Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Teratorns

The Teratorn was developed from around 1976 by Motorised Gliders of Iowa as a motor glider, and was then later developed by Teratorn Aircraft Inc of Clear Lake, Iowa  The actual Teratorn was a member of a family of extinct very large soaring birds that lived in North and South America in pre-historic times.  Click twice to read the brochures below bigger and better.

We have had five Teratorns registered in New Zealand, being one Tierra model and four TA models.  The Tierra could be adapted into a two seater while the TA was a single seater.

ZK-EXP (c/n MAANZ/156)  Teratorn Tierra.  Registered 27 Oct 1982 to A. P. M. McAlister, Queenstown Maybe he was the agent? - does anyone know?).  Cancelled 23 Jan 1992 as withdrawn from use.

ZK-FJA (c/n MAANZ/265)  Teratorn TA.  Registered 16 Jul 1984 to the Mountain Microlight Club, Queenstown, then 27 Jul 1984 L. M. Sowerby, Queenstown. then 11 Mar 1987 R. A. Jones, Arrowtown.  Cancelled 21 Apr 1993 as withdrawn from use.

ZK-FOQ (c/n 17A)  Teratorn TA.  Registered 28 Jul 1987 to B. J. Barker, Glencoe, then 12 Mar 1995 Michael J. Morris, Wanaka, then 24 Mar 1996 R. H. M. Smith, Dunedin, then 25 Aug 1998 Ben More Exports Ltd, Springfield (Roger F. James).  Withdrawn from Use Invercargill and Cancelled Dec 2000.

ZK-FTD (c/n MAANZ/426)  Teratorn TA.  Registered 4 May 1989 to T. L. Rule, Hedgehope, Invercargill, then 25 Jul 1996 Malcolm K. Macleod, Winton, then 24 Dec 1998 S.G.Butcher, RD4, Masterton, then 13 Dec 2002 Adam D Butcher "Harwood". Masterton, then 30 Nov 2003 John S Gates, Wellington.  Cancelled 27 Feb 2009 as withdrawn from use.

ZK-TTS (c/n MAANZ/219) Teratorn TA 

Registered 25 Nov 1983 to Stratford Aero Club, Stratford, (the Stratford Aero Club was the North Island agent for the Teratorn), then 22 Jun 1990 Raoul E Lealand, Kinloch, then 1 Jun 1993 Dieniol (Dan) T Davies, Waitoa.  Cancelled 22 Jul 1998 as registration revoked. 

De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth ZK-AIE

The De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth ZK-AIE c/n 83492 has had lengthy and interesting history.
This is my take on the subject.

Built by Morris Motors at Cowley in the UK with the construction number 83492 and issued the Royal Air Force serial of T5762 it taken on charge on 28-06-1940, but only briefly as it was shipped out to New Zealand aboard the S S Rangitikei on 05-07-1940.

In New Zealand it was reassembled at the De Havilland Aircraft facility at Wellington and bought on charge with the Royal New Zealand Air Force on 04-10-1940 as NZ662 with Unit 18 at Rongotai, Wellington. 
During is World War Two service it served with No 4 Elementary Flying Training School at Whenuapai, then with No 2 EFTS at New Plymouth and No 2 EFTS at Ashburton, then to 42 Squadron. Like many training aircraft it had a couple of incidents - one at Whenuapai in April of 1941, and at New Plymouth in March of 1942 having a taxi incident with NZ1418. In late January 1946 it was declared as surplus and was handed to the New Plymouth Aero Club (a Government Gift Aircraft) with 2801 airframe hours.

It was handed over to the Club on 25-01-1946 to become ZK-AIE

In about early September of 1951 the Club sold it to Aircraft Services (NZ) Ltd of Auckland and it was converted to an aerial top-dressing aircraft. It was given the fleet number 5 and was to be named as 'The Doh Doh' - allegedly because that is what it flew like.

Above. ZK-AIE as Fleet number 5.

