King Airs rule the roost at Nelson September 30th.

Bill Mannix snapped these three Beechcraft King Airs at Nelson yesterday 30-09-2026.

The locally based King Air B200 of the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service ZK-FDT2 c/n BB-1934 entered service on 12-12-2023.

A more informative post on this airframe can be seen HERE

In the background above is the King Air B200 ZK-LFL c/n BB-1814 as registered with Air Freight NZ Ltd and operated by Life Flight.

As mentioned previously HERE

Above we have ZK-SDH2 c/n BB-1643 - also a King Air B200, registered to Skyline Aviation of Napier but operated by Southern Districts Health out of Momona (Dunedin).

This was first noted in the USA in late 1998 as N23356 with Raytheon for delivery to the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Jandakot, West Australia as VH-LWO from July of 1999.

From November 2010 it was with two private operators before being ferried from Gold Coast, through Norfolk Island to reach Napier on 29-08-2020.

It became ZK-SDH2 with Skyline on 01-10-2020 - with the SDH registration inferring

Southern Districts Health.

PAL XL 750 Falco 3000 ZK-PNX at Hamilton

The Super Air Pacific Aerospace Ltd XL 750 modified to Falco 3000 configuration ZK-PNX has been wheeled out by Part 66 Maintenance at Hamilton in a spectacular new colour scheme:

ZK-PNX in its new Super Air scheme which features the logo of parent company Ballance Agri Nutrients prominently.  This scheme might be a one off although Super Air do operate another Falco 3000 being ZK-JBC.  The photo is a screen shot from the Part 66 Maintenance Facebook page.

Piper PA18-95 Super Cub ZK-BSK

After being hangared at Whitianga airfield for some years the acquisition of Super Cub ZK-BSK by new Whitianga syndicate owners has seen it return to flying.   Originally built in November 1960 it first flew at Ardmore in March 1961 before delivery to the Wellington Aero Club.   Today it flew down to Pauanui airfield for coffee with 6 other Whitianga resident aircraft.

 

Vans RV 7 ZK-JMX at Mercer

I recently came across a photo of Ken Watters' new RV 7, taken by Ken at Mercer:

ZK-JMX (c/n 70423) is a long term project of Ken's and was registered on 14/10/21.  It has not flown yet and Ken is working through the list of to do jobs before it is ready for final inspection.

Thanks for the photo Ken.

Heart of the Beast Cessna 183 and a Half at Wanaka

Gareth Arscott attended Warbirds Over Wanaka 2026 having travelled from England and he was intrigued with a Cessna fuselage that was on the airfield.  He couldn't find anything about N6188Z and it was as though it didn't exist.  So he asked me if we could find out anything about it.  And it turned out to be quite an interesting story. 

The story went like this - the fuselage marked as N6188Z was in fact cobbled together from the remains of a Cessna 182 and a Cessna 185 by a local metal worker.  Apparently the forward fuselage was from a 182 that crashed in the Wairau Valley a couple of years ago (but we are not sure of the registration), and the tailboom of a 185 was grafted on to replicate a crashed aircraft for the Brad Pitt film "Heart of the Beast".  The bottom cowling was from Cessna 185 ZK-MUR which overturned near Mavora Lakes on 2/10/21 (but is still current).

Then the fuselage was painted with the fictitious registration N6188Z and the colour scheme of the Cessna A185F amphibious floatplane ZK-DWW which was owned at the time by Darlington Drilling and Piling Ltd of Blenheim (Nigel Griffith).  Nigel flew ZK-DWW for the film and it "crashed", which is were the Cessna 183 and a half fuselage comes in, for the post crash scenes.

And here is a photo of ZK-DWW being filmed for the film (thanks to the Cessna 180/185 Facebook group).  Nigel Griffith did all the flying for the film.

"Heart of the Beast" is an adventure survival film starring Brad Pitt that is set in Alaska but was filmed on location around Queenstown Lake Wakatipu, Milford Sound and in the Mt Aspiring National Park, and it has just been released in cinemas.

