Isaacs Fury ZK-CYO.

I have a two more gems from Rob Pierre showing his father John at work.

 These two views show John starting the Isaacs Fury II ZK-CYO (c/n AACA/70/1) for one of its very early test flight. That would date the photographs about March of 1979.

 

And below an old shot from Russell Woods showing ZK-CYO airborne during the AACA fly-in at Pudding Hill in January 1981.

Below is another view from Pudding Hill from Dave Paull dated 25-01-1981.

ZK-CYO/K2040 (c/n AACA/70/1), was started by Lew Hale of Ngarua and registered by him on 14-01-1969.

 Lew sold the project to Peter Dyer of Christchurch on 06-05-77, and Peter completed the aircraft in February/March of 1979.

  It was sold to Les Worsley of Hamilton on 04-08-1982 and then Peter Dyer bought it back again on 02-05-1991 and based it at Taupo.

 It was then sold to The Sky's The Limit of Taupo on 04-02-1999 and then to Barrie Girdler of Christchurch on 17-05-2001 who re-designated is as a Class 1 microlight from 29-05-2001.

It was then to Richard O'Neill-Dean of Dunedin on 26-01-2004. I believe at about this stage the seating and leg room was adjusted to accept the tall frame of the new owner.

Finally it was bought by Des Lines of Swannanoa on 03-10-2005.

 Now two shot taken on Charlie Drapers strip near Darfield on 22-04-2012. The above view shows the chequered upper wing pattern - not often seen, and below is the well equipped cockpit.

 Finally below is a recent shot taken at Swannanoa on 27-04-2014.
So it hasn't changed much in all those years.

Saturdays Gore fly-in and BBQ

Yesterday (Saturday 30-08-2014) there was a gathering at the Gore Airfield.

Vince Gardner reports on the day.

There was not a bad turn out with something different for every one to see.

Cessna 172L ZK-DAY (c/n 59825) is the Bullmore aircraft up from Balfour. It has just completed its Annual.

 The guys liked seeing the new Tecnam P92 Eaglet U/L ZK-DDE2  c/n 1479, which was registered to Bill Hopcroft of Balfour on 17-04-2014.

 The Cessna 172L ZK-DFX is c/n 60682 is Tapanui based with Keith Falconer.

As a new aircraft this was with the South Otago Aero Club at Balclutha from November 1972 until March 1973 when an incident saw it back with Rex Aviation for a rebuild.

 A selection of Rans aircraft called in: 

Bradley York has his Rans S6S Coyote II ZK-KNI (c/n 11293576) was in from Wyndham. This now has new carbon fibre cowls, supplied by Craig Miller, making a 10-15 kt cruise speed difference and a great weight saving, although they still want paint.

That is Dave Scobie's Rans S-6ES Coyote II ZK-JLE beyond, with the Fiordland Clubs Alpi next in line and Rans ZK-LBD at the far end.

 Rans S-6S ZK-LDB (c/n 11111951) is Lindsay Baird's Coyote II from Otautau, with the Gore Aero Clubs Rans S-6ES Coyote II ZK-COJ2 in the background.

 The Fiordland Aero Club's Alpi Pioneer 200 ZK-LPA (c/n 2021) is here on loan for a few days,

 ZK-MAU I hadnt seen before. This Jodel D.11 is c/n AACA/397, which tells us that it was built by Jack Millett and first registered in October of 1981. George Taylor of Mossburn took it over on 15-09-2011. The Roadrunner and Wile E Coyote art works are a different touch.

The Gore Gore Aero Club's Cessna 172N ZK-WHY (c/n 70200) is looking neat in it's latest paint scheme.   [This pic actually taken at Hastings on 07-03-2014].

Question time # 172

I thought it was about time to give away another chocky fish.

SO - What have we got here ?

I want the make and model;

 And in case of a flood of correct answers - tell me what you know about the tire pressure ?

Kitfox ZK-EWC

Wayne Cunningham has been looking around for an aircraft for some month.

