Long Haul Arrival

1981 Cessna 180K N6TK touched down at Auckland just on 2109 30Nov from Pago Pago following a 12hr+ flight.  It had first been noted just over a week ago flying from Lompoc, California to Hilo and then onto Pago Pago.  Thanks to QW for pointing out www.earthrounders.com where the pilot is featured prior to departing Florida on an around the world trip.

Question time # 117.

Aviation archaeology !

Four parts to this QT.

1:- What make & model is this ? [Now this shouldn't fool many of you].

2:- What registration would it have worn ?

3:- What type is that in the left rear ?

4:- Would you care to put a registration on it ?

Flying into history. Zlin ZK-WLO

 Zlin Z-37T ZK-WLO ( c/n 020) departing Alexandra on the morning of  15-11-2010 to work in the Wanaka area. As of this date it had only 80 hours remaining on its airframe.
Its replacement with Willow Air is the rebuilt Zlin Z-137T ZK-WLT (c/n 0039, ex ZK-VIH) as depicted below at Taieri on 09-11-2010. Its awaits the engine and spray gear from WLO.

Some more Zlin bits can be found at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2009/12/wanaka-sampler-15th-december-2009.html

                    http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2008/11/zlins-down-south.html

ONE MORE TURBULENT

After the superb blog done by Sir Minty on all the Turbulents, plus some cajoling (and a couple of threats) I thought I'd better chuck in an update. Very new to blogging and don't really know what I'm doing so it will be basic and I hope that I can improve with time. The main purpose of it is to announce to the world and anyone that will listen, that I have just registered my Turbulent as ZK WPT. After about 6 months work, (almost full time) it is finished apart from a whole lot of ground running and testing on and off the ground. I'm just waiting for the shiny new Brent Thompson prop to arrive so that I can swing on it.
I bought this with almost all the woodwork done, from Dennis Niles of New Plymouth as a 15 year labour of love. Unfortunately health issues meant Dennis had to give up the build and put it on Trade/Me. I've always wanted to build an aeroplane as a pilot and an IA. but I'm afflicted with elastic tapemeasure disease. Wise men say, "measure twice and cut once" I can measure 10 times and get different answers each time. I believe its because they are making tape measures out of elastic. Damned Chinese. Anyhoo I needed something with the woodwork nearly done and Dennis's was just perfect. It needs all the things that I know and love to do. It has a zero timed 1600cc VW single port heads, twin carbs (off a 582) mounted on top. I've stuck to basics such as a new distributor, coil, mechanical fuel pump with electric back-up pump. AHA, I hear you say, you'll need electricity. A georgeous little Kubota alternator and a rectifier, belt driven off the back of the crank and a dinky little car battery. May fit an electric starter one day. It has all been sanded and resprayed in White with rescue red empenage and wing ends. I'll post some pickies when I figure out how. So,, Pull finger, Brent and we'll see if it'll make some noise and maybe even aviate.

More on the Wild Thing.

 A couple more photos of the ULBI WT-01 Klassik ZK-DTT2 , c/n 052 , as supplied by the builder/owner Jersey Seipel. Top pic shows it in its German registration of D-MDTT. Below in its ZK marks.

Question time # 116 resolved.

 Sir Minty cracks Question time # 116.
The above damsel, and the second clue in the shot below showing the "Kills" is on the Jodel D.11 ZK-CHX.

 The other damsel was indeed Linda Lovelace on the side of Titan T51 ZK-DGM2.

Wild Thing D-MDTT is Now New Zealand's ZK-DTT

A trip to North Shore today saw Jersey Seipel polishing his Wild Thing ZK-DTT and he was happy to stop for a chat and pose for a photo. In a nice touch Jersey didn't just remove the D-M from its previous registration but he has added new sloping registration letters. Jersey explained that the Wild Thing was modelled on the Murphy Rebel however it is much lighter than the Rebel and is registered in New Zealand as a Class 2 microlight with a MAUW of 544 kg. By comparason the Rebel is an Amateur Built aircraft and has a MAUW of 750 Kg. ZK-DTT has a 6 cylinder Jabiru 3300 motor and its first flight in New Zealand was at Parakai on 11/11/10.

