Blue skies XX and Blue Lake.

Yesterday (30-03-2011) was a fab day, weather wise, work wise. Calm as, and 8/8th of solid blue.
Here we are at Blue Lake on the West Branch of the Sabine River which flows north into Lake Rotoroa in the Nelson Lakes National Park.
ZK-HXX3 is Hughes 369D c/n 30-0675D. It has been around for a while. Created on March of 1980 it worked in Oz as VH-KSY until imported into NZ for Airwest Helicopters of Reefton as ZK-HSW from 06-04-1984. Nelson Helicopters/Jet Heli Ltd took it on from 20-12-1999 and changed its registration to ZK-HXX3 on 04-02-2000. It was listed to Work Helicopters (NZ) Ltd on 10-08-2001 and then to its current operator Helicopter Charter Karamea 2006 Ltd on 12-09-2007.

Now on the register

The Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust Agusta A109E Power was placed on the NZ register today as ZK-ITR/2, the first ZK-ITR previously worn by the Agusta A119 Koala which is now ZK-ITP.  Like the Koala, the A109 is registered to Helilink, a subsidary of Airwork (NZ) Ltd.

ZK-ITR was outside the Heliflite hanger at Ardmore today, all photos Mike Condon



ZK-ITR when it was the Koala.



Years apart

When I was in Masterton during the January Cessna 180/185 weekend I came across A De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth that I remember from the 1970's.

ZK-ANQ was built at Hatfield in the UK as c/n 82906 for the RAF and was issued the serial R5011. It was shipped to NZ (as one of 90 gifted to NZ by the British) and taken on charge by the RNZAF on 23-07-1940 as NZ892. Following withdrawal from military service on 01-04-1947 it entered the NZ civil register on 21-01-1947 as ZK-ANQ with T E Lawrence of Dargaville. By November of 1959 it was Tauranga based with R L Schrivener. The above photo was taken at Tauranga on 10-06-1973. About 1983 it moved to Gisborne for Alan Land. It was hired for a pereiod to White Island Airways and in November 1987 was sold to Thompson & Burdan of Levin. It was damaged on 15-07-1990 near Palmerston North. A couple of owner changes later it was with Stuart Tantrum of Levin by March of 1996. It came out of storage and was rebuilt by Stu to join the Omaka Collection on 29-10-2002 and was re-listed to The Vintage Aviator on 01-07-2007.
Photo below shows her at Masterton on 21-01-2011 in quasi RNZAF markings.
 

A couple of new ones.

 This Jodel D.18 has been in the making for some time. A project started by Bevin Chamberlain at Rangiora about nine years ago. It was sold to Graeme Main about eighteen months ago and progress has shot ahead since then. It underwent its CAA inspection a couple of days ago - and after a couple of small matters are sorted ZK-JVG will soon be having its first flight. It is Rotax 912 powered to a three bladed Woodcomp adjustable propeller.

Returning to the register shortly is this Ultralight Aviation Thruster ZK-FHK , c/n MAANZ/229 .
First listed on 21-12-1983; it had an incident at Woodbury and was cancelled on 16-11-2007.
Both seen at Rangiora on 25-03-2011.

Found?

Blue Bus posted a "missing" entry for Porter ZK-PCI back in August 2010 http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2010/08/missing.html

On 15 March 2011 the NZ CAA actioned a name change from Highland Air to AJ Wallace, Andrew being the owner of Highland Air.

Does this transaction indicate the aircraft has been located?

Cessna 150H ZK-JFO

Cessna 150H ZK-JFO has been on the register since July 1995 and has spent time registered to owners in Balclutha, Wellsford, Te Awamutu, Cambridge and most recently Hamilton.

Today, 24 March, it was parked at Ardmore.

Mike Condon photo

Agusta's

Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust are in the process of upgrading their machine from the single engine A119 Koala to a twin engined A109E Power.   The Koala was first registered ZK-ITR in May 2007 and it was changed to ZK-ITP earlier this month in preperation of the introduction of the A109 which will be registered ZK-ITR/2.
http://www.rotorjetgroup.com/aeromobili/vel.php?id=44

According to another website, the A109 arrived at the Ports of Auckland around 8 March and it has since arrived via container at Ardmore where it was noted being worked on today (24 March) in company with the A119.    The A109 has the same markings as the A119 minus any words.

It is expected the A109 will be ready for delivery to New Plymouth sometime during April.