Below showing The Doh Doh on its fuselage

The very nature of its work lead to several incidents. It was damaged at Kaiwaka on 08-01-1952, at Onewhero on 26-02-1952, at Waipu on 15-05-1952 and a more serious crash on 16-01-1953 and another on 16-11-1953. 

It was rebuilt using parts from ex Australian Tiger Moths A17-330 and A17-74 and no doubt from other donor airframes. It emerged as a two-seater and was sold to Doug Freeth of Auckland in August 1956. Doug also had at about this time the Taylorcraft L-2A ZK-ATY and the Commonwealth CA6 Wackett ZK-AUC. In 1958 it was briefly with the Auckland Aero Club followed by R D Simpson from September that year. S John Askew of Eltham listed it from April 1960, then A D Bell of Waimana from April 1961. Wally E Christofferson then had it from 25-08-1965 only to cancel its NZ registration on 10-09-1965 and have it pop up in Fiji as VQ-FAG with the Nausori Flying Club. It did not fly in Fiji until 31-03-1967 after having been reconditioned and re-engined with a motor from the DHA-3 Drover VQ-FAR, Its final flight was on 05-05-1970 after which it was withdrawn and stored. The registration of DQ-FAG was allocated to it on 01-10-1971 but this was not taken up and ultimately cancelled on 12-04-1972.

In 1973 it was purchased by George R Kingsbury of Dorie and shipped back to NZ and stored on his property until 1985 along with another tired airframe.

The RNAF Museum at Wigram negotiated a deal and rebuilt the aircraft back to its old Air Force scheme and serial of NZ662, with it flying again on 08-01-1977 from Wigram. In March 1987 it went on loan to the RNZAF Historic Flight at Ohakea to be operated alongside their airworthy Harvard NZ1015.

Above as noted at Wanaka 04-04-2010 at Wanaka by Steve Homewood.

As seen at Ohakea by Aaron Murphy on 31-03-2012.

Plans began in 2013 to place NZ662 on the New Zealand Civil Aircraft Register as part of 'civilising' the RNZAF Historic Flight. This involved considerable work on the aircraft - thanks mostly to Stan Smith and Hawker Pacific Ltd. Placed back on the civil register again as ZK-AIE on 05-07-2016 it flew again in late 2016 and seems to have ceased flying in late 2018. 

The Harvard NZ1025 NZ1015 became ZK-RNZ about the same time but was damaged in a forced landing on 13-08-2018.

Its career within the RNZAF Historic Flight and ultimately the Biggin Hill Trust is outside my sphere of knowledge.

Both these aircraft were cancelled from the civil register on 18-07-2024. The Harvard going on static museum display.

The Tiger Moth ZK-AIE was trucked down to the RNZAF Museum at Wigram in early May of 2025 and is now on display as NZ662.

Check out this NZ662 facebook link

Above we see ZK-AIE/NZ662 on display at Wigram on 06-10-2026 - thanks to Tony McFarlin.

So what has happened to Tiger Moth NZ1481 (marked as NZ825) - previously on display at Wigram ?

ZK-SSA Resurrected

                                         Photograph by Bradley Pearpoint from his Facebook page

            Photo Courtesy of william Leipnik from New zealand Civil Aircraft Facebook page 

 

ZK-SSA (DH82a c/n 111) was bought by Bradley Pearpoint of Feilding in October last year in a rather sorry state. After a major rebuild it had it's first post restoration flight on October 06th 2026. Bradley says hopefully he should be able to take it to the Tiger Moth Gathering in Taumarunui in a couple of weeks. Previous post for this aircraft can be found here

Yak 7B ZK-YKB Flies Home to Tauranga

We should record that Mike O'Rourke's Yak 7B, restored over a long period by JEM Aviation at Omaka, flew North to its new home at Tauranga on 1 October:

ZK-YKB (c/n 51-24D) is named Liberté.  I understand that its origins go back to an Egyptian Air Force LET C-11 trainer (a Czechoslovakian license built Yak 11).  This unidentified airframe was one of 41 derelict LET C-11 airframes imported into La Ferté Alais in France by Alain Capell and Jean Salis in 1985.  It was sold to the USA where it became N7YK and was rebuilt as a Yak 7UTI trainer with an Allison V1710 V 12 engine.  It is painted in the colours of the Normandie-Niemen fighter regiment which was a Free French Air Force unit that fought alongside the Soviet Air Force on the Eastern front in World War II.

