ZK-AMY on finals for NZCH 20

Following on from the Lake ZK-DQN being at Darfield today we have this pic provided by "rollnburn" of the Douglas DC-3 ZK-AMY on finals for runway 20 at Christchurch.
AMY was returning this afternoon from its joyriding flights from Darfield.
Matt also supplied a pic of ZK-DQN taken at Darfield which I have added to the appropriate blog below.

Question time # 87

What is this then ?
What type/model aircraft would you expect to find it on ?
Would you care to put a ZK registration on it ?

Lake Buccaneer ZK-DQN update

The above photograph was provided by "rollnburn" and was taken at Darfield earlier today (Sunday 31-01-2010)

An earlier blog at http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2010/01/couple-of-new-ones-at-nzrt.html showed the Aerofab Inc built Lake LA-4-200 Buccaneer ZK-DQN c/n 1045 during its rebuild at Whangarei and its recent arrival at Rangiora.
Today I also caught up with ZK-DQN at West Melton as it landed back from a mission to Darfield.
This new venture is a partnership between Chris Johnston and Paul Dalley with Paul being the Vanuatu based pilot and Chris managing the Company from NZ. Chris will also be the relief pilot as required.
The aircraft is due to head north on Tuesday towards Whangarei where it is due to receive its export C of A on February the 8th. This will be followed by a ferry flight to Vanuatu.

Whereabouts Unknown Auster J1 c/n 2341.

The Auster 5 J1 with the construction number (c/n) 2341 was I believe imported into New Zealand from Australia and is undergoing a rebuild.

This aircraft built in the UK was first registered as G-AJIX on 21-05-1947.
It was sold and exported in October of 1951, going to Australia to become VH-AQN2 from 17-01-1952.
It was re-registered as VH-AQO2 on 02-12-1953 and finally became VH-SAD on 05-07-1955.

I would be most interested in hearing from you if you can advise me of the current location and status of this aircraft.

For reason fairly obvious - I cannot provide a photograph.

Worth a chocolate fish I reckon.

ZK-HVQ on its way down South

Robinson R44 ZK-HVQ4 c/n 0235 is captured here at Heli Maintenance at Christchurch on 26-01-2010 having its blade tracking checked and a few other items tended to before continuing its ferry flight to its new operator, Stewart Island Helicopters.
An ex Japanese import in 2004 by Rotor Flite N.Z. Ltd of Auckland it has served with Salt Air of Paihia ; Elite Helicopters at Tauranga ; Bay Heliwork of Hastings and Alabaster Helicopters of Taihape with a recent lease to Helicopter Operations Ltd of Tirau.

Harvard ZK-XSA has a new home

North American NA78 Harvard 3* ZK-XSA c/n 78-6647 is now located in its own hangar at Rangiora following a move from its short term stay at Christchurch International and its longer term at Forest Field [NZFF] before that.

Built for the USAAF as a AT-6A it was allocated the military serial of 41-16269 and was briefly listed on the US civil register as NC57209 to a Sidney Smith of Santa Ana in California before becoming 7660 with the South African Air Force. It arrived at Ardmore on 07-10-1996 to be registered to the Graham Orphan and John Kelly Syndicate of Blenheim on 21-11-1996. Its first flight in NZ was the following day at Ardmore. It was relisted to the Harvard 7660 Syndicate of Rangiora on 22-03-1998.

This aircraft has its own web site at http://www.harvard7660.co.nz/home.htm
Worth a look.

It occupies the hangar previously used by the Piper PA-46-310P N9099Z c/n 46-08007 which has migrated to Nelson.

Doctor Dave's toy

If you call in at Palmerston North airport, you really can't miss Dave Baldwin's acquisition. Located just between his building and the boundary fence, it's pretty near impossible to get a reasonable photo of this relic.




This is actually the fuselage of Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante ZK-REV. This particular Bandit went to Australia in 1980 as a new aircraft, serving with Airlines of Tasmania, East Coast Commuter Airlines, Skywest Airlines and Lloyd Aviation as VH-KIR before a sojourn in PNG as P2-NAL with Nationair 1986-93.
Arriving in NZ on 9Oct1993 with 17769hrs on the clock it became ZK-REV with Rex Aviation (NZ) Ltd., Wellington 27Oct1993 and was flown in Tranzair colours on regional Ansett NZ routes as seen here at Rongotai in 1994.



A few years later the Tranzair colours had been replaced by a more definite Ansett presence, as seen at Whangarei in 1996.


