I started this series on Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand in July 2025 with Pete James' powered Easy Riser which I think was the first microlight to fly here in late 1977. Microlights were not required to be registered until late 1981 and there were quite a few that flew back then with varying degrees of success.
However from December 1981 when Murray Hagen's Pterodactyl Ascender ZK-ESS and Ken Asplin's Quicksilver ZK-KJA were registered, the floodgates of microlight aircraft registrations were flung open and the demand for this type of aircraft and microlight flying was huge!
I chose this photo because it was taken shortly after the hugely busy 1982 microlight year.
I reckon there were 134 microlights registered in New Zealand in 1982, which is an amazing number when you think about it. Of those 134, the types were Pterodactyls, Mirages (33 of them registered in 1982!), single seat Quicksilvers, an American Aerolights Eagle (which crashed with the first microlight fatality), Kasperwings, Skycraft Scouts (47 were eventually registered but the importers reckoned they bought in about 80 of them), Delore Skytrikes made in Christchurch and two other types of weight shift trikes - Ultraflight models made in Hamilton and Ultrasports models from England, Rotec Rallys, Goldwings, Vector 610s, Teratorns, Phantoms (only 2 but influential), the locally developed Re Fledge One, the German Firebird M1, DSK Nomads and Mitchell Wings. That represents an impressive 18 types of microlights and there were a few more of the above types and others that did not get registered.
Next, on to 1983 and beyond!
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