Caravaning to Central Otago

No, I'm not referring to Blue Bus and her owner's sojourn of the South Island, but the departure from Timaru for Jardines 25Nov of Cessna 208B Caravan ZK-KPH/2. 
http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-cessna-caravan-arrives.html

At Timaru 25Nov, Simon Brown photo

The arrival of ZK-KPH brings the NZ Caravan population to 9 aircraft:
Cessna 208
ZK-PDM (Sounds Air)
ZK-PMT (Skydive Tandem, Methven)
ZK-SKB (Air Milford 2000)
ZK-TZR (Sounds Air)

Cessna 208B
ZK-KPH (Skydive Queenstown)
ZK-MJL (Salt Air)
ZK-MYH (Air 2 There)
ZK-SAA (Sounds Air however on 'sabatical' in Northern Territories and northern Western Australia)
ZK-SRI (Air Safaris)

"New" Resident at Ardmore

Aero L39 ZK-WLM was delivered to Ardmore 17Nov and registered to the McCready Investment Trust one week later.  This example arrived in NZ during early part of 2003 and was initially registered ZK-LLR with B-B Aviation of Wanaka.  It changed to its current registration on 01Nov 2004 and ownership records changed to Jetflights Wanaka from Sep 2006.   ZK-WLM was the first of type in NZ has since been joined by three addition L39's based at New Plymouth, Wellington and Nelson.


Airborne runway 29 at the Warbirds over Wanaka airshow Easter 2006, Mike Condon photo



Classic at Auckland International

Brendan Leddy of Kumeu (northwest of Auckland) Hiller FH-1100 ZK-HHW was spotted at Auckland International today 24Nov.  This machine is one of two owned by Brendan and it has been operating out of Invercargill in recent years for Stewart Island Helicopters.  A sticker below the rotor blades appears to read "Coastguard".

Outside the Air NZ Jet Base at Auckland 24Nov, Wayne Grant photo

Jodel D 9's of New Zealand (4)

The final batch of D 9's.
The photos are from the Keith Morris collection unless otherwise noted.

Our 9th D 9 was Robbie Gentry's ZK-FLI (c/n 10 4E), which was registered on 20/2/85. Robbie built ZK-FLI, his 5th homebuilt, at Masterton. It is photo'd here at the same Manawatu AACA Chapter fly-in at Feilding in 1985 as ZK-CTW was (see previous post). ZK-FLI migrated North to J D S Orr of Auckland in 9/87 then to B R Thow of Wellsford in 7/90. Then followed a series of syndicate owners at Blenhiem, and back to G C Southgate of Auckland in 11/98.
It was redesignated as a Class 1 microlight on 20/1/99 and it is photo'd here at Pikes Point in 2000. It is still current with J P C Land of Kaikohe who has owned it since 4/09.

Our 11th D 9 (I have got the order wrong) was ZK-FRK (c/n AACA 523), built by Dave Kenny of Cromwell, which was first registered on 14/6/88 but first flew in 4/92. It is photo'd here at the fogged in AACA fly in at Rangiora in 1993. It was redesinated as a Class 1 microlight on 20/1/99 and has gone through owners A R Wood of Upper Hutt (5/99), N J Brown of Blenhiem (3/04), T M Page of Napier (1/06) and finally to its current owners N&T Sutherland of Blenhiem in 8/07.

Our 10th D 9 to fly was ZK-AKR (c/n AACA 360), which was built at Balclutha by Charlie Kenny. It was first registered on 12/2/87 and is named "The Clydevale Phantom". It is photo'd here at the 1989 AACA fly in at Tairei. It was redesignated as a Class 1 microlight on 28/1/2000.

It was sold to P J Lock of Hokitika in 10/08 and he has since flown it widely around New Zealand. It is photo'd here at the 2009 SAANZ fly in at Ashburton, where it has signwriting commemorating the 50th anniversary of Jodels.