Ownership was transferred to Tasman Pacific Airlines of NZ Ltd., Christchurch 18Aug2000 and the registration was cancelled the same day. The aircraft was dismantled at Wellington with reusable spare parts reclaimed for shipment to Singapore. The fuselage went to Massey University at Palmerston North where is saw little use before passing eventually to Dr Baldwin, at Milson in 2008. Currently in use as a lunchroom/recreation area there are plans to utilize it as a hypoxia training unit.

More Replica Cubs in New Zealand - the Final Chapter?

This is probably the last post in my series of Replica Cubs in New Zealand. And these are real aeroplanes! They are Wag Aero Cuby's which are full size replicas built from original Piper plans and jigs, so you can get a completely welded fuselage for example. Wag Aero was formed by Dick Wagner in the 1960's in Lyons, Wisconsin, USA and it has expanded since then to market kit planes and sell parts for homebuilt planes from a large catalogue of supplies. Wag Aero supply the Sport Trainer kit which is based on the J3 Cub, plus the Wag-A-Bond side by side 2 seater kit and the Sportsman 2+2 4 place kit, which are also replicas of earlier Piper models. Our first Cuby Sport Trainer was ZK-MPH which was built by Darcy Hoffman in Dunedin and was first registered on 29/4/82. It was sold to HCR Campion of Dunedin on 3/5/89 and to CT Keenan of Christchurch on 2/4/96. It was cancelled on 16/2/2000 when it was sold to the UK where it was registered as G-BZHU. It is still current in the UK. It is photographed here at an AACA fly-in at Queenstown.

Our second Cuby is ZK-OLE which was also built in Dunedin by HJL Haugh, and was first registered on 29/4/89. It is photographed here at the SAANZ fly-in at Ashburton in February 2001. Thanks to Greybeard for the photo.

There is one more New Zealand homebuilt aeroplane that looks like a Cub replica to me, although the builder says it has very few Cub parts. This is the Westland Bush Plane which was posted by Greybeard on this blog in April 2008. You can find Greybeard's post at: http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2008/04/westland-bush-plane.html

Recently cancelled

Three recent cancellations !
PZL-Swidnik PW-5 "Smyk" ZK-GWN c/n 17.03.004 was registered to the Wellington Gliding Club on 28-03-1995. Cancelled on 06-01-2010 as exported. Pic at Paraparaumu on 02-12-2007.

Above is the Schempp-Hirth HS7 Janus ZK-GLM c/n 54. Arriving at Auckland and registered to Roy Evans on 23-11-1977 it first flew here on the 26th. It went to the Janus LM Syndicate if Auckland on 10-11-1987 and was listed to the Wellington Gliding Club Inc on 01-03-1993. Cancelled on 06-01-2010 as exported. Alas I know not where they have gone. Pic also shot the same day.

Schweizer 269C-1 ZK-HVX2 c/n S0054 was created in early 2000 as N20035 and joined Heli-Flight (NZ) Ltd of Masterton on 13-02-2003.

A move to Auckland with the new Heliflight Ltd was noted on 09-09-2007.

On 24-01-2009 it struck the ground whilst low flying near Thames and was cancelled on 13-01-2010.

Not ZK, but still of interest....

Outside at Ardmore today, 27Jan, undergoing engine runs was this magnificant De Havilland DH89 Rapide, G-ADDD.

Thanks to Anon, we now know the original G-ADDD was owned by the Prince of Wales from mid 1935 and absorbed into the newly-created Kings Flight in July 1936. It was replaced by an Airspeed Envoy in 1937 and bought by Western Airways in Nov 1938 before moving to the RAF.

This particular airframe is c/n 6782 ex NR683, G-AHXW and N683DH restored as "G-ADDD".

North Shore / Dairy Flat 25Jan10

The Whenuapai Sports and Aviation Club now have online Cessna 152 ZK-BUD/2, seen here on finals at North Shore. It once lived at North Shore registered ZK-NSG from Feb 98 until Sep 09 and prior to that wore ZK-EOY.


Cessna 172N ZK-MDV is registered to MDR Aviation who are operating as www.flighthauraki.co.nz, the titles of which this aircraft now wears.

Mentioned in detail at http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2009/12/speaking-of-harmon-rockets.html, ZK-RMD is pictured here sprinting down runway 03 at North Shore on a local flight.

