The Glastar is a conventional strut braced high wing 2 seater that can be built as a tri gear or a tailwheel aircraft. It was originally developed by Stoddard Hamilton Aircraft and was first flown in 1994. Construction is of a chrome-moly steel tube welded fuselage with fibreglass skins, and an aluminium riveted wing and tailplane.
The Glastar has a length of 22 feet (6.71 metres) and a wingspan of 35 feet (10.67 metres) and its wing area is 128 square feet. Its empty weight is around 1200 pounds (544 Kg) and MAUW is 1960 pounds (889 Kg). Power can be from engines in the 100 to 180 HP range but the most common engine is the 160 HP Lycoming O-320. With this engine cruise speed is around 167 mph and stall speed is around 45 mph.
We have had seven Stoddard Hamilton Glastars registered in New Zealand as follows:
Our first Glastar was ZK-MPO (c/n 5843) was built by Michael P Orchard at Whakatane and was first registered to him on 12/11/01. Its first flight was on 17/1/02. It is powered by a Lycoming O-320-D1F engine. It is photo'd above very early on in its life at the 2002 SAANZ flyin at Matamata.
It was sold to Lloyd D Morris of Auckland on 17/12/06 and has been based at North Shore ever since. It has not changed at all over the years, as can be seen in this photo taken at Pauanui on 4/3/12.
The next Glastar to be registered was ZK-PCW (c/n 5437) which was built by Peter Washbourn of Timaru and was registered to PR, CR, SR and CR Washbourn on 3/7/02. It is photo'd above at the 2007 SAANZ flyin at Ashburton.
ZK-NMG2 (c/n 5591) was built by Neil Simpson and Murray Patterson of Mosgiel and was registered to the Neil Simpson and Murray Patterson Syndicate on 10/12/02. It is photo'd above at Timaru on 13/12/03.
It was sold to the Allan A and SG Brocket Family Trust of Gore on 22/1 07 and it now sports some wavy stripes as in this photo taken at Rangiora on 27/1/12.
Our next Glastar is a bit of a strange one. G-BYEK (c/n PFA295-13087 but later changed to 5308) was built by Geoffrey Michael New of York in the UK, and was first registered to him there on 14/9/98. Mr New obviously had plans to emigrate to New Zealand and he shipped his Glastar to Tauranga where he registered it ZK-NEW4 on 17/5/04. The above photo of it was taken at Tauranga in February 2004.
However it was cancelled from the New Zealand civil register on 2/9/04 and re-registered G-BYEK again on 6/9/04 this time to Geoffrey New at Whitby in the UK. It is still current in the UK, to TA Reed of Dartmouth.
ZK-OPM (c/n 5347) was built by Peter B Morley of Alabama and was first registered to him there on 17/7/97 as N90PM. After several owners it was imported into New Zealand by Peter C McVinnie of Auckland and first registered here on 19/12/14. It is photo'd in a hangar at Ardmore on 18/2/15 where it can be seen that Peter McVinnie cunningly made use of the old US registration for his New Zealand rego! It has a 180 HP Lycoming O-360-A1D engine.
And our most recent Glastar to date is ZK-PGP (c/n 5603) which was built in the US by Richard S March of San Diego and was first registered to him there as N163DM on 3/11/04. It is powered by a Lycoming O-360-A1A engine of 180 HP. It was imported into New Zealand by the PGP Group of Auckland and first registered to them on 10/11/15. It is photo'd above on take off from Ardmore on 1/2/16, still also wearing its old US registration.
And most recently we have had another trigear Glastar imported from Australia.
ZK-CDP2 (c/n 5567) was registered to Rex de Bettencor of Pukekohe on 19/10/16. It was built in Australia as VH-IVB. It is photo'd above at Ardmore on 21/10/16.
I think we will see more Glastars in New Zealand in the future, possibly some more imported from the US. However the Glastar has been superseded by the Glasair Sportsman, which I will post about next.
The Glastar has a length of 22 feet (6.71 metres) and a wingspan of 35 feet (10.67 metres) and its wing area is 128 square feet. Its empty weight is around 1200 pounds (544 Kg) and MAUW is 1960 pounds (889 Kg). Power can be from engines in the 100 to 180 HP range but the most common engine is the 160 HP Lycoming O-320. With this engine cruise speed is around 167 mph and stall speed is around 45 mph.
We have had seven Stoddard Hamilton Glastars registered in New Zealand as follows:
ZK-NEW4 photo'd at Tauranga on 25/6/04.
However it was cancelled from the New Zealand civil register on 2/9/04 and re-registered G-BYEK again on 6/9/04 this time to Geoffrey New at Whitby in the UK. It is still current in the UK, to TA Reed of Dartmouth.
Recently we have had a couple more Glastars imported from the US, where I understand that there are many examples available on the second hand market for keen prices, plus the recent exchange rate has been positive for importing aircraft from the US.
And most recently we have had another trigear Glastar imported from Australia.
I think we will see more Glastars in New Zealand in the future, possibly some more imported from the US. However the Glastar has been superseded by the Glasair Sportsman, which I will post about next.
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