SG Aviation Storm 300s of New Zealand

The Storm 300 was the next type of sport aircraft to be registered in New Zealand when ZK-ULT was first registered in April 1999.

The Storm was designed in Italy and back then kits were manufactured by SG Aviation of Saudabia in the Lazio region (the company is now called StormAviation).  The aircraft is all aluminium with fibreglass mouldings and is of pretty standard low wing configuration.  It can be built with a tri-gear or tailwheel undercarriage, but all of our Storms have been tri-gear models.  Engine power can range between 100 and 125 HP.

Length is 6.55 metres (21 feet 6 inches), wingspan is 7.92 metres (26 feet) and the wing area is 119 square feet.  Empty weight is around 322 Kg (710 pounds) and MAUW is 524 Kg ( 1,155 pounds.  With a Rotax 914 engine of 115 HP cruise is 170 mph.

We have had seven Storm 300 aircraft in New Zealand as follows:

Our First Storm 300 was ZK-ULT ( c/n NZ001) which was registered to Ultra Air Ltd of Waihi Beach (Ron Donaldson and Felice Di Napoli), on 8/4/99.  It was assembled by Heliplane Services at Thames and its first flight was at Thames on 14/4/99.  It was sold to MF Maughan of Hamilton on 10/4/00 and then to Ron Donaldson of Katikati on 4/2/02.  It is photo'd above at the 2006 Black Sands flyin at Raglan.  Most recently it was purchased by the Wairoa (HB) Aero Club on 2/2/10, with whom it is still registered.

Our second Storm 300 came along quickly after ZK-ULT.  It was ZK-VEE (c/n NZ004) which built by Fred Very of Hamilton, and was first registered to him on 3/5/99.  On 15/3/03 it was sold to RJ Byal of Katikati with whom it is still current   It is photo'd above at the 2006 Black Sands flyin at Raglan, alongside ZK-ULT.

ZK-RON2 (c/n NL-002) was the second aircraft built by Ron Longley of Tauranga (following his Squirecraft Cavalier ZK-DYC).  It was first registered on 21/12/00 and was powered by a Jabiru 3300 engine.  It is photo'd above at the 2004 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga.  Ron sold the aircraft to KB and MB Johnston of Whakatane on 25/2/06 and they re-registered the aircraft as ZK-KMJ on 10/4/06.  (Can anyone supply a photo of it as ZK-KMJ?).  The Johnston's took the aircraft with them to Australia, cancelling the New Zealand registration on 10/4/07 and  registering it as 19-5024.  Tragically it crashed into bushland near Bundaberg, Queensland, on 6/10/13, killing Karl Johnston.

Then followed a dericho of Storms that I have (somewhat whimsically) posted about previously at www.nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2009/04/heard-of-cows.html

The first of these was ZK-COW2 (c/n NL-001) that was built by Chris and Martin Schadler of Whakatane and registered on 25/9/01.  It was also powered by a Jabiru 3300 engine and is photo'd at the 2004 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga.  On 5/1/04 it was sold to The Flying Cow Ltd (Mike Johnson) of Christchurch.  Sadly it has sat derelict at Rangiora for some years but it is still registered.

Next was ZK-WOC (c/n S5-01S-0044) was also built by Chris and Martin Schadler and was first registered to them on 16/3/05.  It is powered by a Rotax 912S engine.  It is photo'd above at the 2006 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga.  On 26/4/07 it was sold to RL Walker of Whitianga with whom it is still registered.

Then came ZK-OCW (c/n S5-01S-0045) which was built by Robert Van Beek of Whakatane and was first registered to him on 26/1/06 and he still owns the aircraft.  It is also powered by a Rotax 912S engine.  It is photo'd above alongside ZK-WOC at the 2006 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga.

And finally ZK-WCO (c/n S5-01S-0043) was also built by Chris and Martin Schadler and was first registered to them on 8/11/07.  It is photo'd above at the 2008 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga.  Unfortunately it crashed near Whakatane on 29/9/11 and it was cancelled on 17/4/14.

Chris Schadler has gone on to build a Vans RV 3 which he recently registered as ZK-WCO2.