2 (c/n 1) to the Croydon Aircraft Company of Gore, and it is photo'd above as such, rolling under its own power at the 2015 Classic Fighters airshow at Omaka at Easter 2015.  It was registered for more than 4 years before being cancelled only yesterday, on 13/6/19.

A Couple More Crescos

After seeing my recent post on a couple of Crescos, Murray Kirkus has sent in photos of a couple more Crescos in a more exotic location.  Murray advises that these Crescos were photo'd at Kuala Lipis in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia around February 1998.

ZK-LTQ (c/n 002) is the same aircraft that I photo'd at Ngahinapouri recently.

While ZK-LTW is not the same aircraft that I photo'd at Stratford in September 2018.  It is in fact the first ZK-LTW (c/n 017) that became 9M-LTW and was cancelled from the Malaysian register in August 1999.

Thanks for the photos Murray.

Kahu Blackhawk arrives.

 Agairnz has kindly supplied these photos of the Blackhawk N160PA arriving at Ardmore yesterday afternoon (12-06-2019) from the Port of Auckland.

The helicopter arrived at the Port aboard the container ship Cap Capricorn from Long Beach yesterday.

See HERE for 'Stuff' story. 

Also have a gander at the Kahu facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/Kahu.NewZealand/

The helicopter has been imported by Kahu Helicopters (formerly Frontier Helicopters) of Whakatane.

It is a Sikorsky EH-60A Blackhawk and was manufactured in 1986 and is c/n 70-1132  and ex US Army serial 86-24572 

It is at Ardmore for several days to have some mods done on it.

I expect it will become ZK-HKU3.

See more on the MRC blogsite HERE

Back in Auckland 3-6-2019

After overnighting at Wanganui and Te Kuiti on my way North with my relocation rental car, I had to return it to Auckland Airport by 10 am on Monday 3/6/19.  I left Te Kuiti around 6 am so I had a half an hour up my sleeve for a quick visit to Ardmore.

Scottish Aviation Bulldog ZK-WUF (Callsign Bulldog 57) has recently changed ownership to a Wanganui owner, but was outside the main Warbirds hangar.

And it is always nice to see a Vans RV 4, here ZK-RVN which has been around since April 2006.

It took off into a lovely clear sky.

And over at Auckland International was Air Chathams' Convair 580 ZK-KFL.  The big bird was out sunning itself.

Feilding Dawn Raid 9-6-2019

Feilding Aerodrome hosted their dawn flyin this morning and there were more than 40 visiting and local aircraft on the field.  Jordan Elvy has posted a great selection of photos on Facebook, and I thought the following were of particular interest:

Tecnam P 92 Taildragger ZK-TBJ was up from the deep South, I would guess on a demonstration tour?

Along with its stablemate P 92 Eaglet ZK-TNZ2.

If the Tecnams were the newest, then a couple of Jodels would have to be among the oldest - the 1985 registered D 9 ZK-FLI built by Rob Gentry, which has been owned by Ron Day of Otane since 8/6/18.

And the 1977 registered D 11 ZK-DYB built by Graham French, which has been owned by AM Quayle of Pukerua bay since 2/8/13.  (But I would think that Jodels were of particular interest!).

A Couple of Crescos

A couple of Crescos from my trip through Taranaki and the Waikato:

Taken through glass at Stratford was ZK-LTJ (c/n 018), the fourth Ravensdown example that I have seen on my trips through there.  This was originally ZK-EEL3  from February 1997.

And at Krippner's strip at Ngahinapouri was Super Air's ZK-LTQ (c/n 002).  This Cresco has had a long history since being registered in July 1980, including several deployments overseas to Malaysia and Australia.

Special EFX

On my way driving North last Saturday I took a different route to Feilding aerodrome and I was surprised to come across the Grumman Traveller ex ZK-EFX in a paddock beside the Northern end of Hansen's Line, to the South West of the aerodrome.

Something different!

ZK-THB

Flightline Aviation Ltd at Ardmore imported three Cessna 172's in 2001 with the 172S Skyhawk SP c/n 172S8927 being registered to them as ZK-THB on the 24th of August. 

Ownership changed to ZK-THB Ltd of Auckland on 26-11-2001 followed by International Investments Ltd, initially of Manukau from 07-05-2015, and then from Taupo from December of 2016.

Current owner E G Balle Holdings Ltd of Waiuku were listed from 13-02-2017.

The photo below was captured by Warwick Hamilton at Tauranga.

Stratford on 2-6-2019

After a drive North in "adventurous" weather and catching up with Ray Deerness for Saturday night, I headed on to Stratford in improving weather but unfortunately not flyable for me due to quite a strong cold Southerly cross wind.  ( As Nick F said "Sunday 2nd June in one word BLOODY COLD " - that's actually two words Nick but you get the idea!).

However there was action around the hangars:  (I reckon Stratford Aerodrome is a neat place as there is almost always something going on and people to talk aircraft with).

Sisler Cygnet ZK-CYG2 has been re-engined with a Rotax 912 UL and was undergoing weight and balance checks.

The second hangar from the Aero Club was open and I took the opportunity to photo a couple of aircraft that have not flown for a long time - Jodel D 11 ZK-DGV,

and the Hovey Delta Hawk ZK-JAU.

It was a pity about the weather because Jodel D 9 ZK-KMM was ready to go.