Healthy Bastards Bush Pilots Champs 2016

The 2016 edition of the Healthy Bastards Bush Pilots Championships was held at Omaka on Friday and Saturday 5th and 6th February.  This annual event has gained in popularity over the years and this year 36 planes completed with one, Marlborough Aero Club's Piper Cub ZK-ERB being flown by six different pilots (not at the same time!).  This event is run by the Marlborough Aero Club and the major sponsor is Dr Dave Baldwin of the Bulls Flying Doctor Service.

The STOL competition is divided into three classes, for ultralights (under 1,325 pounds MAUW), Light touring aircraft (1,325 to 2,550 pounds MAUW) and heavy touring aircraft (of more than 2,550 pounds MAUW).  And there is also a spot landing competition.

Thanks very much to Planefil for the photos.

The ultralight class has been dominated in the past by Zenith CH 701s, but this year Bruce Clulow from Wanaka in his Carbon Cub ZK-PBC2 edged out Chris Anderson in his Zenith CH 701 STOL ZK-TIA.  Bruce's distance was made up of a shortest take off 13.1 m plus a shortest landing 29.0 m for a total of 42.1 metres.  At 598 Kg MAUW and with 180 HP the Carbon Cub has a great power to weight ratio.

The light touring class was won by Craig Anderson from Picton, flying his modified PA 20-180 Pacer ZK-BSH.  Craig is chief pilot for Sounds Air.  His distance was made up of a shortest take off 31.0 m plus a shortest landing 49.1 m for a total of 80.1 metres.

The heavy touring class was won by Scott Madsen from Blenheim flying his early model Cessna 180B ZK-BMW with 230 HP. His distance was made up of a shortest take off 48.1 m plus a shortest landing 33.0 m for a total of 81.1 metres.  

And the spot landing was won by Russell Young from Blenheim flying his Piper PA 28-180 Cherokee ZK-SNE.  This is his winning landing where he touched the mainwheels down 0.6 metres past the line!

Mangaweka Dak ZK-APK.

Following on from a look at the Viewmaster ZK-CAW at McDonalds in Taupo we now have the Skyliner ZK-APK as found at Mangaweka.

It has a much nicer colour scheme than what it had on my previous visitation.

 Below - looking aft. That is a row of photographs along the wall above the windows.

 Looking forward from the rear of the cabin.

 Below is a view of it taken several years ago showing it set up as a cafe.

A Colin Hunter photograph.

It has been mentioned several times before.

Tap APK in the search box in the top left corner .

An empty looking Taihape.

The approach to Taihape airfield showed absolutely nothing of aeronautical interest.

However the hangar revealed a great mix.

 Main feature was the PAC Cresco 08-600 (marked as a Cresco 750) ZK-LTZ (c/n 026) of Ravensdown Aerowork Ltd.  

Built for Wanganui Aero Work Ltd and first registered on 25-01-2000 with a first flight on 14-02-2000. It carried the name "Whanganui III" and the pilots name "Richard Harding". 

Following Company changes it was re-listed with Wanganui Aero Work (2004) Ltd on 18-04-2004 and then to Ravensdown Aerowork Ltd on 04-09-2012. 

 Another Ravensdown Aerowork machine was the MD 500N NOTAR ZK-HZG (c/n LN045). 

This NOTAR came to NZ and became ZK-HMD2 with Flightline Aviation Ltd on September of 1993 as a demonstrator before heading over to OZ to become VH-NTR in April of 1994. 

Wanganui Aerowork (2004) Ltd imported it back to NZ and listed it as ZK-HZG4 from 12-05-2008. 

With the Company changes it was listed to Ravensdown Aerowork Ltd from 04-09-2012.

 To the side was the Hughes 269C ZK-HME (c/n 59-0793) of D Anderson (2009) Ltd. This was a Dalhoff and King import back in 1979 initially for Mount Linton Station. It has also served with (among others) Wanganui Aero Work in 1987 and Rick Lucas/Helipro from 2003 until August of 2010 - when it joined Dave Anderson at Taihape.

 A coulorful Micro Bantam B22J ZK-RLA (c/n 01-0192) of Robert Payne was residing in a back corner. Originally listed to Ross Weir out of Hamilton in September of 2001 it moved way down to Bill Hopcroft at Balfour in June of 2004. It Joined Robert at Taihape in November of 2006.

And the Cessna A185F ZK-JKL2 (c/n 18504340) of J K and L M Holdings was alongside the Cresco. This is a 1981 model which came in from the US in August 2006.

A great haul - as I had not seen four these aircraft previously.

Fast mover

Back on the 27th of February I captured (but only just) this little critter doing touch and go's at Matamata.

It is none other than the Monnett Sonerai 1 UL ZK-EEV2 (c/n 00261) of Gavin Brown from Te Awamutu.