And our final D 9 to date is ZK-CHX (c/n A-11) which was completed Rex Kenny of Wellington and first flew at Masterton on 23/1/98. As you can see from the registration (which is in alphabetical order as things were done in the old days), its origins go way back to constructors in Tauranga, Dunedin, Kaikoura, and Christchurch before the project was purchased by Rex Kenny in 7/93. It was redesignated as a Class 1 microlight on 5/1/98. Rex sold ZK-CHX to C W Richmond of Stratford in 9/04, and it is photo'd here at the 2007 Black Sands fly in at Raglan. Can you see the outline of a scantily clad lady on the forward fuselage?

In this photo, from Nick's Aviation in Stratford, ZK-CHX is shown in its Stratford Air Force colours, as "05". You can also just make out 5 swastikas below the canopy which Nick advises is the number of German campervans that it has taken out - yeah right! I think this is where Jodel D 9's of New Zealand meets Question Time 116!

It was then sold to the Te Anau area in December 2012.

Sadly, ZK-CHX did not last long at Te Anau as it was destroyed in a crash on 12/3/13, but thankfully the pilot was not seriously injured.

Tecnam P2006T ZK-TTW

Imported to NZ during June this year was Tecnam P2006T ZK-TTW.   It departed Auckland for Norfolk Island on 22Aug on its way to an Australian demonstration tour.  It was later recorded as having visited the following towns:
Coolangatta, Redcliffe, Byron Bay, Bankstown, Wagga Wagga, Canberra, Bendigo, Moorabbin, Parafield, Nullabor, Caiguna, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton, Bunbury, Jandakot, Warburton and Moree, to name just a few, with the final known flight being on 07Oct when it arrived at Redcliffe from Moree.

It was cancelled from the NZ register on 18Nov as exported so no doubt it will have Australian marks by now.

at Ardmore 28Jun10, still awaiting final assembly.  Mike Condon photo

Pawnee ZK-JWW

Piper PA25-235 Pawnee ZK-JWW was placed on the register in August this year to Dennis Thompson International at Ardmore.  The aircraft has been imported by John W Walton and underwent rebuild work at a private airstrip.

It arrived in the circuit at Ardmore 19Nov and duly landed to be photographed by Colin Hunter.

Shares the same art as Harvard ZK-WAR (worn on its engine cowl).

Question Time # 116 revisited.

The original Question time # 116 has not yet been fully answered.

See link:-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2010/10/question-time-116.html

Sir Minty scored 3/5 of the correct answer, but the second aircraft has yet to be identified.

An additional clue below.

Jodel D 9's of New Zealand (3)

The later 1970's and early 1980's Jodel D 9's.

The photos are from the Keith Morris collection.

The next Jodel D 9 to be completed was John Murrays ZK-DEV (c/n AACA/117/1), which was registered on 22/5/75. John built his D 9 in Christchurch, and first flew it there on 20/12/75. It featured a Corby Starlet type canopy and looked very smart. It is photo'd here at the 1981 AACA fly-in at Pudding Hill, Methven. John sold it to MR Alexander of Blenhiem in 4/82 and it was then sold to PG Alexander of Blenhiem. By 5/84 it had been sold to C A McDonald of Dunedin, and in 1/87 it was sold to Pauline Hogue of Dunedin. It was damaged in a precautionary landing at Tairei on 25/10/87 and it was cancelled from the register on 20/9/89. Pauline Hogue also owned Jodel D 9 ZK-DBS which was also written off after engine failure at Tairei. She didn't seem to have much luck with D 9's!

In Masterton, former motor English cycle racer Trevor Sampson built ZK-EKC (c/n AACA 278) in a very short timeframe, and painted it in this very distinctive colour scheme. ZK-EKC was first registered on 20/9/77 and first flew at Masterton on 23/12/77, flown by Alan Belworthy I think. The photo was taken at Masterton in the early 1980's and the Andy Capp figure on the tail is a nod to Trevor's English ancestry. Trevor sold it to a syndicate of Alan Ruck, Maurice Tull, Kim Twentyman and C D Winterburn in 6/85 but unfortunately it did not last long in Canterbury as it crashed at Swannanoa on 21/9/85. It was cancelled on 5/7/95.

