NZ Civil Aircraft

Sunday, 4 December 2022

Northern Aviators Club Flying at Springhill 3-12-2022

The Northern Aviators Club held their Christmas BBQ at Springhill yesterday along with the Auckland Chapter of the Sport Aircraft Association of NZ. The weather really co operated after a month of triple the usual rainfall in the North of the country so there was a lot of pent up sport flying energy around and lots of aviators flew in, as well as quite a few who drove in (like me, but someone has to bring the sausages!).

I counted 26 aircraft attending and remarkably they were of 25 different types. (There were two Aeroprakt Vixxens). Here are a selection on departure:

Alan Coubray and Martin Farrand in Alan's Stinson Voyager ZK-STN over from Whitianga.

Steve Horne in his Cessna 182P ZK-SGH with its Peterson STOL conversion from Ardmore.

Rodger Coleclough in his Searey ZK-SRY came from North Shore.

Stephen Jeffrey flew John Harris's Celier Xenon gyrocopter ZK-ZMY in from Mata with John in the second seat.

Andrew Rossack in his Maule MXT7-180A ZK-RLT from North Shore.

and Garth McGearty in his Glastar taildragger ZK-PGP lifts off back to Ardmore.

Aeroprakt A 32 Vixxen ZK-VLW

Willy Morton flew down to the Northern Aviators Club Christmas BBQ flyin at Springhill yesterday in his brand new Aeroprakt A 32 Vixxen:

ZK-VLW (c/n 245) was originally registered to Malcolm Forsyth of Whangaparaoa on 23/11/22 but was quickly on sold to Willy on 2/12/22. Malcolm has the Tecnam P2008 ZK-ZZB.

Remarkably this aircraft was built in Ukraine this year in spite of the current situation there.

Saturday, 3 December 2022

More from Rangiora

Further to Dave's blog below the CH750 ZK-DUR was outside today and just awaits CAA approval to make its first flight.

Savannah ZK-DJB2 previously all white now has some striping along the fuselage and tail

And calling in for fuel was the Wanaka based AS350B2 ZK-HYG4 which was reregistered from ZK-HAO2 back in March 2022. This was imported new in 2013 for The Helicopter Line.

Zenair CH701 STOL ZK-FWD

The Zenair CH701 STOL ZK-FWD2 c/n 7-3674 appeared on our register on 28-11-2022 with Josh Stainton of Waiau, North Canterbury.
This is a preloved import from Australia were it first appeared as 19-3867 on the AUF register on 30-01-2003.

It was transferred to the 'normal' aircraft register to become VH-BTA3 on 11-08-2003 for the constructor Bruce V Thomas of Nulla Vale, Victoria.
Title changed to Outback Opals Pty Ltd of Cunnamulla, Queensland from 10-12-2007 with it being moved it back onto the AUF register as 19-5728 from 04-01-2008.

It was noted as such at Rangiora in March of 2021.

These two photos taken at Rangiora on 01-02-2012.

The original allocation of the ZK-FWD letters were to a UFS Trike/Lancer 4L between Marck of 1990 and is cancellation as destroyed on 28-07-1997.

Zenair STOL 750 ZK-DUR

Joining our civil aircraft register back on 13-10-2022 was the Zenair STOL CH750 ZK-DUR c/n 75-11429 with Doug Anderson of Rangiora.

A slightly bigger brother to the CH700 STOL with wider fuselage, extra side windows with bulging doors, modified min undercarriage.

In this case Doug has chosen the Honda Viking 130 engine.

The project began about August 2021 and has been helped along with considerable input from Ray Corbett who is the "R" in the registration (and also in Doug's Savannah ZK-SDR).

Making good progress at Rangiora on 05-05-2022.

As noted at Rangiora on 01-12-2022.

Next project is a ICP Ventura two-seater with Rotax 915 and variable pitch prop.

For your info C/n 11430 is coming together just a few hangars over.

Friday, 2 December 2022

Pilatus Turbo Porter ZK-MCN

Pilatus PC-6 /B2-H2 Turbo Porter c/n 824 was first registered with the manufacturer Pilatus Flugzeuwerke at Stans, Switzerland as HB-FCV2 on 16-12-1982.

It was ferried out from Stans on 22-12-1982 to reach Auckland, New Zealand on 05-01-1983 and then on to Christchurch the following day where its Swiss registration was cancelled.

Noted above at Christchurch as HB-FCV on 06-01-1983 by Michael Tanner.
It was registered in NZ on 10-01-1983 as ZK-MCN to The Mount Cook Goup Ltd of Christchurch and also first flew as ZK-MCN this day.

It became fleet number "35"At Mount Cook on 11-12-1986 with the Mount Cook Ranunculus (Buttercup - not a Lily) on its fin.

Shortly after this it was upgraded to B2-H4 status with door and fuselage strengthening and the more obvious enlarged dorsal fin and fibreglass extended wing tips and it first flew as such on 23-07-1987. Also the MCTOW was pushed up to 2800kg.