North Islanders (and a Little Sister)

Following the selection of South Islanders photographed at Queenstown by Wayne Grant and posted by Mike Condon, herewith a selection of North Islanders photographed at Mangere earlier tonight. There are a total of 20 Britten Norman Islanders currently registered in New Zealand.
ZK-SFK (c/n 236) was first registered in New Zealand on 7/10/03. It has been operated by Southflight Aviation then Wings Over Whales at Kaikoura but is now owned by Commercial Helicopters Ltd of Taumaranui. It is operated by Fly My Sky which flys daily to Great Barrier Island. ZK-SFK is ex VH-CPG/OO-GVS (Belgium) and G-51-236.
Next is ZK-PIZ (c/n 2012) which is operated by Great Barrier Airlines but is owned by the Fly My Sky people, Commercial Helicopters Ltd of Taumaranui. It wa first registered in New Zealand on 5/12/95 and is ex N2132M/JA5261/N406JA and G-BEXB. It wears the old Mountain Air colours.
Next in line was ZK-PIY (c/n 344) in Fly My Sky colours, also owned by Commercial Helicopters Ltd of Taumaranui. This is ex JA5218/G-BBOY and was first registered in New Zealand on 12/11/96.
And the final North Islander parked up at Mangere was ZK-FVD (c/n 316) in the current Great Barrier Airlines colour scheme. This is owned by Great Barrier Airlines and was first registered on 5/12/89. It has had a long overseas history as it is ex G-BJWN/4X-AYL (Israel)/SX-BFG (Greece)/4X-AYL/SX-BFC/4X-AYL and G-BALO.
And finally a little sister of the North Islanders was parked up, in the form of Partenavia P 68B (c/n 086), first registered in New Zealand way back in 1/84 and owned by Great Barrier Airlines. It is ex A6-ALO (United Arab Emirates) and G-BEJX.

I can only conclude that there is an awful lot of flying going on between Auckland and Great Barrier Island!

Something REALLY Different!

On 19 January, R Harris of Temuka registered 2 strange sounding aircraft: ZK-SBW, a Skyboard Coba K Whisper (as a glider), and ZK-SBX, a Skyboard Coba K Black (as an aeroplane). What is a Skyboard Coba you ask? I also had no idea but I did some research and turned up a remarkable story.

The story goes back to an earlier registration: ZK-SBI, a Steelworks Skyboard which was registered as a Class 1 microlight to Skyboard International Ltd of Temuka on 22/2/05. I never took much notice of this but I found the above photo of it on the Skyboard website: http://www.skyboard.co.nz/ It turns out to be "a one person glider that offers a highly manoeuverable alternative to skydiving" that was manufactured by Steelworks Engineering of Temuka which is owned by Bob Harris. There is a link to a Youtube video of it testing and test flying on the website and also at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_XMg9non9o and it turns out to be a 2.3 metre long capsule with extendable wings that weighs 24 Kg and can glide for about 10 minutes when dropped from a helicopter or aircraft from 12,000 feet, travelling at up to 300 kph. This has apparently been very successful.

So this leads onto the Skyboard Coba K's which are a development of the Steelworks Skyboard that has been developed in close association with Canterbury University and are bigger and better. Here is an artists impression of ZK-SBX, also from the Skyboard website which still looks like a glider to me, so maybe the artists impression should be of ZK-SBW. And then my mind boggles to think of what an aeroplane version would look like! The Skyboard website mentions a "Quantum Leap Coming Soon!"

I guess these aircraft have been a challenge to CAA as to what to register them as they must be pushing the bounds of what an aircraft is! Otherwise why would ZK-SBI be a Class 1 microlight? (surely the wing loading must be more than a microlight?), and then why is ZK-SBW registered as a glider but not with a G registration?

Can anyone out there add any more information to this story?

A new home for Robinson R44 ZK-HWT

This early production Robinson R44 c/n 0094 came to NZ after an eight year career in Australia as VH-YGX. It was first registered here on 21-10-2002 as ZK-HWT3 to North Shore Helicopters of Albany. In mid October last year it it moved to New Zealand Paradise Holidays Ltd of Auckland briefly before being listed to Donald Irvine of Christchurch.
Photo above taken at Skysales on 15-01-2010.

Otago Offerings

Wayne Grant has recently spent a couple of days in Otago and caught up with a few of the locals.
On the road from Dunedin to Queenstown and between the settlements of Beaumont and Ettrick, Helicopters Otago Jetranger's ZK-HWK and ZK-HWN were both on the job.




Wanaka's Aspiring Helicopters had Hughes 500E parked at Queenstown.

