Zac Yates was at Masterton on 26-02-2021 to capture these photographs of the Sikorsky EH-60A Black Hawk (Pickering) ZK-HKU3 (c/n 70-1132) as operated by Kahu NZ Ltd of Whakatane.
Below is what the NZ Aviation News Magazine said about it after it was registered in NZ on 13-01-2020.
"In January 1972 the U S Army initiated a request for
proposals for the Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) as a
replacement for the Bell UH-1 Iroquois. At the same time the Army initiated the
development of a ‘common turbine’ engine for its helicopters which would become
the General Electric T700. One major requirement was that it must be able to be
carried in the Lockheed C130 Hercules. Boeing-Vertol submitted their YUH-61A
whilst Sikorsky submitted three prototypes of their S-70 design which the Army
designated as the YUH-60A in March of 1976. The Sikorsky was selected and the
first deliveries of what became the UH-60A Black Hawk were made in October
1978. A large number of variants have been built with over 4000 units produced
to date. Kahu NZ Ltd of Whakatane has sourced an EH-60A model from the States
for heavy lifting duties. This airframe was allocated the US military serial of
86-24572 and is known to have served from 1987 with the U.S.Army. It was noted
at the Corpus Christi Army Depot at Corpus Christi, Texas in May of 1991
following storm damage the previous month at Fort Head in Texas. By August 2000
it was with the U.S. Army Aviation Centre at Fort Rucker, Alabama. It then
spent time with their Warfighting Centre and then the Centre of Excellence –
still at Fort Rucker. By 11 May 2018 it had just over 7900 airframe hours and
was sent to Science & Engineering Service LLC at Huntsville the following
month for the removal of military equipment and made ready for civil disposal.
Interestingly it still retains much of its military fitments, including the
cold exhaust diffusers, which may well be removed to improve performance. It
entered the US civil register as N160PA with Pickering aviation Inc of Corinth,
Texas on 29 August 2018 for civil conversion. Purchased by Kahu NZ Ltd it was
shipped to NZ on the Cap Capricorn ex Long Beach, California and reached the
Ports of Auckland and then Ardmore on 12 June 2019. It flew on its US
registration until certified as ZK-HKU3
on 13 January. Its first flight as such should take place at Whakatane as we go
to press. The first ZK-HKU was a Hiller UH-12E followed by an Aerospatiale AS
350 D as ZK-HKU2."
Check out Kahu NZ Ltd's site
Thanks Zac