Some years ago he managed a flight in the Denny Kitfox IV ZK-EWC2 as built by E W Colling of Wanaka.

During his recent search he found hat this aircraft was again for sale. It had been purchased from Wanaka by Ron Roberts of Timaru on 14-03-2009.

It did not do a lot of aviating with Ron and he was convinced to part with it on 20-07-2014.

So it is now with Wayne and is seen above taxying back at Taieri very recently.

Wayne Cunningham photo.

Squirrel spraying trials at Christchurch 1980.

I have been extremely fortunate to have received these three photographs from Rob Pierre . Taken by his father John whilst he was working with Airwork (NZ) Ltd at Christchurch in the 1980's.

  Sometime after October of 1980 Bill Black was the pilot of this spray equipped Squirrel helicopter which was carrying out trials at Christchurch Airport. I believe these were the first occasion that a Squirrel had been put to this use.

 The helicopter involved was the Aerospatiale AS 350B Ecuriel ZK-HQA (c/n 1139).

This was registered to Airwork (NZ) Ltd at Christchurch on 15-01-1980 and first flew in NZ from Timaru on 25-02-1980.

After these initial trials by Airwork and Whirlwide Helicopters it was also evaluated by Wanganui Aero Work.

It also had a short time with Helicopters (NZ) Ltd on lease.

Whilst carrying an under slung burner near Whakatu on 21-02-1981- the helicopter caught fire in the air and was subsequently burnt out on the ground.

 

The first helicopter sprayer in NZ was the Hiller UH12 ZK-HAB back in March 1955.

Harewood trio

Below are three of the helicopters I captured at Christchurch International Airport this afternoon.

 Above is a newcomer to our area. Robinson R22 Beta ZK-HEB2 (c/n 1135) first appeared as F-ODUU with the Heliclub de Tahiti in March of 1990.

After being damaged it came to NZ for some specialist care and became ZK-HEB on 10-12-1990. Since 08-07-2009 it has been with Heli-Hire Ltd of Rotorua until a change on 04-07-2014 to Mark Hattrill of NZHELI Ltd of Christchurch.

Just off maintenance at Heli Maintenance was the Aerospatiale As 350BA Squirrel ZK-HKW4 (c/n 1360). It got an earlier mention at :- http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2008/06/dark-corners.html

Since this earlier post in June 2008 HKW has spent time with South-West Helicopters at Te Anau from 06-04-2009 before returning to Rangiora for Way To Go Heliservices Ltd from 21-06-2009.

Still wearing the distinctive Kaikoura Helicopters colour scheme is the Robinson R44 Raven II ZK-HTZ3 (c/n 12261).

They sold it on March 2011 to Darfield Helicopter who re-listed it to Humphreys Mining Ltd on 26-11-2012.

Eagle Flight Training Diamond DA 20-C1 ZK-DAV at Ardmore 23-8-2014

Seeing Blue Bus's post including the Eagle Flying Training Diamond DA 40 ZK-DAE at Christchurch reminded me that I had taken a photo of their smaller DA 20 ZK-DAV at Ardmore last Saturday, so I will post it for a comparason between the DA 20 and the DA 40.

According to the CAA register we have 17 DA 20-C1s in New Zealand - all but three owned by CTC Aviation Training of Hamilton (with Eagle Flight Training owning two and Flight Training Manawatu of Feilding owning one).

And also according to the register we have 14 DA 40s in New Zealand - all but two owned by Massey University School of Aviation of Palmerston North (with Eagle Flight Training owning one and a private owner at Drury owning the other).

I didn't realise how many of these aircraft we had in New Zealand (and we also have 10 twin engined DA 42s).

The changing face of "QN"

 

 

Aerospatiale AS 350B Squirrel ZK-HGF5 was imported into NZ by Bryan Comerford and received its NZ certification at Oceania, being registered on 16-07-2010.