Helicopters Queenstown AS350B2 Squirrel ZK-HQG was idle outside the operators base.

Cessna 207A ZK-LAW was among the many Milford Sound Flights Ltd aircraft sighted at their Queenstown home.

Good to see the BN2 Islander's still hard at work and wearing their revised livery.

Question time # 86 resolved

Above is the first clue.
Well then. Sprinkle me with bread crumbs and bake me for 40 minutes. ZK-CKE has cracked it again - first shot. Well done.
Below is a counter weight, which would have been the second clue.
It is indeed the hub of a Hamilton Standard propeller.

However the aircraft type in this case was the Boeing Stearman E75 ZK-RDK.

The prop is hanging off a Jacobs R755B2 (affectionately known as the "Shaky Jake")

Photos taken at Ashburton 15-01-2010.

ZK-RDK c/n 75-5164 was built for the USAAF and allocated the serial 42-17001 before transferring to the US Navy as Bu61042. It in due course became N1391V.

It became ZK-RDK on 17-03-2009; the registration being the initials of its owner Richard D King.

Another fish in the mail.

Question time # 86

Continuing the theme of round things.
What is this item ?
Where would you find this object ?
Can you suggest an aircraft type ?

Rounding Out New Zealand's LM-1 Cub Replicas

Here are the remainder of New Zealand's LM-1 Cub replicas, courtesy of Blue Bus and his excellent photo collection (I am not sure why the photos have come out as he scanned them, with tasteful wooden frames - they didn't look that way in Picasa!)

Above is ZK-RMF which was built by Andrew Fairhall near Blenhiem, photographed at Omaka. Andrew has since gone on to build the Andrew John Fairhall Special ZK-JBF (which is a modified Pietenpol). ZK-RMF was registered on 9/3/04 and is currently owned by G Thomas of Blenhiem.

ZK-FWB was built by John Lowther at Timaru and was registered on 19/2/90. It would be interesting to know how many aircraft he has built. This photo was taken at Timaru very soon after it was registered (in March 1990). After having owners in Timaru, Waimate, Rangiora, Leeston, Waipukurau it is now owned by Paul Svendsen of Feilding

Here is ZK-FWB at Ashburton in 1997 wearing a camoflage scheme.

And finally here is a better photo of our newest New Zealand LM 1 ZK-LWP, which looks very tidy. It was built by L W Patterson of Picton and was first registered on 16/5/06. As FlyerNZL has posted, it is based at Koromiko near Picton. The photo was taken at the SAANZ fly-in at Ashburton in February 2009. This LM-1 looks to have a VW motor whereas all the earlier LM-1's had small Rotax motors.

Our final New Zealand LM 1 is ZK-CUB that I posted earlier in January, see: http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-on-saga-of-cubs.html

I understand that there has been one more LM-1 Cub replica in New Zealand, ZK-FSZ that was cancelled on 5/1/95 at Christchurch. Does anyone out there have a photo of ZK-FSZ that they could post?

Rounding Out New Zealand's LM-3 Aeronca Champ Replicas

Following on from my previous post on Aeronca Champ Replica ZK-FTG, see: http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2010/01/continuing-light-miniature-aircraft.html , here is New Zealand's other Light Miniature Aircraft LM 3U ZK-EHU photographed at Rangiora. ZK-EHU was built by G D Chiplin at Timaru, and after 3 other owners in Timaru it is now owned by W J De Friez of Christchurch. Thanks to Blue Bus for the photo.

I am working on photos of New Zealand's LM 1 population and will post these later.

Our latest NOTAR

First noted at Skysales Aviation at Christchurch on January the 5th was this McDonnell Douglas 500N NOTAR c/n LN059. In November 1993 it appeared on the US register as N5207E with MD Helicopters before moving to Turkey as TC-HIC in December. This was cancelled in April 1994 and was relisted as N5207E. Its history is a bit vague until 10-04-1997 when it became G-BXEL with Ford Helicopters. This UK registration was cancelled on 13-12-1999 at which point it had a total of 13.oo hours airframe time. It returned to the US to become N520PM with Pragmatic Marketing and then to TRCC LLC in June of 2006. It was noted for sale in August 2008 and cancelled from the US listings on 22-10-09 for its move to NZ to become ZK-HUL4 with Station Air Ltd of Mesopotamia Station in the upper Rangitata River.
Top pic shows its new owner Laurie Prouting assisting with the re-assembly at Skysales on 05-01-10.
Pic below taken late today (20-01-10) shows Laurie departing with his new toy.