Ardmore 31 May

Nelson based King Air 350 ZK-MMM arrived late morning from its home town and joined two other Beechcraft on the Hawker Pacific apron, N890LG and ZK-VRR.

Towed from a paint shop was yet to be registered (and completed!) ZK-NWH, a Cessna A185F (185-04426) ex N714WH.

Also towed from another paint facility was this unidentified EC130.  In the opposite direction under the same mode of towing was another EC130, ZK-HAT.

Henry reporting in

 Henry has kindly sent me this selection of photographs, mostly taken at Taupo, during the last few months.

 Above is the Flight 2000 Ltd Douglas DC3-C ZK-DAK2 c/n 26480/15035. (Often referred to as "The Warbirds Dak"). It was at Taupo on 11-03-2011 with a private tour party. It is painted in the scheme of the RNZAF VIP Dakota NZ3546 of 42 Squadron.

 Cessna 750 Citation X C-FNRG c/n 50-0305 of Skyservice Business Aviation from Dorval, Quebec parked up at Taupo on 17-10-2010.

 Taking off from the Chateau strip in the height of summer is the Cessna 172M Skyhawk ZK-EKP , c/n 17267279 , of Mountain Air.

 "Ah De Havilland".   DHC-2 Beaver ZK-FPZ c/n 717 of Venture Aviation at Taupo.

On approach on 28-05-2011 was the Gulfstream GV-SP ZK-KFB2 , c/n 5260 . & this one is referred to as the Peter Jackson Gulfstream.

Two views - one approaching and one departing of the Sydney Jet Charters Dassault Falcon 2000EX VH-CRW , c/n 058, on 15-12-2010. It was in Taopu several times during the summer.

Ardmore Visitors 30 May

The Mainland Touch was on hand at Ardmore this morning with Dunedin based training school Mainland Air represented by Cessna 152's ZK-NSA and ZK-NSZ.  Both aircraft departed Ardmore for Thames.  The north was also graced with Mainland's Piper PA31-350 today, ZK-KVW.  It spent a time on the ground at Auckland arriving from and returning to Dunedin with a flight time southbound of 3hr 40mins!  Long haul!

Fly Synthesis Texan Top Class ZK-TXS is registered to a Whangarei address and this smart class 2 microlight whistled into Ardmore.  At the same time another Whangarei resident, Alpi ZK-LPA was departing Ardmore while entering a workshop was yet another Far North resident, Tecnam P92 ZK-WTF.

Accident report released on ZK-BAR

 The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand have released the accident report for the De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth ZK-BAR which crashed near Ashburton on 02-12-2006.
Report available at :-

http://www.caa.govt.nz/Accidents_and_Incidents/Accident_Reports/ZK-BAR_Fatal.pdf

Photograph above was taken at Ashburton on 25-07-2006.

Avspecs at Ardmore Today - Goodbye ZK-TWK

A quick trip to Ardmore this morning saw some interesting aircraft as the hangars opened up. I was delighted to find the Avspecs hangar open, and with permission I photo'd the following aircraft.

This isn't the best photo of Tomahawk ZK-TWK but it is probably the last photo of it taken in New Zealand. Tomorrow it will be in a container............

In the back corner was Jerry Yagen's Mosquito KA 117 coming together with engines in place. This will be amazing to see when it is finally completed. I was told "it will be finished when it is finished".

And a surprise in the other corner of the hangar was a second Mosquito! This one is TV 959 owned by The Flying Heritage Collection of Norfolk in England. Flyernzl has posted better photos and details of this aircraft on the Wings Over NZ blog.

Fleet change at Dargaville Aero Club

 After five years and some 1,500 hours with the Dargaville Aero Club, Fly Synthesis Storch S ZK-FOS2 (= Murray Foster, CFI of the club) [c/n 322A-378] was sold in April to Rodger L Fortune of Invercargill. Handover to the new owner took place on April 9 at Omaka.
FOS has been replaced by the 2007-vintage low-time, Fly Synthesis Storch S ZK-JES2 (= Allan Jessop [c/n 374A-430], NZ dealer for the Italian manufacturer Fly Synthesis, owner of HeliNorth Agricultural, and Dargaville Aero Club stalwart), which boasts a three-blade composite Duc propeller, partial glass cockpit, and greater fuel capacity.
Jean210

Napier resident Cessna 172N N37ER

The remains of a this Cessna 172N are kept in the Napier area and hauled out on occasion to support emergency and rescue demonstrations and exhibitions. These photos were taken on Marine Parade in April 2009 by JEAN210.