Operator titles changed with Company changes - It was transferred to Tourism Holdings Ltd from 01-07-1998, then to Aoraki Mount Cook Ski Planes Ltd on 20-12-2002, and then to Inflite Ski Planes Ltd from 27-10-2015.

Below is a small selection of photos of ZK-MCN.

At Queenstown on 18-03-1991 in Mount Cook Airline titles and showing fleet number 35 and large Mount Cook 'lily' on the tail.

In the office 09-12-2003.

If you have ever wondered what is under the bonnet -

As seen on 17-12-2003.

One PT6A.
The engine seemingly mounted backwards as the air intake is below the engine and enters into the rear with the exhaust up front near the propeller

A great photo on the Glacier from Trevor Slack on 13-02-2006 with Mount Cook Skiplanes titles.

On 15-08-2006 - prop spinning and rotor turning.

A sign of the future with rotary wings taking over from the fixed wing.

As noted at Pukaki on 22-09-2012.

The terminal building was built following the 2002 fire.

However, this photo was taken on 13-11-2013.

Back at Mount Cook on 24-01-2015.

Above. A recent poster to "Ski The Tasman" with ZK-MCN with Inflite / Mount Cook Skiplanes and Helicopters titles.

It would appear that heavy maintenance is now carried out at Ardmore with two views of ZK-MCN as seen at Ardmore

Above on 17-11-2022. And below on 19-11-2022.

Heli Rural Ltd

Formed in 2021 Heli Rural Ltd operate from a base near Methven and their fleet comprises the Hughes 369D ZK-IPW which was imported from Canada and registered in June 2022.

And R44 II sprayer ZK-IOK which was acquired by Heli Rural in September 2021. This was originally imported new in 2005 as ZK-IVC2.

Another New Beech B 200 for Life Flight

Back in October Tim Gorman photo'd the new Beech B200 ZK-LFA at Palmerston North in Life Flight colours. Life Flight have however acquired two Beech B200 aircraft for their operations and the second one is ex VH-MVW and it has been in Wellington for some time.

On 23/8/22 it was registered ZK-LFL (c/n BB1814) to Air Freight NZ Ltd of Palmerston North. It was photo'd yesterday at Wellington by Tim Gorman before flying to Palmerston North where it will no doubt appear in Life Flight colours in due time.

Thanks for the photo Tim.

Thursday, 1 December 2022

A couple more from Wanaka

A visit to the Aspiring Helicopters' base in the Matukituki Valley today found their Hughes 369D ZK-HKS2 which has been completely refurbished. This was originally imported back in 1982 from Australia as ZK-HSH, briefly becoming ZK-ISP2 in 2018 before acquisition by Aspiring and reregistration as HKS.

Back at Wanaka Airport the latest addition to the Wanaka Helicopters' fleet is Guimbal Cabri G2 ZK-IIB which was purchased in September from Highland Helicopters. It was originally imported new in 2013.

Recently exported Grob Twin Astir ZK-GJW

The Grob Twin Astir is a tandem two seater based on the single seat Astir CS (Club Standard) but with an extended fuselage for the second cockpit and a wing stretched out to 17.5m. The earlier ones had a tail skid with the main wheel under the rear cockpit with the wheel retracting sideways under the rear seat. This made the rear seat not the world's most comfortable. The wings had a 3 and a bit degrees of forward sweep to manage the CofG.

The later Twin Astir's (Trolleys) were completely different gliders having a different fuselage with a fixed mainwheel further aft with a nose, a tail wheel and also wingtip wheels - and a much more comfortable rear seat.

These earlier retractables performed much better on cross country flights but were not as docile as the later models.

C/n 3009 was reputedly built as a light weight special for Justin Wills and after a twelve minute test flight at Grob Aircraft was listed on the British Gliding Associations register on 24-01-1978 as BGA2308 and "DQZ" to Soaring Oxford Ltd at Oxon,

By October of 1978 it had flown 156 hours from 322 launches.

Ownership changed to Justin Wills on 27-09-1979 who used the competition number 362 and I recall these numbers on the under wing for some time in NZ.

Justin imported the glider into NZ with its first flight here in November 1979 and it had accumulated a total of 328.28 hours from 421 launches at the time it was transferred to its NZGA logbook on 20-12-1983

It was transferred to the Canterbury Gliding Club at Wigram from 08-07-1983 as ZK-GJW where it joined the Clubs other Twin Astir ZK-GME.

GJW was handed over to the Central Otago Flying Club (Inc) on 24-10-1994 with the change of registered owner being list on 23-08-1995.

With 4500 airframe hours and a change in direction for the Central Otago Club ZK-GJW has been sold offshore and was cancelled from the New Zealand register on 21-11-2022.

It is bound for some very lucky Australian aviator.