Another Friday Rangiora visitation.

 Sitting pretty and awaiting is passengers today was the Pelorus Air Ltd's Cessna A185F Skywagon II ZK-PRM c/n 18504414. 

This ferried into Auckland from Pago Pago as N45738 on 27-11-1983 via Motor Holdings (Aviation) Ltd at Ardmore. It was registered to them on 14-12-1983 and delivered to new owner P & G Meads of Rotorua nine days later.

Current owner Cliff Marchant listed it from 26-10-1989 trading under the Sounds Air name, transferring to the Pelorus Air offshoot on 20-01-2014.

ZK-PRM is about to be back on its amphibious floats again very soon.

Why don't you have a look at the Pelorus Sounds facebook page HERE

One we have not seen on this blog previously is the Rotor Flight Dynamic Sub 4 Tandem Dominator ZK-RCY c/n EA81 418402 which was registered to Ian and Sonya Crook of Invercargill on 

08-05-2001.

This has a Subaru EA81 engine with Neil Hintz mods and 28 foot Dragon Wing blades and was first flown at Manapouri by Bill Black on 28-06-2001.

Ownership changed to David Shaw of Christchurch in April of 2008.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Goldwings

I reckon that the Goldwing was a really interesting microlight, as it was of different construction to the tube and sailcloth microlights that preceded it.  It was designed by Craig Catto and was inspired by Burt Rutan's Vari Eze.  Like the Vari Eze the Goldwing is a canard with swept wings and winglets and was of composite construction with the wing being of foam and aluminium covered by a glass fibre skin.  It was provided as a kit by Goldwing Ltd of Jackson,  California, and the construction time was stated to be around 200 hours.  The New Zealand agent was Ian Todd of Rotorua who was also a leading light in MAANZ.  (Click twice on the photos below to enlarge them to read the text better)

We have only had three Goldwings registered in New Zealand as below:

Missing a bit of tape from the E.

ZK-FDE (c/n MAANZ/126)

Registered 8 Sep 1982 to Ian R. Todd, Lake Okareka, Rotorua, then 29 Nov 1983 H. W. A. Barr, Whangarei, then 29 Jun 1988 D. M. Moynihan, Whangarei, then 7 Jul 1994 M. J. Douglas, Whangarei, then 27 Sep 1998 K. W. Sample, Hikurangi and Kawerau, then 6 Aug 2000 Donald F. R. McMillan, Kaikohe, then 27 Jan 2003 Neil M. France, Auckland, then 30 Sep 2005 Russell K. Brodie, Temuka.    Cancelled 2 Oct 2008 as withdrawn from use.  It is currently preserved at Rangitata Island.

ZK-FDV (c/n MAANZ/151)

Registered 11 Oct 1982 to Ray A. Stonehouse, Rotorua, then 13 Nov 1987 Ian F. Heappy & ? Watt, Ohakune @ 25 hrs FT, then 4 Jun 1993 Robert M. Payne, Te Awamutu, then 6 Sep 1997 A (Tony) R. Wood, Wellington.  Cancelled 10 Aug 2000 as destroyed.  The demise of this aircraft is a mystery as no accident was ever reported.

ZK-FKD (c/n MAANZ/292)

Registered 8 Nov 1984 to Ian Todd Marine & Sports Ltd, Rotorua (First Flight Waharoa 26 Jan 1985), then 24 Mar 1993 P. H. Cook, Patea, then 6 Jul 1993 M. J. Harre, Stratford. Cancelled 6 Nov 2000 as withdrawn from use (seen at Rotorua).

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Rotec Rally Brochures

Two weeks ago I posted about Rotec Rallys in New Zealand and you can see that post HERE.

Now Russell Brodie has sent in several brochures about them including details of the local agents:  (you can click twice on the images to enlarge them to read them better if you want).  Thanks Russell.

Airbus VH-VHD ice bound this morning.

 Snapped this morning departing Christchurch International Airport, bound Antarctica, was the Australian Airbus A319-115LR VH-VHD c/n 1999.

