Lord Nelson reports.

 Lord Nelson reports firstly from Nelson Airport yesterday where the Fletcher FU24-550GT Crusader ZK-DDX (c/n 160) is based.
It now carries Aerowork colours and title in-lieu of its 'au naturel' scheme.

This Fletcher has the extended fuselage with the PT6A-15AG up front.

 Over the hill at Omaka on 26-11-2015 we see the Fletcher FU24-954 - Walter conversion - ZK-EML (c/n 264) with small Aerowork logo on its fuselage. 

This replaced the large "Marl. Aerial Work"  that it used to carry a couple of years back.

Back at Nelson on 05-12-2015 was the Aerospatiale AS350 B2 Squirel ZK-HJV3 (c/n 2846). 

This is one of the HNZ New Zealand Ltd's fleet.

Yesterdays take at Russell Flat.

I had a long overdue visitation to the Canterbury Gliding Club strip at Russell Flat today.

It was not overly active but the westerly breeze picked up early afternoon which encouraged a few pundits out to try and catch the wave.

One of my favourite gliders would have to be the Schempp-Hirth Janus Ce ZK-GPB (c/n 304) which joined the Club in November of 1994.

 A new edition to the Russell Flat residents is the Murray Phillpott Schleicher ASH31Mi ZK-GZV (c/n 31130).

Below is what the NZ Aviation News Magazine said recently:-

"The other new Schleicher gliders are both ASH 31Mi models. Murray Philpott of Christchurch has chosen ZK-GZV as the registration for his, which replaces its original German registration of D-KOAB. The next one from the production line has gone to Simon Gault of Drury and is now ZK-GHG₂. 
The Schleicher ASH 31Mi is a single seat glider with either 18m wings for use in the 18m Class or 21m wings for the Open Class contests. The wings are in four parts, with winglets, which makes for easier assembly and for a shorter trailer. Designed by Martin Heide (the H in the designation) and built by Alexander Schleicher (the AS in the designation) as a replacement for the ASH26. It has a new wing design with extended ailerons similar to the ASG29. The engine is a 55hp fully retractable Wankel. 
The first of this type in NZ was ZK-GXV which had been imported by the late Dave Speight. This was exported to the US in April to become N30DN."

 Parked in the hangar was the Club's Aeropro Eurofox 3K ZK-TUG2 which took over from the Club Pawnee ZK-CNG. 

The Eurofox is now for sale - its duties having been taken over by the recently delivered Aerospool Dynamic WT9 ZK-DYT2 (c/n DY502/2014).Other gliders active were the Rolladen-Schneider LS4's ZK-GCC2 and ZK-GYH plus the Schempp-Hirth Cirrus ZK-GJK.

To get to Russell Flat I had to extend the Friday pie run during which I caught up with the Cessna A185F Ag Carryall ZK-DKJ (c/n 18502276) in the throes of being covered up at Rangiora. It has been with Andrew Bowmar of Plains Station since mid June of 2012.

It got an earlier mention at:-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2009/01/nzrt-cessna-185s.html

Also at Rangiora for lunch on Friday was the Zenith CH601-XL ZK-SRF (c/n 6-6971) of Scott James.

Titan Mustang ZK-WZY First Flight Today 5-12-2015

Thanks to Colin Hunter we have some nice photos of the first flight of Titan T 51 Mustang ZK-WZY at Ardmore today, flown by test pilot Gavin Trethewey.

Take off roll

And looking great overhead.  Thanks again Colin.

Ardmore 3-12-2015

Ardmore yesterday provided its usual crop of new and interesting aircraft including the following:

Beech 200 ZK-MFT2 was undergoing engine runs outside Hawker Pacific.  It was registered to Skyline Aviation Ltd of Napier on 20/10/15.

Beech 77 Skipper ZK-SXB has been around since 5/11/12, registered to a Drury owner.

Nanchang CJ 6 ZK-FRU2 now sports a red spinner. It is now Ardmore based with the Nanchang 01 Syndicate.

Steve Chilcott had his Nicollier HN 700 Menestrel II ZK-TBS outside tinkering with the fuel flow settings.

Titan T 51 Mustang ZK-WZY

I was fortunate to be able to arrange to be at Ardmore this afternoon for the roll out of Titan Mustang ZK-WZY from the Pioneer Aero hangar for some taxi tests.  It is a beautifully finished aircraft as you can see in the photos.

I have previously posted about this aircraft a couple of times, the most recent being on 12 August, just before I left for overseas. (see www.nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/two-that-will-be-flying-soon-at-ardmore.html ).   In a bit of perfect timing ZK-WZY received its CAA paperwork approval earlier this week, only a week or so after I returned to New Zealand.

ZK-WZY (c/n 0076) was registered to Paul McSweeny (of Pioneer Aero) on 21/7/15.  However the aircraft was built by Pioneer Aero for an Australian owner: David S Lane.  I understand it may be registered in Australia as VH-YNZ, but it will undertake extensive flying in New Zealand before being shipped to Oz.

The aircraft is named "Miss Marguerite" with a personalised marking of "Lane's Victory".  The colour scheme of ZK-WZY is fictional and the detailed touches are very authentically done.

Test pilot Gavin Trethewey carried out some taxi tests today.  The first flight of ZK-WZY is expected next week.

Sneaky Question time # 182 resolved.

I posted the following back on November the 20th.This was in fact a sneaky Question Time posting.

                                                                             ***

FRIDAY, 20 NOVEMBER 2015

Holiday bliss.

Where else could you take a holiday like this ?

