Maule ZK-MEZ.

                By my count we have had twenty five Maule’s of various models on our register. 

The latest arrival has become ZK-MEZ for Southbranch Farm Ltd on the outskirts of Christchurch. This is a Maule M-5-235C Lunar Rocked which graced the US register as N56296 for just one day on 9 November 1978 listed with Maule Aircraft Sales Pty Ltd of Armadale, NSW with whom it became VH-MEW on 13 February, 1979.

Early operators include S Anderson of Alice Springs followed by Merine Pty Ltd at Camden, NSW from 20 April, 1989. 

Photo below shows VH-MEW at Camden, NSW on 23-05-2007 from Ray Barber/Air Britain.

From May 2007 it was with ATACS Consulting Services Pty Ltd at Grabben Gullen, NSW with it being re-registered as VH-MEZ on the 21^st.

It then spent time in Western Australia, South Australia and finally with Terry Wakeham at Croobyar, NSW from March 2021. 

With just on 3000 airframe hours it was ferried from Moruya to Port Macquarie on 21 March, 2022, to Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands on the 22^nd and then to Auckland and Kaikoura on the 23^rd, and Rangiora on the 24^th

Above VH-MEZ at Rangiora on 24-03-2022 from Aaron Murphy.

 Its NZ certification was done at Rangiora Aircraft Engineering where it became ZK-MEZ on 7  April 2022. 

Southbranch has previously operated the Cessna 180 ZK-FDO₂, the Robinson R44 Raven II ZK-HKJ₃, Cessna 180B ZK-REN and more recently the Cessna TU206F ZK-OAY.

Above ZK-MEZ at Rangiora late yesterday 08-05-2022 from John Wagtendonk.

Air Tractor ZK-SKF going .........

The Air Tractor AT-504 ZK-SKF2 c/n 504-4015 was built in the USA as N8520L in Olney, Texas.

It was registered in NZ  as ZK-SKF2 on 23-07-2012 to Skyfarmers Aviation Ltd of Methven.   

On arrival at Timaru Airport it was assembled and certified by Avtek Ltd and first flew as such on 03/08/2012.

Above and below from Allan Bowman near Rangiora 04-11-2012.

Below I caught it at Ashburton on 07-02-2015.

Its New Zealand registration was cancelled on 05-05-2022 as destroyed.

Above as seen at Timaru today 08-05-2022 by Simon Brown marked as VH-NUV2. 

Northern Aviators Club at Kaipara Flats Today 8-5-2022

Another Sunday and another AGM, this time the Northern Aviators Club Annual General Meeting preceded by a BBQ in the Rodney Aero Club hangar.  Several club members flew in including Malcolm Forsyth is his newly acquired Tecnam P 2008:

As he approached for a landing I thought the P 2008 looked smart through my viewfinder,

and then I twigged that ZK-ZZB had had a repaint in a nice blue colour trim (it used to be grey) with new fuselage stripes. It has been registered to Malcolm since 30/3/22

And NAC member Neil Wright took off for a local flight in his newly acquired Fantasy Air Allegro ZK-DCU.  Neil has owned the Allegro since 26/2/22.

A Modified Beech Model 18 at Kaipara Flats 7-5-2022

As there does not seem to be much happening concerning aircraft on the blog recently, I offer maybe the next best thing:

This is a very impressive model of a modified Beech Model 18 (redesignated as a RC 45J) built and flown by Colin Austen.  It is one quarter scale with a wingspan of 12 feet and weighs 38 Kg!  It is powered by two 62 cc two stroke petrol engines.  Being this big and heavy it is classed as a Cat 2 model by CAA and yesterday it was flying off its required one hour test flying.

You can see the history of the real thing HERE

An early pie run to Rangiora

On the Western grass at Christchurch was the Cessna 182R Skylane ZK-OAD c/n 18268127.This came from OZ as VH-AOD2 and became ZK-OAD with Brendan Morrison of Mosgiel on 15-03-2018.

Over at Heli Maintenance was the Hughes 369E ZK-IOB c/n 0252E as operated by Mackenzie Helicopters Ltd of Fairlie. It has been with then since February 2020.

The Hughes 369D ZK-IKL c/n 800753D has been a  long time project at Napier and has very recently joined Mackenzie Helicopters.

Out at Rangiora the Pipistrel Alpha Electro ZK-EAL4 c/n 942 AE 60 of Electric Air was out to allow other aircraft to be hangared.

The CRAC latest acquisition is Tecnam P92 Echo Mk II UL ZK-RGE c/n 1657 listed to them on 05-04-2022.

Falcon 50EX VH-FJQ at Christchurch.