The arrival of ZK-ITR/2 will be only the third of type to grace our skies.  The first was Rossmond Holdings ZK-HXI from 11 August 1987 until 19 September 1989 and the second was to Helitaxi Ltd ZK-HBC from 11 December 1987 until 08 August 1990.  ZK-HBC was used by Air NZ to provide transport between the Auckland CBD and Auckland Airport.

The RNZAF have taken delivery of its first A109 LUH at Ohakea so we look forward to seeing it sometime.

RNZAF official photo

ZK-ITP with ZK-ITR/2 (not yet taken up) in the hanger, Ardmore 24 March 2011

I remember when.

Ah De Havilland !
De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth ZK-AZY , c/n 83557 , seen at Taieri in early 1967.
This Tiger came to NZ post WW11 after serving with the RAF as T5845 and then as G-AMFW on the UK civil register. It was registered in NZ on 07-08-1952 to Wanganui Aero Work Garnham Aviation of Taihape. It was withdrawn from ag work sometime in 1956 and converted to a two seat "coupe" for W B Easton by Airepairs towards the end of 1958. It later spent time with the Southern Hawkes Bay Aero Club, Airwork (NZ) Ltd, the Otago Gliding Club and finally with Tom Grant, Dudley Waters and A J L McDonald.
Later in 1967 (12th of November I think) it overturned at Taieri and was cancelled on 19-09-1968.

Cancelled. ZK-VAT

Cancelled from the register on 15-03-2011 was this Cessna 172R Skyhawk ZK-VAT , c/n 172813243.
It was first listed to the Ardmore Flying School Ltd on 04-10-2006.
On 24-10-2010 it overran the airfield at Thames and ended in the oxidation ponds.

A better ZK-Lazer photo

As promised, a (slightly) better photo of the Sam Fry Laser 230 ZK-LZR , c/n 32 , Taken today at Rangiora.

The Vintage Aviator Collection at Masterton

For my final post from Masterton, I thought I would scratch the surface of the amazing collection of flying originals and replicas of The Vintage Aviator. I have already posted about the selection of aircraft outside the hangar - 4 Fokker Triplane replicas, a Pfalz D III replica, and 2 SE 5A's (which surely qualify as modern originals). In addition to these were Tiger Moth ZK-ANQ and Chipmunk N861WP which has been based at Masterton for several years.

The hangar carries the logo of The Old Stick and Rudder Company and at the front were their Corsair ZK-COR and Kittyhawk ZK-RMH, plus a yellow and black Stampe biplane.

Then there were another 11 Vintage Aviator aircraft inside including the Avro 504K ZK-ACU which was restored by Stuart Tantrum at Blenhiem, and has a Le Rhone rotary engine. This aircraft is an original machine.

The other aircraft were often difficult to photograph as they were quite tightly parked, but what a selection! These aircraft were: the third SE 5A ZK-SEO, the Nieuport XI replica ZK-NIM, an original Bristol F 2b Fighter ZK-BRI which features a 14.2 litre! Rolls Royce Falcon engine, the Sopwith Triplane replica ZK-SOP and the Sopwith Camel replica ZK-JNU (which also has a rotary engine), the Curtis Helldiver static replica which was built by Peter Jackson to use in the filming of King Kong ( the list goes on!). In the corner was another amazing machine - the FE 2B ZK-FEE with its 50 foot wingspan and original Beardsmore pusher engine, and the the BE 2F ZK-BFR which is another original machine.

The BE 2C replica ZK-TVA is painted to represent an early Royal Flying Corps machine, before the roundels were used. What a massive propellor!

And finally The Vintage Aviators latest amazing re-creation, the Albatross D VA replica ZK-DVA which has an original 6 cylinder liquid cooled Mercedes engine and like the SE 5A's has been manufactured to modern original standard, being an exact replica down to the tiniest detail. There are only 2 original Albatrosses left in the world and none that can fly, one is at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D C, and the other is at the Australian War Museum in Canberra. This machine was laser scanned and digitised to produce data to build ZK-DVA to the exact original standard that has been attained.

What an amazing collection! - surely unique in the world under one roof, and all the more amazing is that all the aircraft except for the Curtis Helldiver are regularly flown. The lady in The Vintage Aviator shop told me that there are around 60 aircraft in the collection. She was coy about what is coming next, but I was assured that there are more surprising aircraft on the way. Watch this space!

Pereira GP-4 ZK-JPE.