It is seen above on 14-09-2010 thanks to Mike Condon. See:-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2011/01/more-news-from-central-otago.html

 Above we have a pic of the Aerospatiale AS 3350BA ZK-HQN2  (c/n 1807) of Heli Tours Ltd of Queenstown.

It was listed with Heli Tours on 24-09-2010 and was re-registered as ZK-HQN2 on 30-09-2010.
**********

It was re-registered again on 21-08-2014 as ZK-HIY6 and is seen below at Pacific Aircraft Ltd at Christchurch today (27-08-2014).

Meanwhile at Oceania at Ardmore the Aerospatiale AS 350B2 Squirrel c/n 3909 was registered to Bryan Comerford on 10-06-2014 as ZK-IEO.

A pic if ZK-IEO can be seen at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2014/06/another-brightly-coloured-squirrel.html

On 21-08-2014 this was re-registered to ZK-HQN3.

So I imagine we now await an ownership change for both of these  ----

Kitchener Street Wharf helipad.

This is the first post we have had from the Dunedin Cities Kitchener Street Wharf helipad.

Gerald Corfield sent in this pic of the Tailwind Helicopters Ltd.'s Guimbal Cabri G2 ZK-IZR (c/n 1004) on site today.

Christchurch trio Today (27-08-2014)

 Parked on the tie downs beside the Canterbury Aero Club was this Diamond DA40 Diamond Star ZK-DAE (c/n 40-606). An earlier post can be seen at  :- http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/another-diamond.html

 Back with the Canterbury Aero Club is the Piper PA-38-112 Tomahawk ZK-EYA (38-79A0412).

EYA began its NZ career as ZK-EVJ with Black Robin Airlines Ltd of Wellington on 23-06-1995.

It was sold to the Canterbury Aero Club on 24-11-2003 and was re-registered as ZK-EYA the following day. It was sold off to RPM White Ltd of Taupo on 30-05-2012 but is currently back on lease with the Club whilst ZK-EYG is having a rework in the Club's workshop.

A long shot of the Beech C90A ZK-ZZA (c/n LJ-1407) of Skyline Aviation is on short finals.

Below is another view if ZK-ZZA as seen on the 22nd.

Rangitata Island coffee stop.

The TL TL-3000 Sirius ZK-RNK (c/n 14-SI 95) of Skyward Escapes Ltd dropped into

Rangitata Island today for a coffee break.

Thanks to Russell Brodie for the pic.

RNK is for Roger N'd Kim and is the demonstrator.

Sir Minty did a nice post on it earlier. See -

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2014/06/tl-3000-sirius-zk-rnk-first-flight-at.html

P 51D and T 51D Mustangs Compared

I have posted both of these aircraft previously, but I thought it would be interesting to see photos of them in the same post, and both in the colours of the Canterbury Squadron of the Territorial Air Force.

North American P 51D ZK-TAF.

And Titan T 51D ZK-SMF.

What do you think?

Auckland International Airport 23-8-2014

Part of the reason I was at Ardmore last Saturday was that I was on taxi duty to Auckland International Airport for a 12 midday flight to Wellington.  So with a free afternoon and glorious weather it would have been rude not to hop on down the motorway.

However, before I headed to Ardmore I thought I would see what I could find of interest at the airport, and I came up with the photos below.  These were taken through fences, or by poking the camera over fences.

BAE Jetstream Series 3200 ZK-ECJ is now painted in the corporate InFlite colours and is owned by Airwork Flight Operations of Auckland Airport..

Fairchild Metroliner SA 227-CC ZK-POE sits looking somewhat forlorn beside the Airwork hangar.  It is also owned by Airwork Flight Operations Ltd.

Further down the road, another Metroliner sat outside the Air Chathams hangar.  This was ZK-CIC, a SA 227-AC model.  It is owned by Air Chathams Ltd of Waitangi, in the Chatham Islands.  Convair ZK-CIB was having major work done in the hangar

Two of the LifeFlight Metroliners, ZK-NSS and ZK-LFT also sat around.