Poor weather conditions at McMurdo saw it return (Boomerang) to Christchurch

"Snowbird" has been operated by Skytraders of Victoria Australia since February of 2007 and has been a regular visitor to Christchurch.

NOTAR ZK-HWH again.

 An interesting catch at Rangiora today - Tuesday the 22nd - was this McDonnell Douglas MD520 NOTAR ZK-HWH2 c/n LN098.

It is now in a new colour scheme and carries "Garden of Eden Helicopters"  "Red Bull"  "MOBIL1" and "BOSS" signage.

This is somewhat different than its scheme as seen below in February this year in almost the same spot.

Rangiora antics Saturday the 20th.

 Strongish fickle winds at Rangiora today produced some puckering landings.

The not so often used vector 21 seemed to be the best choice.

Best noted landing was that of the Piper cub ZK-CXC following an overshoot from another vector.

I won't mention who managed the worst arrival.

Most interesting looking take off was on vector 29 from the Hanmer Springs based Cessna T206H N63PH c/n T20609737.

The only taking off today for the Cessna 182Q ZK-SDX c/n 18265565 was its paintwork 

See HERE for an earlier post on this aircraft.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Kasperwings (3) - Steve Grossruck in NZ

Back in June I did a post on the Development of the Kasperwing microlight aircraft and you can see that post HERE  In that post I noted that one of the developers of the aircraft was Steve Grossruck and he visited New Zealand in the 1982 as in this photo: 

Steve Grossruck with Bob Hoult's Kasperwing in April 1982.

A Tale of Two Squirrels

I was down at North Shore airfield yesterday when a black Airbus Helicopters Squirrel helicopter was pushed out of its hangar and hover taxied across to the fuel pumps for some Jet A1.  I didn't take too much notice of it as a black Squirrel is a black Squirrel, but when I was talking to Stan Smith it lifted off and I took a long shot of it.

It did, however, turn out to be confusingly different:

ZK-HTS4 (c/n 9791) AS350B3 was registered to Stormbird Ltd of Auckland on 9/10/25.

But wait, I hear you ask - didn't Richard Currie take a photo of ZK-HTS at North Shore and post it on the blog back on 28 December 2022?  Yes he did, but that was ZK-HTS3 (c/n 9189) AS350B3, also registered to Stormbird Ltd.

Confused?  Well ZK-HTS3 was re-registered as ZK-HYY4 on 11/6/25 this freeing up the registration to be used on the almost identical looking black AS350B3 Squirrel of today.

The Rans S-7 Courier ZK-TKB

 Below we have a recent photograph of the Rans S-7 Courier ZK-TKB2 c/n 0707466 taken in the Upper Rakaia River region by Steve Gunn showing its modified colour scheme.

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Below we have a selection from previous posts on this aircraft.

First registered on 15-05-2013 the Rans S-7 Courier ZK-TKB (c/n 0707466) was listed to Phil Meredith of Christchurch.

And as you can see - it is no ordinary S-7 Courier.

 At the front end is a port and polished Lycoming O-235 engine giving around 130hp and spinning a Brent Thompson propeller. It has a Toyota starter motor and alternator; P mags and Light Speed electronic ignition.

 It has removable aluminium cockpit sides and clear full length doors.

The office is adequately equipped.

 A home designed STOL kit is fitted with control gap seals and wing fences plus high to low pressure guides to redirect the air flow over the flaps. 

The flaps are 40% larger than the standard S-7 and the ailerons are 20% larger, and the wing tips are modified.

It has a Fat Boy tail wheel with a reinforced double spring and a keel beam in the lower fuselage.

A 1.98m long fibre under fuselage pod can be fitted.  

New fuel tanks are mounted one wing bay further out giving a total of 37 US gallons.As can be seen in the photo (taken at Rangiora on 14/4/13), it has Roberts Bush Gear with big tires and it also has large wing fences.  Power (as already mentioned) is from a Lycoming O-235 of 130 HP which potentially gives it plenty of get up and go. The wider engine cowling shows up well in the shadows.