The G Pereira GP-4 ZK-JPE , c/n 396 , is reported to have crashed into the sea off Orewa Beach yesterday afternoon (20-03-2011) with the loss of the Pilot.
This aircraft was the project of Picton resident John Evans. It first flew from Omaka on 13-02-2004. It was sold to the Logan Family trust of Auckland on 27-11-2010.
The photo above was taken at Ashburton on 04-02-2007.



Below is the mention this aircraft received in the NZ Aviation News Magazine at the time of its registration in December 2003.

The fourth design by George Pereira is naturally enough designated the GP-4. John Evan’s of Picton is nearing the completion of this high performance, low wing, basically all wood two seater. Built entirely from the plans, using a materials only kit from Wick’s Aircraft Supply. Construction began in November 1999. The retractable, tricycle undercarriage uses an electro-hydraulic system. Engine of choice is the Subaru SVX six cylinder 3.3 litre obtained from a damaged vehicle. All excess weight and components have been removed from this engine with it driving through a Sub4 reduction gearbox. It has dual electrical systems including two alternators and batteries working through a Link ElectroSystems engine management system. Total weight of thispowerplant (minus exhaust and fluids comes to 395 pounds, about 100 more than a Lycoming IO-360 set up. It is fitted with an electrically operated, MT four bladed propeller. Instruments include a Blue Mountain Avionics Efis/One, which incorporates all the flight and engine instrumentation in one unit, including GPS, Altitude encoder, G meter, data recorder and autopilot. (check out www.bluemountainavionics.com). After three years and over 5000 man hours the aircraft has come together at Omaka. It has taken up John’s initials for its registration of ZK-JPE. A very detailed series of articles on the building of this aircraft has been running in the Sport Aircraft Association NZ magazine.

Two more from Andy.

The two BK117's at Garden City Helicopters base at Christchurch Airport on 09-03-2011.

The all white, Otago Helicopters ZK-HJK on duty, whilst ZK-HJC is undergoing a spot of maintenance.

Note the plastic Spitfire (TE288) lurking in the trees behind.

Aerospatiale AS355 "Police 1" ticking over on Hagley Park on 10-03-2011.
Both pics by Andy Heap.

More pics from the "No Fly Zone"

 Andy Heap has kindly provided these shots taken back on March the 9th & 10th.
Three in Hagley Park and the 402 overhead the City.

 Hardly NZ Civil, but never the less carrying media types over the area was this Iroquois NZ3816.

 Helicopters Otago's Kawasaki BK117 B-2 ZK-HJK2 , c/n 1020 ,   has continued to work from Garden City Helicopters base whilst their ZK-HJC appears to be down for heavy maintenance.

Cessna 402B ZK-PVC , c/n 402B-0559 , of N Z Aerial Mapping doing its photographic thing over the Christchurch CBD; the camera hatch clearly visible. This 402 has been in NZ since March of 1974; initially as ZK-DSG, becoming ZK-PVC on 11-07-2000.

Recent Cessna 172 cancellations.

 The following two Cessna 172's have been recently cancelled from out register from non flight incidents.

Above is 172M ZK-FKS , c/n 63305 as seen at Queenstown on 18-11-2010. On 15-01-2011 it was torn from its pickets and blown onto 172 ZK-CHO. It was cancelled as destroyed on 09-03-2011. A 1974 model, it was imported by Aeromotive Overhauls of Hamilton and registered on 19-03-1985 for delivery to Henwood, Poole, Allen, Cox & Smith of Mangakino the following month who had it online with the Falcon Flying Academy at Hamilton for a while before it joined the Waitomo Aero Club at Te Kuiti from 16-10-1989. Rick Lucas Helicopters feaure from 02-02-2008 and then it became one of the many 172's to pass to the Wakatipu Aero Club Inc.

Below is 172N ZK-VCM , c/n 73209.  An import from the States in early 1997 and listed to Intergold Investments of Auckland on 07-02-1997 and then to the Auckland Flying School  on 18-04-1997. It then went to Southflight Aviation Ltd of Christchurch on 06-11-1998. It moved to Kaikoura permanently for Wings Over Whales Ltd on 16-11-1960, with a name change to Wings Over Whales Kaikoura Ltd from 13-03-2007.
It was on the ground taxying at Wellington Airport on 21-11-2007 when it was overturned by the wind.
I spied it in the old CAA hangar at Wellington on 30-01-2007. It was cancelled as destroyed on 25-02-2011. Obvious in this photo are the damage to the  nose wheel spat the propeller spinner, the propeller itself, the broken front screen, damage around the top door hinge, bottom hinge and above the lower strut attachment, behind and below the strut, bent strut giving some degrees on anhedral and the fin and rudder are somewhat shortened. And that is just on this side.