Its pedigree was mentioned in an early post at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2015/11/black-sands-saturday-7th-1.html

Caravan Route Across the Cook Strait

You cannot spend much time at Wellington International Airport without a Sounds Air Cessna Caravan coming or going.  In a Northerly they turn to Port over the harbour and climb away over the city.  Sounds Air Travel and Tourism Ltd is a success story that grew out of Skyferry and through Pelorus Air, and their core business for many years has been flying across Cook Strait.

There is a good article on Sounds Air in the December2015/January 2016 edition of NZ Aviation News, or for more detail you can go to our 3rd Level New Zealand sister blog at http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nz/2014/08/sounds-air-fast-scenic-way-to-cross.html

My recent photography sessions at Wellington produced all five of Sounds Air's Caravans, which I detail below:

C 208 Caravan ZK-PDM (c/n 00240) ex N1289N, was Sounds Air's original Caravan being first registered in New Zealand to sister company Pelorus Air Ltd on 16/4/96.  (The earlier Skyferry also had the first two Caravans in New Zealand).  Ownership transferred to Sounds Air Travel and Tourism Ltd on 8/1/04.

C 208B Grand Caravan ZK-SAA (c/n 208B0862) ex N208DG, was first registered to Sounds Air Travel and Tourism Ltd on 2/5/07.  It then did a stint operating in Australia, for Kakadu Air Services Pty Ltd of Darwin from 25/5/10 and then Broome Air Services Pty Ltd from 24/9/10.  Then it returned to Sounds Air Travel and Tourism Ltd on 9/3/11.

C 208 Caravan ZK-SAN2 (c/n 2080360) ex N800RA, was bought to New Zealand by Izard Pacific Aviation Ltd of Taupo, being first registered to them on 31/8/06.  Ownership transferred to Sounds Air Traval and Tourism Ltd on 23/10/08 and it was re-registered as ZKSAN2 on 28/6/13.

C 208B Grand Caravan ZK-SAW (c/n 208B2087) ex N771AL, is the newest aircraft in the fleet.  It was registered to Sounds Air Travel and Tourism Ltd on 5/12/14.

C 208B Grand Caravan ZK-SAY2 (c/n 208B0861) ex N861CM, was imported to New Zealand by Salt Air Ltd of Paihia as ZK-MJL2, and it was first registered to them on 30/3/07.  Ownership transferred to Sounds Air Travel and Tourism Ltd on 17/5/13 and it was re-registered as ZK-SAY2 on 10/7/13.

However, there is another Sounds Air story that I will detail in a later post.

Inbound and outbound at Waiouru

Captured inbound from the South into Waiouru late this afternoon was this unidentified BK117.

 It departed Southbound some time later and it turned out to be Kawasaki BK117 B-2 ZK-IPT (c/n 1080) as listed with Search and Rescue Services Ltd of Taupo.

You will note that it carries the Westpac "W" on its fin and "Manawatu - Whanganui" on its lower fuselage.

It has been mentioned several times before on these pages - to see - enter IPT in the search box in the top left hand corner of this page.

ZK-MIS at NZCH

Tony McFarlin captured the Vans RV 7A ZK-MIS (c/n 72461) outside the Canterbury Aero Club today.

It  has been caught there before.  See:-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/a-couple-of-strangers-at-nzch-today-29.html

Wellington International - Evans Bay End 13-2-2016

Saturday morning produced a light Southerly, so the Wexford Road lookout at the Northern end of the airport provided nice angles, particularly of landing aircraft.  It was not so busy but these Air New Zealand aircraft were different from those I had seen on Friday.

 Fairly new ATR 72-600 ZK-MVH...

 Older Beech B1900D ZK-EAN3.  I guess the B1900s won't be repainted now.

 And a couple of different Q 300s in the old colours:  ZK-NEG2...

and ZK-NEB2.

Taupos Floatplanes (again).

I managed to catch both of them on Sunday evening the 28th of February as they headed over to their overnight moorings.

Below is the Cessna U206G ZK-EFI (c/n U20603525) which came to NZ new to be registered here to Dalhoff and King Aviation Ltd on 24-12-1976.

It went to Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Co Ltd in early 1977 and then to the Mt Cook Group Ltd. 

Next in line was Waterwings Airways (Te Anau) Ltd from February 1983. Most of this time as a floatplane.

By late December of 1992 it was with De Bretts Aviation Ltd at Taupo and then to Volcanic Air Safaris Ltd of Rotorua. 

As of 04-07-2007 it has been on the books of Taupos Floatplane Ltd.

We mentioned ZK-FPO a few days ago at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2016/02/floatplane-zk-fpo-at-taupo.html

Ardmore T2 catches.

Captured these two Eurocopter EC 130 T2's at Ardmore last Thursday.

Above is ZK-HPV (c/n 7969) as listed with the Sir Peter Vela Family Trust, with (below) a close up of the top of its fin.

Below we see ZK-IZK (c/n 8135) from the Faram Aviation Group Ltd of Hastings.