Air Chathams DC 3 ZK-AWP was parked up between Fieldair's Convairs.

And an unusual (to me) visitor was Australian registered Piper PA 42-1000 Cheyenne 400LS VH-BUR, which is owned by Burley Aircraft Pty Ltd of Mascott, Sydney  It is powered by twin Garrett TPE-331-14A turboprops and features pretty impressive propellors!

Finally, because it looked so colourful, I photo'd Boeing 757-236 VH-TCA of Tasman Cargo Airlines out of Kingsford-Smith Airport in Sydney, painted in DHL colours and marked up with the Rugby World Cup 2015 logo.

Oh, and by the way, The wire at the top of the photo is electrified!

Cessna 172K ZK-PAM.

I used to think that we must eventually run out of stuff to bung on this blog.

But I have now decided that this won't happen in my life time !

(We have yet to get serious about helicopters and gliders).

Photographs sent in by you readers have added greatly to our coverage. 

A photo sent in by Arch King of Air Rangitata showing his latest acquisition ZK-PAM is the sort of item that will help keep us going forever.

The Cessna 172K with the c/n 58484 was cranked out of the Cessna factory and branded as N84467 and shuffled down to Pago Pago sometime around 1969 to be operated by Air Samoa Inc.

It changed to Samoan Aviation at Apia about 1971 and was re-registered as 5W-FAM.

I stumbled across it at Ardmore in a dismantled state on 11-06-1973 - as seen below.

 It must have trundled back up to Samoa because I didn't hear of it again until it was spied at Auckland on 26-02-1983.

This time it remained and became ZK-PAM on 07-03-1983 to J F Snow of Wellington. It was listed to the Waikato Flying School at Hamilton on 08-02-1984 and then briefly to M J Johnstone of Pokeno from 28-02-1989.

Pic above taken at Hamilton on 08-01-1986.

 On 20-06-1989 the new owner is shown as the Marlborough Gliding Club at Omaka.

Below we see it at Omaka dated 11-12-1990. Not a lot of change.

Seen below at Omaka in its new scheme on 30-03-2008.

It spent the next twenty five years at Omaka; also spending time with the Marlborough Aero Club (officially between November 2002 and August 2013) but available to both parties as required.

Arch King purchased it on 01-07-2014 and it became listed to Air Rangitata Ltd and it is now based on the farm strip at Simla, along with the Cessna U206G Stationair ZK-JDV and Mike Thomas's Cessna 185A ZK-VKE.

The pic below, from Arch King, shows ZK-PAM on the Mt Potts strip - up the Rangitata.

Another Spitfire at Ardmore 23-8-2014

I was about to head home yesterday when I spied this in the back of Ardmore Helicopters hangar ( alongside Kittyhawk ZK-CAG).

It is the Rolls Royce Griffon powered Spitfire XIV ZK-XIV that has been listed to Avspecs Ltd since July 2007.  This is the Spitfire that Sir Tim Wallis had his unfortunate accident in, on 2 January 1996, and it has been through a series of owners since.  It is painted with the two tone blue RAF Far East and Pacific roundels.

The guys in the hangar told me that there hasn't been any work done on it for quite some time, but it does look fairly complete.  Could it be a candidate for Classic Fighters 2015?

More pics from Matt. From Yesterday 23-08-2014

 Sitting on the deck at Hokitika we see the Raytheon 1900D ZK-EAJ (c/n UE-433) of Eagle Airways.

 Two shots of the PAC Cresco 08-750 ZK-LTB (c/n 022) earning it keep. It has been pretty busy  the last few days. It is captured here to the West of Springfield (Inland Canterbury). In its youth this was better known as ZK-PKB.

 Catch for the day would be the R and B Bearhawk ZK-NJB (c/n 125-237/238-1242) of Jonathan Battson.

This is Lycoming IO-540 powered and is seen here at Flock Hill (Near Lake Pearson). 

All  photographs from Matt Hayes.