Cresco ZK-JOF working from Nelson.

 The Pacific Aerospace Cresco 08-600 ZK-JOF c/n 032 of Otago Airspread Ltd ((Nelson Division)) arrived into Nelson via Taieri and Twizel on the 15th and has been busy working the area to the west since.

In the above photo, from Bill Mannix ,it has just arrived back at Nelson at the end of a long days work.

It is hard to believe that this airframe is coming up to 25 years old. In fact the early Cresco's were hatched in the very early 1980's.

ZK-JOF was officially registered on 01-07-2002 to Lonaoks Pty Ltd c/o Pacific Aerospace of Hamiton. It first flew on the 11th and was ferried from Hamilton to Lord Howe Island on 07-08-2002 - then on to points further west. Presumably as a demonstrator. 

It did not join the Australian aircraft register and was ferried beck to NZ on a ten hour flight from Coffs Harbour to Napier on 06-09-2002.

It took up with Andy Stephenson under his Farmers Air label from Gisborne from 13-09-2002. 

Life for it has not been all aerial application work.

As above as seen at Taupo on 03-03-2008 it spent some time in the meat bombing role. 

Note the large open door, the fuselage side windows., the rear vision mirror, the hand hold rail above the door and the large step below the door.

 Title was officially transferred to the Farmers Air Ltd name from 07-01-2011.

Super Air Ltd of Hamilton took it over on 04-03-2014 followed quickly by Otago Airspread Ltd of Mosgiel from 14-10-2024.

It is actually in the Nelson area covering the unserviceable locally based Ravensdown Cresco ZK-LTW which is in the Generation Global hangar receiving some tlc.

Tuesday at Rangiora.

I found three strays at Rangiora on Tuesday last (19th May).

Outside Aerofix was the Guimbal Cabri G2 ZK-HPP3 c/n 1082 - over from Karamea.

The Rans S-6EC Coyote II ZK-KOT c/n 06081887-ES came in from the Kokonga region via Timaru.

 It was acquired by Petre Innes back about March of 2025 and replaces his Zenair CH701               STOL ZK-MIZ2. 

Alpi Aviation Pioneer 300 Hawk iS ZK-TGB c/n 370 up from Timaru. It has been in the hands of Graham Smith since new. 

It carries the script "Pilot - Graham" and "Copilot - Margaret" on their respective side of the canopy.

All three have been covered previously in these pages.

Also at Avspecs - a Boeing B 17G Flying Fortress!

Nearly 2 years ago I posted about the Boeing B 17G Flying Fortress "Yankee Lady" coming to Avspecs and you can see that post HERE  In that post I got it a bit wrong because it turned out that what arrived at Avspecs was only the fuselage and empennage and the outer wings.  The B 17's engines and wing centre section are being restored in the US at Erickson Aircraft at Madras, Oregon and when both parts of the project are completed (hopefully in 2028) the Avspecs team will travel to Oregon to oversee the re-assembly of the aircraft and make it ready for flight.  Last Tuesday I visited Avspecs where the B 17 was sitting at the front of their hangar looking very shiny:

The B 17 was acquired by Charles Somers in 2024 and will be receive a new identity before it flies again.  Charles Somers chose Avspecs because he really liked the detailed restoration work that they have done on many warbirds, and he has four of Avspecs' restorations already in his collection (a Mosquito, Spitfire, Tomahawk and a Dragon Rapide).  He has tasked Avspecs to return the fuselage to exactly how it would have emerged from the Boeing factory in 1944 including working turrets and replica weapons and bombs.

This is the biggest project that Avspecs have ever done and it will be fascinating to see how it progresses.

The Fifth Mosquito at Avspecs!

I had reason yesterday to drive down to Naike to see a man about a microlight, and so I called into Ardmore on the way to see progress on the latest Mosquito restoration at Avspecs.  And progress is good!