The ACH125 ZK-HZS at Queens Wharf today.

 Tasman Helicopters Ltd's Airbus AS 350 B3 ZK-HZS4 c/n 9366 was noted on Queens Wharf at Wellington today by Allister Jenks.

It arrived from in Nelson via the top of 'The Sounds' and returned to Nelson the same way.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Aerodyne Vector 610s

After the distractions of the last couple of weeks, it is time to get back to microlights of NZ.

The next type of microlight to be registered in New Zealand was the Aerodyne Vector 610 which was descended from the Klaus Hill designed Humbug and developed through the twin 9 HP Chrysler Power-Bee powered Vector 600 by the Vector Aircraft Corp, and Vector Aircraft was bought up by Aerodyne Systems Inc of Millers Falls, Massachusetts in 1982.  The Vector 610 first appeared at Sun N Fun at Lakeland, Florida in March 1982.  It was powered by a 22 HP Zenoah G25B engine (2 stroke of course)

As can be seen in the above brochure, the New Zealand (Australasian) agents were Airsports Ltd of Tauranga which was the company formed by Arch Haddow who was a foundation member of MAANZ.  You can click once or twice to enlarge the above photos to read them more easily.

We have had five Vector 610s registered in New Zealand:

ZK-FDP (c/n MAANZ/144)  Registered 29 Sep 1982 to Haddow Investments Ltd, Tauranga (Arch Haddow) t/a Airsports Ltd, Tauranga, then 21 Aug 1984 R. A. Emms, Opotiki, then 13 Oct 1989 Alan R. Graham, Mount Maunganui. then 15 Jun 1994 N. F. Bartley-Berry, then 25 Sep 1994 Neil M. France, Auckland.   Cancelled 31 Oct 1995 as withdrawn from use.

ZK-EXJ (c/n 1314 and MAANZ/165)  Registered 19 Oct 1982 to J. F. Meijer, Tauranga, then 23 Mar 1988 Andrew A. & M. J. Jasper, Greymouth.   Cancelled 28 Mar 2012 registration revoked.

ZK-AMV (c/n 1316)

Arrived in NZ and test flown at Ardmore 1982.  Registered 21 Jun 1984 to B. A. J. Hirtzell, Auckland Last flown 1988 & stored.  Cancelled 8 Nov 1994 as withdrawn from use.

ZK-FJC (c/n MAANZ/260)

Registered 16 Jun 1984 to Hillary Bell, Waiomu (near Thames) then later Waipukurau ,  Cancelled 28 Jun 2001 registration revoked.  Stored with Ron Day at Waipukurau.

ZK-VEC (c/n 1312 and MAANZ/141)

Registered 1 Oct 1982 to Haddow Investments Ltd t/a Airsports Ltd, Tauranga.  In this model the nosewheel cants during flight and must be centered before landing. This was not done and consequently the nosewheel broke off on landing at Tauranga 1 April 1983.  Then 5 Jun 1984 Brian D. Umbers, Matamata, then 18 Apr 1990 J. F. Bayliss, Te Puke, then 5 Aug 1992 G. R. Faulkner, Tauranga.  Cancelled 18 Sep 1998 as withdrawn from use.  

Another shot of ZK-CBS

Photo courtesy of Hunter Weir from the "Marlborough Aviation Group" Facebook page.

A new colour scheme for ZK-CBS

 Lord Nelson grabbed this long shot of the Patchett Ag Air Ltd's Cessna 185A ZK-CBS c/n 185-0398 in its new paint scheme.

Nice to see it retains a small "Mount Cook Lilly" on its fin.

SEE HERE for more photos of ZK-CBS.  Just keep scrolling down.

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.