Piper PA-28 Cherokee 50th Fly in Ashburton.

Over the period of January 14, 15 and 16th a fly in was held by the Ashburton Aviation Museum at the Ashburton Airfield to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Piper PA-28 Cherokee on January the 14th 1960.
Below is a small selection of the thirty three PA-28's that were noted over the weekend.

ZK-BZB c/n 28-627 is a Cherokee 160 which joined our register on 25-07-1962 via Airwork for the Canterbury Aero Club. Ownership changed to J G Rutherford on 25-07-1967 with it being hired back to the Canterbury Club. After damage on 21-08-1972 it went to the NAC Sports & Social Club at Christchurch followed by several private owners. Its current owner Rex Brereton of Halcombe features from 18-11-2007. Above it is wearing a gold upper engine cowling to celebrate this Golden occasion.

ZK-CIJ c/n 28-20230 is a PA-28-140 Cherokee. Another Canterbury Club machine imported via Airwork. First registered on 18-11-1964. It was returned to Airwork in October of 1971 followed by a hire to the Wellington Aero Club.Between mid 1973 and late 1995 it lived in the Seddon/Blenheim area until being acquired by its current owner Raewyn Irvine of Timaru

ZK-CUA c/n 28-23318 is a PA-28-140 Cherokee now preserved in the Ashburton Aviation Museum. First registered with Airwork on 04-07-1967 for delivery to the Canterbury Aero Club.

An earlier blog featured this aircraft.

ZK-CUD c/n 28-23557 is another PA-28-140 Cherokee initially registered by Airwork on 17-10-1967 for the Northland Districts Aero Club. After a number of other owners it is now with Bruce Reeves of Te Awamutu and carries the name "Cuddles".

ZK-DUN c/n 28-7415503 is a PA-28-151 Cherokee Warrior. Airwork listed this on 03-10-1974 for the Whakatane District Flying Club. Again it has had a batch of owners until obtained by the Dun-Air Partnership (Ross St George) of Palmerston North in October of 1987.

ZK-ENV c/n 28-7790284 is a PA-28-181 Cherokee Archer II . First listed on 06-10-1978 to the Eagle Flying Academy at Hamilton. Its current owner, the D E Mitchell Family Trust of Invercargill listed it from 11-06-1999.

ZK-JSS c/n 28R-7837203 is a PA-28R-201 Arrow III. As the c/n implies this is a product of 1978 and was initially used in the USA before ferrying out to NZ in October of 1990 for J S Spry of Wellington (hence the ZK-JSS registration) from 28-09-1990. After a period with Juliet Sierra Sierra Ltd of Johnsonville from mid 1994 until May of 1996 it went to Brian Swan of Dunedin.

ZK-KLA c/n 28-7790155 is an Archer with a more complex history. Built in 1977 it went to Australia as VH-BRY until being damaged. It was moved to NZ to the Aircraft Rebuild Syndicate for repair and assembly by Avtek at Timaru for listing as ZK-PIR on 21-02-1997. Its first NZ operator being the North Otago Aero Club. On 07-04-2008 it was listed to K J & L P Anderson of Mosgiel who re-registered it the same day, using their initials, as ZK-KLA.

More Microlight Cub Replicas

Following my previous posts on Light Miniature Aircraft Cub replicas, I thought I would fill in a bit more of the New Zealand history of some more very light Cub replicas. The first, above, is the Nostalgair N3 Pup ZK-FSK which was first registered to Steetair Aviation in Christchurch on 6/12/86. It has been owned in the Christchurch/Rangiora area ever since. It is currently owned by J I Rogers of Rangiora and it is photographed here in a hangar at Rangiora. Thanks to Blue Bus for the photo.

And perhaps the original replica of the bunch is this Fisher Aviation FP 202 Koala ZK-FMK, also photographed in a hangar at Rangiora. This aircraft was built by Alan Wooster in New Plymouth and was first registered on 23/6/86. It has had many owners in Taupo, Lower Hutt, Reefton, Seddon, Christchurch, North Canterbury and it is currently owned by G R McEwen of Wyndham.

The FP 202 was the first design from Fisher Aviation and featured a geodesic fuselage design which was uncommon. Fisher Aviation have since gone on to design quite a few other aircraft the most recent of which is the Fisher R 80 Tiger Moth replica. There are 11 Fisher aircraft currently registered in New Zealand.

Taranaki Touring

A brief visit to New Plymouth Airport 14Jan saw plenty of blue sky but little aviation activity. The following are those photographed:


From Tauranga, Cessna 206H ZK-MHL is seen here at rest.


Agusta 139 ZK-HNZ alighted from the HNZ base at New Plymouth and departed southwestward.


Bell 412 ZK-HDY recently returned from a local flight as far south as Oanui.




Piper PA28 ZK-DGL spotted low level just inland from Oanui on a photographic tasking.