This latest Mosquito is a FB Mark VI bomber version and its provenance is that it was built in 1945 by the Standard Motor Company of Coventry in England as TE881 for the RAF and after the war it was ferried to New Zealand for the RNZAF where it became NZ2345, being bought on charge on 28 May 1947.  However it was quite quickly put into storage at Woodbourne.  It was declared surplus in June 1955 having flown only 69.35 hours and was sold to the Williams brothers and then made its way to John Smith at Mapua in pieces and was discovered after John's death in 2019.  (Most of the warbird world's attention was focused on John Smith's other Mosquito NZ2336 which was complete and now has been restored at Omaka).  The boxes of NZ2345 were recovered to Avspecs and now form the basis of their latest restoration as photo'd above on 19 May.  And in April 2025 it was registered ZK-WEL2.

When completed the Mosquito will go to Warbird Experiences Ltd/Fly a Spitfire.com in England.  I was told that it will be completed this year so a few more trips to Ardmore will be in order!

Another Savannah Registered - ZK-CEE/2

Last week another ICP Savannah S was registered, making 48 Savannah's that have been registered here to date.  But this one is a bit different - it is on amphibious floats!

ZK-CEE2 (c/n 16-08-54-0496) has been refurbished at Whangarei by Savannah owner Dave Cull at Whangarei after it was imported from the Solomon Islands in 2025.  Last week it was registered to its new owner, F A Watts of Napier.  Dave told me that the nose wheel (which is a bit difficult to see between the floats) retracts forwards when in flight.

It is a 2016 kit and was flown in the Solomon Islands as I-C664 by an Italian Roman Catholic priest to visit the far flung islands in the Western Solomons for missions purposes, but this was curtailed by Covid so it has very low hours.

Bishop Steve Lowe has provided some information on the previous owner of the Savannah:  He was Luciano Capelli who was the Bishop of Gizo in the remote Western Solomons.  It is his family crest on the fuselage and this has been kept for ZK-CEE2.  Bishop Capelli retired in August 2023 and we can assume his replacement was not a pilot!

Belanca Viking ZK-VIX at Rangiora. Plus ZK-TIE.

The Fernside (near Rangiora) based Bellanca Viking 300 17-30A ZK-VIX c/n 79-30944 was photographed yesterday at Rangiora by Tony McFarlin.

This has been listed with Greg Ward since about March of 2025.

 SEE HERE for previous post on this aircraft.

We also have a better photograph of the Tie Upp Aviation Cessna A152 Aerobat ZK-TIE c/n A1520917.

See Here for any earlier post in ZK-TIE.

Two Nelson visitors today. Saturday the 16th

 Bill Mannix captured these two visitors at Nelson this morning.

The Apollo Air Ltd.'s Beechcraft B300 (350i) Super King Air ZK-APL2 c/n FL-415 as seen on short finals for 02. It had flown Nelson to Westport and back to Nelson. Later it returned to home base at Christchurch.

See here for previous posts on this King Air.

             In from Murchison and parked at Repaircaft was the Murchison Heli Tours Ltd 's Eurocopter AS 350 B3 ZK-IKA2 c/n 3409.

See here for several other posts on this Squirrel.

Tecnam P92-2000RG ZK-MGW

Amongst the visitors to Pauanui today on this stunning autumn day was the rarely seen Tecnam P92-2000RG ZK-MGW.   This was originally imported new in late 2003 and since that time has had 3 different Taupo owners,  the latest acquiring it in 2022.

 

Short S45 Solent 4 ZK-AMO at MOTAT

As I was in the Western Springs area yesterday and armed with my Gold Card, I called into the Aviation Hall at MOTAT to re-familiarise myself with the museum.  It was much the same as I remembered it but I thought it was pretty dark inside, and the aircraft were mostly still hard to photograph.  And a lot of the smaller aircraft were hanging from the roof in the rear part of the big hall.  However the TEAL Solent flying boat is in a position to get reasonable photos of from the mezzanine floor so I took a couple. and I will post them here as we have not covered ZK-AMO on the blog before: 