 Back on March the 14th 2025 I spotted ZK-TKB2 doing circuits at Rangiora.

Note the under fuselage pod and that the outer wing fence has been moved to become wing tip end plates.

It also appears to now have a Sensenich propeller.

New owners were recorded in March of 2025 as Innovative Aviation Ltd of Rangiora.

The ex John Smith DH 98 Mosquito Taxies at Omaka

Not actually a civil or a military aircraft, the ex John Smith Mosquito has taken another step forward by taxying under its own power at Omaka on Saturday 12 September with Al Marshall and Deane Baunton in the cockpit.  Zac Yates was there and videoed the occasion and also sent the photo below:

And here is a screenshot of a video posted on the Marlborough Lines Classic Fighters Facebook page.  They stated that the Mosquito will be taxied at Classic Fighters 2027 so that will be something to see.

Meanwhile at Ardmore the next Mosquito is very close to being completed!

 

Update on DC 3 ZK-BBJ - the Final Chapter

In my previous post on the topdressing history of DC 3 ZK-BBJ I recorded that its fate in Kenya was unknown.  In fact we do know the sad fate that befell her and this has been mostly covered by Dave Paull in a post on this blog that you can see HERE  This post in turn has a link to a Stuff article from November 2021 that gives a very good overview of the life of ZK-BBJ, which ends up with the murders of  the owner of ZK-BBJ New Zealander David Morris and his son in Somalia in 1995.

After David Morris's murder ZK-BBJ sat at Mombasa Airport in Kenya and was sold for scrap for NZ$500.  It was bought by Swiss businessmen Reto Cassanova and Dario Urbani who converted into a luxury restaurant at the Mombasa Go Cart Track as photo'd above.

But there is one final sad twist in the story of ZK-BBJ because on April 13 2024 a sudden power surge triggered a devastating fire and ZK-BBJ was destroyed.

A very sad end to an aircraft that was manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company way back in July 1945.  Thanks to Marcus of Marcus's Old Aircraft Photos for a heads up on this.

Topdressing DC 3s (8) - ZK-BBJ

After a bit of a break in this series, the next topdressing DC 3 (in alphabetical registration order) was ZK-BBJ:

ZK-BBJ photo'd above at Wairoa on 5/1/76 and below at Gisborne on 10/2/85.

Douglas C47B-45-DK  (c/n 16962/34222)

Built by The Douglas Aircraft Co, Oklahoma City, OK with 2x 1200HP 14-cyl R-1830-92 Twin Wasp radial engines as 45-969  on 19 Jul 1945 for the USAAF 

Exported to New Zealand, became NZ3552 

16 Aug 1945 RNZAF.1 ASU, Hamilton. RNZAF then 41 Sqn, Whenuapai. Struck Off Charge 3 Jul 1952 

ZK-BBJ 15 Jul 1952 NZ National Airways Corp, Wellington named “Piripiri” NZ cofa 12 Jun 1953 

6 Jun 1953 conv to DC-3C passenger at Palmerston North 

17 Mar 1964 converted to Skyliner configuration at Christchurch as  “Skyliner Gisborne” 

31 Aug 1970 Alpine Helicopters Ltd, Queenstown (leased).

29 May 1972 Fieldair Ltd, Palmerston North converted to topdresser Test Flight 4 Dec 1974 

18 Nov 1980 Fieldair Holdings (Central) Ltd, Palmerston North 

30 Mar 1984 Fieldair Holdings Ltd, Palmerston North 

8 Feb 1988 Fieldair Freight Ltd, Palmerston North Undercarriage collapsed during start up at Christchurch 15 Nov 1989

19 Apr 1993 Cambodia Carrying Co Ltd, Auckland (Larry K. Bennett & John D B Donaldson) Cancelled 14 Sep 1994 

Exported to Cambodia flown Ardmore to Norfolk Island to 21 Apr 1993. Reported to be in Kenya in 1995. Further details unknown.