Hamilton 15 January 2010

Gippsland Fatman ZK-JPC has been around since July 2002 following its delivery from Australia as VH-NIL. Its registered to Cropdusters of Drury and is operated from the Pukekohe East strip.

A 'record' shot of Sunair's Piper Aztec ZK-MTY. This aircraft is the 9th of its type in the Sunair fleet and arrived in the country as VH-MTY in February 2009.

44th Walsh Memorial Flying School

The 44th Walsh Memorial Flying School is currently underway at Matamata's Waharoa Airfield. Some 70 students from around the country are participating at this years event. The fleet of aircraft on line are predominantly Cessna 150/152's with a couple of PA38's, a Tecnam and a Cessna 172 also being employed. The following is a small selection of 'new/revised livery' aircraft.

Picton Light Miniature

LMA-1-W ZK-LWP hidden in the back of a hangar at Koromiko, Picton, 30th December 2009

Question time # 85 resolved.

A hole in one there 12.7mm
Dacka, dacka dacka.

I like that ; although 0.5 inch was the expected response.

We are looking down the bore of the Rob Broek North American P51D-20NT Mustang ZK-SAS.

Thanks to all those that gave it a shot - now if I could just find a 12.7mm chocolate fish ??

Continuing the Light Miniature Aircraft Theme

Following my previous post on the Light Miniature Aircraft LM -1 ZK-CUB and Hooks comment that it looked like an Aeronca, I checked their website and confirmed that their LM - 1 model is of a J 3 Cub, and their LM - 3 model is of an Aeronca Champ.

The above photo is of LM - 3 ZK-FTG taken at the SAANZ Fly in at Ashburton in February 2009. It is owned by R J Lister of Timaru and was first registered on 4/5/89. There is one other LM - 3 in New Zealand: ZK-EHU from Christchurch, and there are 3 other LM - 1 models ZK-FWB, ZK-LWP and ZK-RMF.

Can anyone post photos of the other New Zealand LM - 1's or LM - 3? And have there been any others that have been written off?

More on the Saga of CUB's

It struck me as rather ironic that as detailed in Blue Bus's post the rebuilt original Piper Cherokee was registered ZK-CUB. At least it had a Piper connotation!

Here is the second ZK-CUB which also is not a Piper Cub. It is a Light Miniature Aircraft LM-1U single seat Cub replica which I photographed at Te Kowhai in March 2005. This aircraft was originally registered as ZK-FRZ on 3/11/88 to NJ Dennison of Queenstown, and the registration was changed to ZK-CUB on 12/9/95. It has been well travelled with owners in Turangi, Wanaka, Masterton, Gisborne, Tauranga and Hamilton. I last saw it in a hangar at Te Kowhai in November 2009 looking decidedly out of square and worse for wear.

Then there is poor old ZK-CVB as I posted earlier in January, which probably really wanted to be ZK-CUB but is also not a Piper Cub although it looks just like a Piper Cub!

Piper PA-28 Cherokee is 50 !

On January 10th 1960 the first Piper PA-28 Cherokee N9315R c/n 28-01 had its first flight. This aircraft stemmed from the PA-10 which was a design study by John Thorpe based around his earlier Skyscooter. John as you all know went on to desighn the Fletcher 24.

The above pic shows Piper PA-28-160 ZK-BWT c/n 28-59 taken at Wellington on 27-11-1963. It was imported by the NZ agents Airwork (NZ) Ltd and registered on 01-12-1961, first flying here on the 20th and delivered to the Rotorua Aero Club on the 22nd. It was hired to the Auckland Aero Club briefly in 1962. On 23-12-1965 it was acquired by B B Cox and W J Blackwell for operation by the Manakau Flying School. A few days later (02-01-1966) it crashed in the Skippers Canyon. It was recovered by helicopter (ZK-HAQ) but its registration was cancelled on 02-03-1966.

Airwork rebuilt it in early 1967 and had it re-registered as ZK-CUB on 01-05-1967 after its first flight on 24-04-1967. Lombard (NZ) Ltd appear from 18-09-1967; hiring it back to the Manakau Flying School.

Above & below show ZK-CUB at Invercargill on 26-04-1969.

Above & below as at Palmerston North on 29-10-1970.

Below is ZK-CUB at Pukekohe on 08-01-1972; a different paint scheme and minus the Manukau Flying School markings.

After at least three woopsies it went to Eagle Aviation at Hamilton on 22-03-1972 and to General Finance Acceptance Ltd on 01-05-72 for hire to M S Arthur; then to Coyle & Griffin of Wanganui from 01-04-1973. In late September 1974 it was listed to A J G Scott & P L Withall of Christchurch.

A storm through Christchurch on 01-08-1975 damaged the aircraft and it was cancelled on 12-09-75.

This weekend at Ashburton there is to be a Cherokee fly in - I am guessing about 53 PA-28's will show up. Will we see you there ?