ZK-AMO (c/n SH.1559) was delivered to Tasman Empire Airways Ltd (TEAL) in November 1949 and along with the rest of TEAL's Solent fleet (ZK-AML, AMM, AMN and AMQ)  flew trans-Tasman services between Auckland and Sydney and between Wellington and Sydney, and also operated the "Coral Route" from Auckland to Tahiti.  Wikipedia details the Coral Route as follows:  

"It became the only air route into Tahiti, with Americans and others from Northern Hemisphere flying by landplanes into Nadi in Fiji, making the short trip across to Suva to join the flying boat at Laucala Bay, for its fortnightly flight along the Coral Route, leaving on a Thursday morning for Samoa, alighting on the Satapuala lagoon about 2:00 pm. Passengers were driven by cab through Samoan coastal villages to Apia, where they enjoyed respite and dinner at Aggie Grey's hotel until 2:00 am when they were driven back out to Satapuala for a pre-dawn take-off to the Akaiami lagoon at Aitutaki where they went ashore for breakfast and an optional swim until mid-morning takeoff for Papeete, timed to ensure that arrival was after the end of the siesta period at 2:00 pm. After launching ashore and completing Customs, passengers had to wait a further hour while their luggage was sprayed against horticultural pests, a time usually spent by the majority across the road from the Customshouse at Quinn's Bar. In all, a 30-hour leisurely introduction to life in the South Seas which made the Coral Route a legendary travel experience."

ZK-AMO flew its last service on 14 September 1960 and on 8 December 1960 it was donated to the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) whose volunteers have done a great job of preserving and restoring it to its current condition inside the Aviation Hall on Meola Rd in Auckland.

You can see a lot of the smaller aircraft in the MOTAT collection hanging from the roof (where you can't really see them very well).  And to the right of the photos is the equally impressive Short Sunderland NZ4115.

Group arrival at Pauanui

A surprise group arrival at Pauanui airfield late afternoon was a collection of 4 aircraft from Christchurch and 1 from Dunedin who all did a touch and go before heading north to Waiheke Island.

They comprised Rans S6-ES ZK-SIX,  Searey ZK-WET, Kitfox VII ZK-ROX, Kitfox IV ZK-JFA and Karatoo ZK-KTI.     Their histories have been well covered on earlier Blogs on this site.

 

Citation ZK-XXK on the move.

According to the rumour mill the Cessna 525A CJ2+ Citation Jet ZK-XXK c/n 525A0411 is about to be delivered to a new owner in Queenstown.

See HERE for previous mentions of this aircraft.

It flew into Nelson back on 31-04-2026 for attention at Generation Global and was noted above by Lord Nelson on 06-05-2026.

To see what Generation Global is about SEE HERE

It was noted again by Lord Nelson on 12-05-2026.

A flight of around 45 minutes, out west and returned, was carried out today (13-05-2026).

P.S. 16-05-2026. ZK-XXK flew south from Nelson to Queenstown on Saturday the 16th.
With an ownership change from Wellington Jet Charters Trust to Little Lightning Ltd of Wanaka.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Mark Elworthy's Easy Riser

In researching for information on my series of Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand I have been provided with a scanned copy of The History of the South Canterbury Microlight Club (thanks Grant) which was published by John Nicolson in August 1996.  His first couple of paragraphs interested me greatly and I quote them as follows:

1.1  Pete James was one of a small gathering of North islander's who were to to become the original microlight founders in New Zealand.  During 1978-80, Pete - an accomplished hang glider pilot - was one of several hang glider pilots who decided to experiment with powered hang gliding.  They had been watching the events of powered flight by the Americans who had been flying "ultralights" since about 1976.  After trial-and-error flights the "microlight" soon became a reality for the assembly of thrill seekers.  And so the NZ microlight came into being.  (this is as I have posted in my first post on early Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand that you can see  HERE )

1.2  Meantime, here in Sth Canty in 1980, a local PPL was into powered hang glider flight too.  Mark Elworthy had purchased an American Easy Riser bi-plane hang glider, the first aircraft to resemble a microlight, and had been flying it frequently in free flight from atop Mt Horrible.  Mark had been corresponding with Pete in the NI and was keen to move into powered flight.  Mark attached a McCulloch 101 (125cc) go-cart engine to his Easy Riser.  Although initially plagued with growing pains, Mark eventually got things right and made numerous powered flights in his Easy Riser, later registered (?) as Maanz 060.  George Adams was to purchase Mz060 a few years later. (I do not think this Easy Riser was ever officially registered on the civil register).