Also being built in the Wairarapa was Ian Blake's ZK-CVN (c/n AACA 54), which first flew at Masterton on 2/12/81. However, as may be seen by the early AACA number, it was started much earlier by R B Stratton of Tauranga, who first registered it on 6/10/67. It was then sold to W D Power and J R Hobday of Feilding on 20/8/74 who in turn sold it to Ian Blake on 13/12/78. It is photo'd here at Masterton in 12/81. ZK-CVN was damaged while flying to the 1985 AACA fly-in at Queenstown.

The damaged aircraft was sold to Alan and Evan Belworthy and Penny McKay of Masterton in 5/85, who rebuilt it and painted it in this pseudo military colour scheme. This photo was taken at an airstrip alongside the Masterton racecourse in the late 1980's. It was re-designated as a Class 1 microlight on 5/6/98. It is still current and still owned by Alan and Evan Belworthy, and it is hangared on Evan's airstrip at Cust.

The final Jodel D 9 of this bunch is ZK-KMM (c/n AACA 283), which was built by Keith Morris over a period of 10 years at Lower Hutt, Te Aroha and Levin. It was first registered on 23/12/83 and its first flight was at Foxpine on 15/1/84, piloted by Stuart Tantrum. ZK-KMM was built as a Jodel D 9 Plus with a wider fuselage, a raised turtle-deck (so a tall pilot could fit in rather than have his head sticking out), and a taller rudder. It also had a Taylor Monoplane-style undercarriage with round tube and scissors rather than the difficult to make teardrop shaped Jodel undercarriage legs. It was quite light and it flew well with Paul Beauchamp-Legg reckoning it as one of the nicest aircraft he ever flew (and he flew a lot of types). A half share of ZK-KMM was sold to Paul Beauchamp-Legg of Queen Charlotte Sound, and Paul flew it from Omaka across Cook Strait to and from Feilding at least 38 times. It is photographed here at Feilding in 1985 before it was named "Jodie". ZK-KMM was sold to Dick Haggett of Palmerston North in 8/86. In pushing it out of the hangar for sale to Dick Haggett, with the tail lifted up and talking - the rudder struck the top of the hangar door opening and was broken. Jim Fordyce of Feilding re-built the rudder.

ZK-KMM languished in a hangar on Feilding areodrome for quite a few years until purchased by Rex Thompson. Rex tidied the aircraft up, re-did the registration and added a canopy, as shown outside Rex's hangar at Feilding in 1994. Rex re-designated it as a Class 1 microlight on 22/9/98. Rex sold ZK-KMM to Hayden Kappely of Waipukurau in 7/02 and it is still active in the Hawkes Bay area.

Another HNZ machine heads south

Peter Campbell reports the departure of Eurocopter EC130 ZK-HNF from Nelson 08 Nov for points south with Antarctica being its final destination. 

This helicopter has been kept busy over our winter period working out of the South Island's West Coast glaciers on scenic work and 3 months in Vanuatu.

At Nelson in 2009, Peter Campbell photo

Bede BD-6 Question

I have received the following question from Australia about a Bede BD-6 that came to NZ.
Anybody help please ?


Hi, just another query. We had a single-seat Bede BD-6 on our register for a while, VH-PYH c/n 1026 that was regd to its owner builder in Western Australia on 18 January 2002. It was exported at some time to New Zealand. No-one here seems to have caught up with it and was wondering if you have any idea of where it is and what has happened to it.
Seems to be something that no-one has photographed. Regards, Dave Eyre.

Black Sands - beach landing.

The following was received from Bruce Cooke (ZK-CKE).

"Gidday,

You guys may want to post some pics of the beach landings on the Civil Aircraft Blog. Here Are a few I took at Gibsons Beach (Travel Courtesy of ZK-DBY)Please credit pics to me.

27 aircraft landed on the beach this year, a new record. The shape of the beach has changed dramatically since last year. where we parked on the sand near the northern cliffs has been scoured away to reveal a large sandstone shelf with rock pools and fractures. Probably due to the run of South Westerly Storms we had over Winter. Total official attendance (Those who paid landing fees) was 76, but we know there were over 200 landings (total, obviously several aircraft flew many times)over the weekend, so we suspect quite a number didn't pay (Cheap B*stards)."