Rather surprisingly, the source of this hulk is the United States. Even more interesting is that N37ER (msn 17269534) suffered an accident at Salida, Colorado, on 18 July 1983, when it encountered downdrafts after crossing Ruby Mountain at 9,900ft and made a forced landing on a sloping, rocky meadow at an elevation of 8,200ft. The nose wheel collided with a boulder and over went the aircraft. Fortunately, pilot/owner Kenneth P Smith and his wife escaped uninjured.

The wreck was shipped to NZ as a spares source, or ?
Is this wing from the same aircraft ?

Thanks to Jean210.

McNair Mynah 2 Seater

As a test I post this microlight which I believe is the one and only 2 seater McNair Mynah, photographed at at airshow at Matamata in 1991. Can anyone provide any more details?

Hughes 369D ZK-HDZ

Seldom seen in the big cities is this Hughes 369D ZK-HDZ2  c/n 51-0959D. It was captured here at Paringa on 22-04-2011 by Chris Appleby.  Built in May of 1981 it reached NZ to become ZK-HDZ on 07-10-1985 with Helicopter Equipment at Taupo for delivery to Peter Bradley of Murupara on 22-11-1985. It did not stay long as it was cancelled on 26-05-19867 as exported to Rabaul to become P2-IHB with Island Helicopter Services Ltd. It returned to NZ through Wing & Rotor to join Waimana Helicopters on 31-07-1990. On 10-10-1994 it was listed to Amuri Helicopters Ltd of Waikari, North Canterbury. It had a bit of a technical problem during a spray run near Cheviot on 16-01-2004 and was damaged in the forced landing. It was duly cancelled and it went down to James Scott at Fox Glacier and following a reee-work it was returned to the register on 02-10-2007. It wears Alpine Adventures sign on the passengers door.

Ardmore 27 May

Newly registered 2011 model Cirrus SR22 ZK-FMN arrived at Ardmore with its new marking today from Wellington where it had arrived as N102NZ from Ardmore on 09 May.

Robinson R66 ZK-HAG was outside in a brief moment of sunshine.

Question time # 129 resolved

 Ladies and Gentlemen : We have a winner in 24-5117 (sounds like an Australian Pioneer to me).
Well done.
The correct answer being Alpi Pioneer 200.
And in this case we have another winner in Micheal who gave us the registration (although it wasn't even asked for) It is indeed ZK-PAA.

Luke Spacewalker - very close - but from the wrong planet.

24-5117 and Michael: if you would flick me your snail mail address I will send the chocky fish.
(Address in blog header pic).

Question time # 129

Manufacturers name and model would be nice.

"Old" Piper and "New" Cessna

Steve Lowe took these great shots of Piper PA24-250 ZK-BAZ and recently arrived Cessna T182T ZK-RGZ at Ardmore on 24 May 2011.

ZK-BAZ has been visiting Ardmore from its Timaru base for a number of weeks now.

Ardmore Agusta's

The outgoing and incoming.  Agusta A119 Koala ZK-ITP (nee ZK-ITR/1) was photographed on 23May and Agusta A109 Power ZK-ITR taken today with its incumbent. 

Ah; so thats how helicopters go up and down.

King Air N90NZ

The lastest King Air for NZ residency arrived today, N90NZ.  It is to become ZK-ZZA, contrary to the blog title. Check out :
http://galonghaulnews.blogspot.com/2011/05/king-air-n90nz.html

The population is now made up of:

King Air 350 ZK-MMM
King Air 200 ZK-FDR / MAN / PLK / NZ1881 / NZ1882 / NZ1883 / NZ1884 / NZ1885
King Air 90 ZK-MKG / SNM / N890LG / N90NZ (ZK-ZZA)

F-ODAN from the French invasion. Now ZK-TZB.

As mentioned earlier in the "I remember when - French invasion" blog, the Robin DR400/180 F-ODAN c/n 1043, flew back into Auckland via Norfolk Island on 18-11-2003. It was registered as ZK-TZB2 to Izard Pacific Aviation Ltd of Springhill on 20-01-2004 and transferred to I B Communications Ltd of Palmerston North on 11-05-2004. It returned to Izard Pacific on 01-09-2005, remaining with them until taken over by David Fletcher of Wellsford and based at Springhill until moving to Kaipara Flat in July of 2010.
The top photo shown F-ODAN at Oamaru on 04-12-1979.

These two, very much more recent shots, were supplied by Jean210 and show it as ZK-TZB2 with its manufacturers plate - still stamped with its original French registration.