This information was new to me and it shows that there was another flying microlight in New Zealand in 1980, before microlights had to be registered (joining Pete James' Easy Riser and Richard Brett's machine in the Waikato, Murray Hagen's Pfedgeling in Southland and Terry Delore's trike around Christchurch).  There may well be others that we don't know about.  Of course, if anyone has information on very early microlights in New Zealand please contact the editor and we will add to the story.  

Also, if anyone has a photo of Mark Elworthy's Easy Riser we would love to see it.  

In case readers do not have an idea of what an Easy Riser powered ultralight is, here is a good video which shows its history:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFwU9O1wjgQ

This is a screen shot from the video, not, unfortunately Mark Elworthy's machine (although it would have looked just like this!).

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Some More Photos from Hamilton in October 1980

In researching for my series of Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand, I have come across some more photos from Janic Geelen of the very early days of microlights here, before they were required to be registered:

Can anyone add any further information about these photos?  I have heard a story about when Americans Tommy Namais and Marty Waller came to New Zealand they bought examples of several microlights with them and offered dealerships.  Maybe these 3 microlights were part of this?  Can anyone confirm?

There was another microlight on the airfield that day, being Pete James' weight shift Quicksilver E but Pete tells me that that one was imported by him and this will form the start of my series of Quicksilvers in New Zealand (of which there have been 112 registered!). 

Rangiora Friday visitation 08-05-2026

 First stop for the day was with Aero Fix which had this Robinson R44 Raven II ZK-HRY2 c/n 10966 out front. This is currently listed to Gerald Jefferies of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
This has been in NZ since new in late 2005 and has been mentioned in these pages previously.
Following ten years with Anderson Helicopters Ltd of Hokitika from 2014 - it went to Gerald Jefferies of Hanmer Springs in May of 2025 - with a recent change of Address to Australia.

I managed to catch the Southbranch Farm Ltd's Maule M-5-235C Lunar Rocket ZK-MEZ c/n 7228C after it arrived back from a round of circuits. 

t looks much more hairy chested with its larger wheels.
For earlier posts on ZK-MEZ SEE HERE

A resident from the same Hangar 8 was this Australian registered Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage VH-BHR2  c/n 4622019. This arrived into Christchurch International direct from Melbourne on 01-02-2026.

this was built as N9157Q and delivered to Australia to become VH-LBE on 02-06-1989. After five operators it returned to the USA to become N113KR from 29-06-2007

It returned to Australia to become VH-BHR2 on 01-03-2012. It is currently listed to George Glaister of Balclutha who also has interests in the Culverden area.

As a PA-46-350P it is the first of this model in NZ and is not covered by the current NZ type certificate - (which only covers the -310P and the 500TP models) hence it remains on the Australian register. 

George also operates the Piper PA-32-300 Cherokee Six ZK-OMT and previously had the Cherokee Six ZK-ECV.

For further details on VH-BHR See here.

ZK-HPB the Ninth!

Brien O'Brien was at Kaipara Flats yesterday when (Sir) Peter Beck flew in in his latest helicopter to do some stuff at Rocket Lab in Warkworth:

ZK-HPB9 (c/n 20165) is a used Airbus MBB-BK 117 D-2 model that was registered to Advanced Flight Ltd of Auckland in December 2025 and is operated by them for Peter Beck.  It replaced his previous EC130T2 helicopter ZK-HPB8 which was cancelled in March 2025 and went to Australia as VH-83E. 