Eleven Wings Over Masterton

Another attraction of travelling to Masterton was that I hoped to see some of The Vintage Aviator aircraft flying, especially a SE 5A. I got all that I had hoped for as several of the aircraft were practicing formation flying for The Vintage Aviator Hood Aerodrome Open Day on 26 March, and also for the Classic Fighters Airshow at Omaka over Easter weekend.

Here is one of the formations that were flying around for most of the afternoon. After each flight the pilots returned for a debriefing as none of the aircraft have radios so the formations must be controlled by hand signals. Surely this must be a unique sight worldwide.

Out the front of the hangar, you could have been forgiven for thinking you were at a German WW 1 aerodrome, with this line up of 5 German fighters. From the nearest Fokker Triplane they are Triplanes ZK-FOT, ZK-JOG, ZK-FOC and ZK-JOK, and Pfalz D III ZK-FLZ.

Except that out from the other side of the hangar were Vintage Aviator SE 5A replicas ZK-SES and ZK-SEV!

ZK-SEV was the SE 5A that was flying during the day.

While ZK-SES was parked. The Vintage Aviator has 3 SE 5A's based at Hood Aerodrome (the other one in the hangar was ZK-SEO). They are amazing aircraft that are exact replicas of the original Royal Aircraft Factory aircraft down to the smallest detail including original Hispano-Suiza direct drive 180 HP engines.

Actual Oldest Microlight at RAANZ Flyin, Masterton

frankv has pointed out the error of my ways so I happily now post a correction in another post about microlights.

In fact the oldest microlight at Masterton was the Kolb Twinstar II ZK-FVK, which was flown all the way from Christchurch. ZK-FVK was built by A McLean of Palmerston North and was first registered on 14/11/89. It has had 9 subsequent owners and is now owned by B W Thompson of Christchurch. It still looks exactly like it did when it first flew.

I remember ZK-FVK being built and completed at Feilding Aerodrome when I lived in Feilding in the late 1980's. There was another Kolb Twinstar built in the Manawatu area at the same time, being ZK-FVF which was later re-registered as ZK-JML and as such was involved in a fatal accident at Foxpine.

Micro Aviation B22J Bantam ZK-LCR

Micro Aviation B22J Bantam ZK-LCR , c/n 00-0186 photographed here at Ashburton on 13-03-2011 has been owned by David Soal since 21-08-2008.

It started life as ZK-JMJ with Max Clear on 19-10-2000 but was re-registerted as ZK-LCR for Lloyd Charles Renwick of Auckland on 02-07-2001. It went to Richard Kennard of Auckland on 12-07-2004 and moved to Ashburton replacing David's earlier Bantam B22 ZK-FPQ , c/n 0067 , which he had sold to Hugh Keeble of Waikari on 06-08-2008. This is a late 1987 model

Photo of ZK-LCR above by Bargeld01.

Pic below of ZK-FPQ at Rangiora on 05-50-2010 by Dave Paull.

Second Oldest Microlight at RAANZ Flyin, Masterton

One thing that I noticed at the RAANZ flyin at Masterton was that there were no older type microlights there, not even any Bantams.

I think the oldest type of microlight there was this Viper Aircraft Falcon XP ZK-JGL which was first registered in New Zealand on 15/2/96. (Later it turned out to be the second oldest microlight there). It is owned by A J McCracken of Upper Hutt and is the only one of its type still registered. I think there may have been other Falcon XP's on the register, and also some single seat Falcon UL's.

Almost there. Jodel D.18 ZK-JVG

Almost ready for its first flight at Rangiora is the Jodel D.18 ZK-JVG , c/n GM05.
This project was begun by Bevan Chamberlain close to nine years ago. It was picked up by Graeme Main about eighteen months ago and has advanced quickly since then. Here it is having fuel flow test done on its Rotax 912S engine. The propeller is a threee bladed adjustable Woodcomp.
In the background is the VW powered D.18 ZK-JPK2.

Bennett Condor at RAANZ Flyin, Masterton

While poking around the hangars that were open at the RAANZ flyin at Masterton, I came across this interesting microlight which was a neat surprise. It is the Bennett Condor ZK-CON which was built in Wanganui by Bill Bennett, and first registered on 15/12/09. It started out as a Minicab but Bill added a 500 mm fuselage extension, then he enlarged the cabin a bit. Then he added a Vans style undercarriage and a cut down Alpi 200 canopy. It is powered by a UL Power 260i motor of 100 HP and it flies very well according to Bill. It is now based in Masterton and is flown by Bill's son Mike Bennett.