Evans Volksplanes of New Zealand - VP-2's

Following along from the VP-1 came the bigger VP-2 which first flew in 1971. It looked the same as the VP-1 but it was 1 foot longer, had 3 feet of extra wingspan and had a cockpit that was 1 foot wider which made it very cramped for 2 people. I think VP-2's were most flown with a single pilot.

Our first VP-2 was ZK-EEN (c/n AACA 314/1) which was built by Darcy Hoffman at Dunedin. It was first registered on 23/10/75 and is shown here at the 1979 AACA fly-in at Gore. I understand that it crashed at Taieri and was then sold to K H Kramer of Queenstown on 27/7/83. It was cancelled on 11/2/92 and again on 27/11/96 - anyone know why? The remains are at Gore.

The next VP-2 was ZK-FPK (c/n AACA 703) which was built by Bill Salt at Auckland and was first registered on 30/10/87. It is shown here at the 1992 AACA fly-in at Tauranga. It was sold to M J Quadvlieg of Masterton on 29/7/02, who re-designated as a Class 1 microlight. It was withdrawn and cancelled on 28/8/03.

And our final and most active VP-2 was Max Saunders' ZK-CVW (c/n AACA 1001) which was first registered on 28/4/87 and featured an 1834cc VW motor. It is shown here at Paraparaumu early on in its life with a canopy.

After several modifications it looked like this, at the 2002 AACA fly-in at Matamata. It was re-designated as a Class 2 microlight on 7/2/02. It has been withdrawn and its motor has been used in Max Saunders' latest Flitzer Biplane project (but that is another story).

Beechcraft 200 King Air N14SU (was Blog test Only)

This rather damp and dull picture of the Beechcraft 200 King Air N14SU c/n BB-259 was taken at Christchurch on 07-02-1988, resting between trips to the West Coast. It began life as N3786J before heading down to Venezuela to become YV-114CP. Returning to the US it was then listed as N14SU, and as such arrived at Christchurch from Pago Pago on 30-01-1988. It had aspiration of becoming ZK-CMO2 with Como Holdings but that fell through (see mikes comment below). It zotted off to Sydney on 01-07-1988 and its US registration was cancelled on 06-09-1988 for it to become VH-NIB on the 8th. One operator being AGC of North Quay, Queensland. It was re-registered as VH-APA on 03-01-1992 to AGC of Sydney and then to Asia Pacific Airlines of Adelaide, SA a year later. On 11-07-1994 it was re-listed as VH-LKB with (I think) Australian Jet Pty and spent time leased to the Ozzie Army. As from 24-06-2006 it has been flying as VH-ZMP. [e&oe].

Omaka duo.

 A new contributor "ZK-CMM",  has provided these two nice shots taken at the recent Omaka Classic Fighters Easter gathering.

There is not a lot for me to say really : but from the civilian side:  the Spitfire MkIX above is ZK-WDQ , c/n CBAF 5487, of Doug Brooker.

Below is the Flug Werke FW190 A8/N ZK-RFR , c/n 990001 , from the Chariots of Fire Fighter Collection.

North Shore Today

A nice day at North Shore Airfield today saw some interesting aircraft out and about, or in hangars.The Smith/Lynch Syndicate Yak 52 ZK-YAX taxied out for a type rating. And there was another Yak parked on the field - the Yak 18T ZK-SSR visiting from Nelson.

Being assembled in the Smith Tech Air hangar was Beagle Pup ZK-PVP, which was registered to J R Faulkner of Wellington on 4/4/11. It is ex G-AXIF and must have been in an air race sometime in its life.

And a nice surprise was when Peter Beck pulled his ERCO Ercoupe 415 ZK-AQX out of the hangar, also for a type rating. It has interesting canopy door mechanism where the canopy doors come up out of the fuselage sides and close together at top centre. This photo shows the canopy open.

While this shows it closed. ZK-AQX has a long and interesting history that was well documented by Flyernzl in his post http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2009/07/erco-ercoupe-415c-1-zk-aqx.html

NOTAR ZK-HDN still at it, with some help at higher level.

MD520N NOTAR ZK-HDN3 was still busy on low level MAD survey work today (20-05-2011).

Also on survey work, although awaiting electronic component this morning, is the Cessna TU206G Turbo Stationair 6 11 ZK-EOP c/n U206-04697 of Aerial Surveys Ltd of Nelson. This is doing higher level LIDAR survey work.
Check out the capability of LIDAR at :-

http://www.nzam.com/article.asp?id=lidar

and

http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect8/Sect8_8.html