Fishing in the Ahuriri River and hauling in a clump of Didymosphenia geminata ( better known as didymo or rock snot to most of us) and about to be buzzed by the LS3 ZK-GLS on a competition finish - with a suspicious patch of "weed" in the foreground (not that I would know anything about that).

*******************

It is in fact all a load of hogswash.

Firstly the glider is not the real ZK-GLS.

It is also not a Rolladen-Schneider LS3 but is an LS6c Model suspended from the ceiling.

The real ZK-GLS is a Schleicher Ka6CR which is still current with John Currie of Rotorua.

That is not me fishing but is actually a large image on the wall of the Marino Cafe at Omarama and you will note in the pic below that the glider is suspended out in front of the picture.

I have adjusted the exposure to show the suspension wires.

Below is the original photo showing the rockery garden in the foreground and a chunk of old fence on the right. 

Only one person picked up on the falsehood.

Well done CMM.

The chocolate fish is yours.

Aerobatic Monoplanes of New Zealand (2) - Yakovlev Yak 50

The next type of purpose designed aerobatic monoplane to be registered in New Zealand was the Alpine Fighter Collection's Yak 50 ZK-YAC.

The Yak 50 was designed by Sergei Yakovlev in the 1970s and is a single seat aerobatic aircraft with exceptional handling and a rugged airframe (but see below).  Power was from a Vedeneyev MP 14 radial engine of typically 400 HP which gave a very good power to weight ratio.  A Yak 50 was flown to two World Aerobatic titles - in 1976 and 1982.  However, the stresses of unlimited aerobatics were such that the Russian team Yak 50s airframes were typically scrapped after about 50 flight hours, and there were numerous cases of main spar failure until modifications were made.

The length of the Yak 50 was 7.8 metres (25 feet 7 inches), the wingspan was 9.5 metres (31 feet 2 inches and the wing area was 161.5 square feet.  Empty weight was 750 Kg (1,658 pounds) and MAUW was 910 Kg (2,006 pounds)

ZK-YAC (c/n 852904) was first registered in New Zealand to the Alpine Fighter Collection of Wanaka on 28/3/96, and it is photo'd above Wanaka on 25/3/96.  It was manufactured in 1985 as LY-ANQ and later was sold to the UK as G-BWCF, being registered as such on 25/4/95.

The above photo was taken at the 1998 Wings Over Wanaka airshow on 10/4/98.  ZK-YAC didn't say long in New Zealand as it was cancelled on 15/6/98 and exported to Australia and registered as VH-YAY on 18/6/98, and where it is still current with Flying Fighters Pty Ltd of Sunnybank in Queensland.

ZK-TGN at Ardmore 1-12-15

North American T-28B Trojan  ZK-TGN was out doing engine runs at Ardmore this afternoon.

Aerobatic Monoplanes of New Zealand (1) - Zlin Trener Masters

I have been meaning to do a series on purpose-designed aerobatic monoplanes of New Zealand (of which there have been quite a few), for some time.  And with the blog header photo of Sukhoi SU 29 ZK-SUK, this seems like a good time to do it.

I think the earliest purpose designed aerobatic monoplanes in New Zealand were a pair of Zlin Trener Masters that were imported into Christchurch in 1964 and 1970, being a Z 326 and a Z 526.

The original Zlin Z 26 was first produced by the Czechoslovakian company Moravan Oktokovice in 1946 as a basic training aircraft.  Later Z 26s were optimised for aeroabatics.  The design was further developed by Zlin Aircraft Oktokovice as the Z 226, Z 326, Z 526 and finally the Z 726 until production ceased in 1970.  Variants were produced as single seaters (Akrobats) and 2 seaters (Trener Masters), and the type won several aerobatic competitions in the 1960s. The wing was distinctive in having a swept leading edge and the electrically operated undercarriage was retractable.

Both the Z 326 and the Z 526 were powered by 6 cylinder inverted Walter engines producing around 160 - 180 HP.  They had very similar dimensions and weights, for the Z 326 being length 7.83 metres (25 feet 8 inches), wingspan 10.59 metres (34 feet 9 inches) and wing area of 167 square feet.  Empty weight was 637 Kg (1,404 pounds) and MAUW was 910 Kg (2,006 pounds) (slightly increased for the Z 526).

Zlin Z 326 ZK-CHZ (c/n 586) was manufactured in 1961 as OK-OND.  It was registered in Australia as VH-DBZ in September 1962 and cancelled on 26/6/64 when it was sold to New Zealand.  The Canterbury Aero Club registered the aircraft as ZK-CHZ on 6/10/64.

It was later operated by the Christchurch Flying School for a time but was cancelled on 6/6/69 and exported to the USA where it became N4586 on 11/9/69.

Zlin Z 526 ZK-CJY (c/n 1091) was delivered new from the Zlin factory to New Zealand, as was first registered on 19/3/70 to David G Owen of Christchurch.

David Owen moved to Australia in 1992 and took ZK-CJY with him.  It was cancelled from the New Zealand register on 25/6/92 and re-registered in Australia as VH-ZLN on 30/9/92.  It is still on the Australian register but is physically at the Aero Technologies hangar at Ardmore for eventual restoration to flying status back in New Zealand.

ZK-HIY at Heli Maintenance.

Spotted at Heli Maintenance at Christchurch International yesterday was the Aerospatiale AS350 BA ZK-HIY6 (c/n 1807) wearing Independent Helicopters markings.

A previous note on this Squirrel can be seen at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2014/08/the-changing-face-of-qn.html#comment-form