A Couple More from Ardmore Yesterday 1-10-2026

Yesterday I was with a group of MOTAT volunteers led by Flyernzl who were interested to see a couple of Mosquitos in the flesh.  In between Mosquitos we had lunch at the Ardmore cafe at a reserved table on the deck.  It was quite neat to be able to sit there with my camera handy while a succession of aircraft came and went.  Here are a couple of them:

The Embraer EMB 500 Phenom 100 ZK-PHN taxied out and took off.  This is a 2011 model that has been operated by owners in Odessa in the Ukraine, Tbilisi in Georgia and in Guernsey before coming to New Zealand in December 2020.  It was registered ZK-PHN on 8/12/20 to Pouaki Investments Ltd of Auckland and it is operated by Pacific Jets Ltd of Ardmore.

And somewhat incongruously an ag helicopter arrived, being Helisika's Airbus AS 350 B2 Squirrel equipped as a sprayer ZK-IDJ3.  Helisika Agricultural Ltd have only owned it since May 2026.

And on the Mosquito front there is good progress on both the B IV series 2 bomber DZ542 at Drury (this is for sale and you can find out more about it on the net), and also the FB Mark VI TE881 at Avspecs with engine runs not too far away I reckon.  More exciting times!

Northern Rescue Helicopter's Leonardo AW 169 ZK-IHB/2 at Ardmore Today 1-10-2026

The latest Northern Rescue Helicopter's Leonardo AW 169 was out at Ardmore today.  This is the fourth Leonardo AW 169 in their upgraded fleet:

ZK-IHB2 (c/n 69062) is a 2018 model built by Leonardo Helicopters spA in Milan, Italy.  It was registered as SE-JSI on 1 Feb 2018 to Vertical Aviation No.2 Ltd, Dublin, Ireland and was operated as an air ambulance in Sweden.  It was cancelled on 15/11/24 and shipped to New Zealand.

It was registered as ZK-IHB2 on 19/2/25 to Northern Rescue Helicopter Ltd of Whangarei, but it has only recently been restored to airworthy status.
 

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.