New Green Aircraft at RAANZ Flyin, Masterton

The 2011 Recreational Aircraft of New Zealand (RAANZ) flyin was held at Hood Aerodrome at Masterton over the weekend of 11 - 13 March. Around 30 microlight and sport aircraft attended, and I guess a few more might have been kept away by the weather as the Tararuas were clagged in by low cloud as a front went through. However it was a successful flyin and a lot of aviation was committed.

Two new aircraft were there, and coincidentally they were both green. The first, photo'd above was the local Wairarapa and Ruahine Aero Club's new Rans S-6ES Coyote ZK-ABE, which was first registered on 13/1/11.

And the other new green aircraft was the Manawatu Microlight Club's X Air Hanuman ZK-MMC which was recently completed by the club, and registered to them on 6/8/10.

Another 737 for Airwork

Airwork took delivery of another Boeing 737-300 freighter conversion with N527AU arriving at Auckland from Honolulu and Apia 12 March.  The 737, with "FXT" on the nosegear door, had flown from Miami where it was converted from a passenger aircraft to Long Beach and Honolulu 10 March NZ time.

It is expected the 737 will become ZK-FXT but it is unconfirmed where it will be based.

More posts here on the aircraft:
http://hnlrarebirds.blogspot.com/2011/03/ex-us-airways-n527au.html

Wayne Grant photo



Adventurer ZK-CKE

The much anticipated first flight of Bruce Cooke's Avian Adventurer ZK-CKE (AV08-01) took place from Hamilton Saturday 12 March and Noel Jones was on hand to catch this little beauty in flight.

Congratulations Bruce on a job well done - enjoy!

Noel Jones photo

I remember when.

I Remember when De Havilland ruled.

Taieri airfield on the 7th of July 1974, parked in the evening sun.
De Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk ZK-ARL , c/n 61 , of Jack Hanlon.
The bracket forward of the tailwheel was to hold a camera.
It has had some well know owners following its import via De Havilland Aircraft of NZ in about mid 1949.
Wellington Aero Club had it first, followed by Peter Collins, Bill Coulter, Athol Brown, Bill Telford,Waldron & Walters, Jack Hanlon, Ernie Thompson and Ian Reynolds; Sue Naylor; Sonia Read and Peter Reid; and currently Jim Chapman.

Thats fowl !

 An item of interest on the Sam Fry Laser 230 ZK-LZR at Rangiora.

Robinson R44 swaps.

Robinson R44 Raven 11 ZK-HTZ2 , c/n 10083 , was registered with Skysales on 24-06-2003 for delivery to Heli-Works Queenstown Helicopters Ltd from 21-07-2003.

The above pic was taken at Queenstown on 17-08-2006 by which time it was with J C Aviation Ltd.

 In August 2007 it went up to the Connell's at Hamilton but returned south to Peter Morrison of Darfield Helicopters on 11-08-2009. Photo below taken at Charlie Drapers airstrip near Darfield on 27-09-2009.

As from 17-02-2011 it  was re-registered as ZK-IFD : still with Darfield Helicopters.

Below is ZK-IFD at Heli Maintenance 11-03-2011

Now then: The letters ZK-HTZ3 were re-allocated the same day (17-11-2011) to the Robinson R44 Raven 11 that previously was ZK-HLD5 with Kaikoura Helicopters.

Above is a shot of ZK-HLD5 , c/n 12261 , as seen at Kaikoura on 07-02-2010. This is now the new ZK-HTZ3.

Sam Fry Laser 230 ZK-LZR

 Sam T Fry of Prairieville, LA built this aircraft from a kit set based on the Giles 200 Stephens Akro. The data plate says that its date of manufacture was 20-10-1992 and it was registered as N31LZ. The engine is a Lycoming HIO-360-C1A of 230hp driving a whirlwind propeller.
On 07-11-1997 its certificate was transferred to Fernando Zayas of Loveland, Colorado. (with Bob Freeman as a sleeping partner). Its US registration was cancelled on the 3rd of March for it to become ZK-LZR (Laser) on the 9th; still with Fred Zayas.
Photo taken at Rangiora 07-03-2011. I will try and get a better angle tomorrow.

Question time # 123

No - it is not ZK-MOO or ZK-COW.

So it must be something else !

Any ideas ?