Thanks for the photo Brien.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait - ARV Super2 ZK-FSQ

We have been doing this for a long time!  Way back in April 2010 I did a post on some aircraft that were imported by Dougal Dallison.  In that post I could only include a photo of it as G-BSRK which it became after it was exported back to the UK in 1990 after its short life in New Zealand.  I then asked "can anyone post a photo of ZK-FSQ?" but nothing came of it.  Now 16 years later I became aware of a photo of ZK-FSQ on the AustAirData website.

The ARV Super2 was designed by Bruce Giddings in the UK in the early 1980s and was promoted by Richard Noble (holder of the 1983 world land speed record) who had identified a potential gap in the low weight low cost training aircraft market after major US manufacturers temporarily stopped production due to product liability issues.  Richard Noble set up a factory on the Isle of Wight to build the ARV (which stands for Air Recreational Vehicle) but production ceased after around 35 aircraft were built.  The prototype first flew on 11 March 1985.

The ARV Super2 was a side by side trainer with a tricycle undercarriage and a shoulder wing for good visibility.  Its specifications are:  length 18 feet (5.49 metres), wingspan 28 feet 6 inches (8.69 metres) and a wing area of 92.5 square feet.  Its empty weight was 675 pounds (306 Kg) and its MAUW was 1,100 pounds (400 kg) and with its 75 HP engine its performance was cruise speed 83 knots (95 mph) and it had a stall speed of  48 knots (55 mph).  The engine was interesting, it was a Hewland AE75 3 cylinder 2 stroke with a 2.75 to 1 reduction gearbox.  It only weighed 108 pounds (49 Kg) and was specifically designed for the ARV Super2.  However it only had a TBO of 800 hours and with the lack of ongoing factory support, many ARV Super2s have been re-engined with Rotax 912s and Jabirus.

Obviously we have only had one ARV Super2 registered in New Zealand.  Was it registered as a microlight?

ZK-FSQ (c/n 007) was registered to Dougal Dallison of Auckland on 31/1/89 and was cancelled on 30/7/90 so its life here was quite short.  The above photo was taken at Ardmore in April 1990.

A Couple of Mirages Flying High and Low

Following my posts on all of the Ultraflight Mirages that have been registered in New Zealand, here are a couple photos of of Mirages in their element:

I understand that this photo, probably of ZK-FCA, is of Lorry (sp?) Jones descending from a height record attempt when he reached 10,000 feet.  Can anyone add anything to this story?

And by contrast, here is George Taylor flying his Mirage ZK-EYN on an aerial lambing beat over his farm at Mossburn.  Quite a few early microlights were used for farm work including spraying and I will detail some examples in a future post. 

DHC 2 Beavers ZK-AZB and ZK-BVA/2

Because we like Beavers and posted about ZK-FPZ yesterday, here are photos of Patchett Ag-Air's two Omaka based Beavers at Healthy Bastards 2026:

We have posted the extensive history of ZK-AZB HERE, but that post didn't include its ownership by Patchett Ag-Air from August 2025.

We have also posted the history of ZK-BVA2 HERE but again that didn't include its ownership by Patchett Ag-Air from May 2025.

As well as ZK-FPZ there are two other Beavers on the register - ZK-CKH with NZ Warbirds at Ardmore, and ZK-SBV with Zodie Investments Ltd of Karamea.

And there are apparently a couple more Beavers being rebuilt at Rangiora.

Thanks for the photos Tim.

DHC 2 Beaver ZK-FPZ at Tauranga

We have posted about Beaver ZK-FPZ previously HERE but we haven't yet had a good photo of it in its latest scheme, until now:

Warwick Hamilton captured it recently at Tauranga wearing Taupo Sport Skydivers script.  It is owned by Venture Aviation Ltd (John Funnell) since way back on 31/3/98. 

Thanks for the photo Warwick.

PAC 750XL ZK-JBC/2 Has Flown Again at Hamilton

The Pacific Aerospace 750XL ZK-JBC2 has recently been returned to the air by Part 66 Maintenance at Hamilton.  It had been out of service since Farmers Air was liquidated in 2025:

It has been owned by Super Air Ltd since May 2025 and is now flying in their colours (with a nod to the old Farmers Air scheme).