Cheers,

Bruce Cooke

(ZK-CKE)

Photographs from Bruce Cooke (ZK-CKE).

Wild Thing ZK-DTT.

MESSAGE START +++ STOP PRESS! +++ STOP +++ GREAT NEWS! +++ STOP +++ FIRST FLIGHT OF TYPE WILD THING WT 01 REGISTRATION ZK-DTT IN NEW ZEALAND SUCCESSFUL! +++ STOP +++ LOCATION: PARAKAI AIRFIELD (NORTH ISLAND) +++ STOP +++ DURATION: 01:45 HRS +++ STOP +++ CONTROLLED CRASHES: 3 +++ STOP +++ POOR LANDINGS: 7 +++ STOP +++ GOOD LANDINGS: 0 +++ STOP +++ GREASERS: 0 +++ STOP +++ APPEARANCE OF AIRCRAFT: NOT ALTERED +++ STOP +++ CLEARLY, I NEED TO PRACTICE! +++ STOP +++ MORE DETAILS IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS +++ STOP +++ ALL THE BEST, CAPTAIN JERSEY +++ MESSAGE END


Wild Thing D-MDTT photographed in Germany prior to importation into NZ by its owner/builder Jersey Seipel.
It became ZK-DTT2 on 15-10-2010.

The above message was received from Jersey this morning.



Mosquitos at Raglan

I am not sure if is the close proximity to water, but Raglan aerodrome does seem to attract Mosquitos. Maybe they are salt water mosquitos?
Last year it was Oscar Stielau's ZK-IOS (See www.nzcivair.blogspot.com/2009/11/innovator-mosquito-xe-zk-ios-at-raglan.html ), and this year it was the agents' ZK-IXE. Both helicopters flew at the fly-ins but only short hops.

ZK-IXE was first registered on 17/4/09 to B E Holland of Dairy Flat (he lives right alongside North Shore Airfield which is handy). The Mosquito XE is an extremely micolight helicopter with a maximum takeoff weight of only 240 Kgs!

But it does have a cross country capability as shown in this photo!

I think I am Black Sanded out now, so I will return to other posts.

"New" Cessna Caravan Arrives

Arriving at Timaru 11Nov was Cessna 208B N832SA (208-0832) nearing the conclusion of its delivery flight from the USA which saw it depart from Hollister for Hilo then onto Pago Pago before flying 10Nov to Gisborne and Christchurch.


This particular aircraft is the first Caravan in NZ to be retro fitted with a 900hp Garrett (Honeywell) TPE331 engine, a significant increase in the available power of the PT6 engine that comes standard on a Caravan producing 650hp. The 'upsized' power of the new engine makes this modified Caravan ideal for parachute operations and it is was registered to Skydive Queenstown on 17Nov as ZK-KPH. http://www.texasturbines.com/ttcaravan/TTcaravan.htm

On arrival at Timaru under the command of veteran ferry pilot Jim Hazelton

Showing off the Caravan's retro fitted engine. Simon Brown photos

yakety Yak. ZK-YKV.

This rather neat photograph was taken by Matt Hayes on 07-11-2010 and shows the Yak-55M ZK-YKV , c/n 920402 , somewhere over Canterbury. It joined the NZ register on 11-03-2008 for Nicholas Pilbrow, being initially based at Wigram and now at Ashburton. That looks like young Nick flying it.

North Shore Notes

A few hours spent at North Shore/Dairy Flat on Sunday 07Nov netted a number of light aircraft including the following:

Also see http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2010/11/even-more-rvs.html

DH83C Fox Moth ZK-APT carried out a couple of circuits

Nelson based Cessna TU206G ZK-EOP

A rare machine, a Cessna 207 ZK-MDZ operated by Flight Hauraki

Stoddard-Hamilton Glastar ZK-MPO

Beech A36 ZK-NAZ conducted a local flight followed by circuits.

Fisher Dakota Hawk ZK-SOL

Pitts S2S ZK-WIZ

A brief stop at Parakai saw Coyote ZK-XLD captured on camera