 

Noted parked out at GCH Aviation in Christchurch today was the Dassault Mystere Falcon 50EX VH-FJQ2 c/n 252 operated by Redjet Aviation Pty Ltd of Highfield, Queensland.

A 1995 model which arrived in Australia in May of 2017.

A B Aerocopter AK1-3M ZK-HKH

 A new type for us is the Ukranian built AB Aerocopter AK1-3M as assembled and certified at Heli Maintenance in Christchurch recently.

Below is what NZ Aviation News said about it.

Another exciting new helicopter type to arrive is the D B Aerocopter AK1-3M. 

This was designed to comply with the Ukrainian AP-27 rules, which are similar to the European Aviation Safety Agency CS-27 standard. It is a light 2‐seater helicopter designed by DB Aerocopter in cooperation with ASTC Antonov, OJSC Motor‐Sich and the Kharkov Aviation Institute. 

It is of two-seat side-by-side configuration with, skid-type undercarriage and is powered by a four-cylinder, water cooled, four-stroke electronic fuel injected Subaru EJ25 automotive engine of 156 hp driving a belt driven reduction to three bladed composite rotor blades. The tail rotor is solid shaft driven. The main rotor system comprises three torsion bars, each made from a stack of steel plates. These torsion bars are flexible up and down, can twist easily and replace the more conventional bulky and heavy lead-lag, flapping and feathering hinges. These torsion bars connect the blade grips to the rotor hub. The advantages are mechanical simplicity, weight savings, ease of inspection and no maintenance servicing and are non-serviceable items that are replaced on condition. In the Ukraine AK1-3M  has no calendar time limit before overhaul and will not have to be shipped back to the manufacturer for an overhaul after 2,000 flight hours, as this can be done by our local approved maintenance organizations. Center piece on the instrument panel is a Garmin G5 which can record date from two video cameras, one in the cockpit and another on the tail boom looking forward towards the engine. The design received its Ukrainian type certificate in 2006 with a MAUW weight of 650 kg. 

Our example arrived at Heli Maintenance Ltd at Christchurch International in early January and became ZK-HKH₃ on March 30, 2022 to Kiev Holdings of Christchurch. 

With the current situation in the Ukraine this may well delay further deliveries of this promising helicopter which fits roughly between the Robinson R22 and the Schweizer 269. The earlier issues of the ZK-HKH marks were applied to a Bell 47G-3B2, a Robinson R22 Beta and a Robinson R44 Astro.

Sikorsky S-92 ZK-HEV

Landing back on runway 02 at Christchurch this afternoon was the Sikorsky S-92 ZK-HEV after its brief successful aerial recovery.

  Below an extract from the Rocket Lab press release.

Shortly after launch, Rocket Lab’s Electron fell back to Earth and deployed its parachutes as planned. It then came into view of the company’s helicopter, which then successfully caught the rocket for a few brief moments. 

However, the helicopter pilot noticed “different load characteristics” that Rocket Lab had not experienced during previous testing.

“At his discretion, the pilot offloaded the stage for a successful splashdown, where it has been recovered by our vessel for transport back to our factory,” 

Murielle Baker, a communications representative for Rocket Lab, said during the launch livestream. 

The stage is in great condition though, and we look forward to assessing it in detail when it’s back here in the factory.” The rest of the launch continued as planned, and Rocket Lab deployed all 34 satellites on board the flight.

 

Rodney Aero Club Today 1-5-2022

The Rodney Aero Club held their AGM at Kaipara Flats airfield today with the added attraction of the spit roast lamb lunch.  This proved to be a great drawcard and it was really yummy!  Thanks Wayne.  Here are a few of the visiting aircraft:

Bill Luther flew up from Ardmore with some others of the RV crowd.  His RV 7 ZK-WLL still wears the ZK marks from its trans Tasman adventure.

Brookby Quarries Bell 505 ZK-HTI3 on departure.

Also on departure is Arjen Visser in the Thorp Syndicates Thorp T 18 ZK-MBY

and Rodger Coleclough in the demonstrator Tecnam P 92 Echo Mk II ZK-RJR

Pauanui

Despite the variable weather there have a number of visitors this week to the Pauanui airfield including Autogyro Cavalon ZK-OHF which visited for a couple of hours with MTO3 Eagle ZK-MTO.   OHF has been with its Waiuku owner since being imported in 2014.

The Hopper Development's AS350B2 ZK-HCN3 is Whitianga based and was one of a number of AS350B acquired by Airwork (NZ) in 2020 for refurbishment and/or resale.

And stopping off briefly on its return flight from Omaka to Ardmore was the recently imported Vulcanair P68C VH-TZN.