Pauanui Helicopters

The start of the long holiday weekend brought a number of new helicopters to the Pauanui airfield with Auckland based Advanced Flight using Aerospatiale AS350B2 ZK-HCW to ferry in a group.  This was imported from Australia in January 2018.    The same company also used EC130B4 ZK-HKX to bring in another group.

Imported in March this year was Guimbai Cabri G2 ZK-HSJ which is registered to a Taupo company, but is now believed to be Tauranga based.

Pauanui

Out exploring the Coromandel Peninsula today was new resident Just Highlander VH-JPU,  which has now been fitted with its large tyres.   The owner also has some amphibious floats that can be fitted to it.

Doing touch & goes was L3's Cessna 172S ZK-ZAC from Hamilton.

Falcomposite Furios of New Zealand

The FalcomposIte Furio is a New Zealand designed aircraft that draws its inspiration from the Stelio Frati designed Falco, and you can get a comparison of the two aircraft at: FURIO - BY FALCOMPOSITE OUT OF FALCO

The Furio was designed by Lapo Ancillotti and brothers Lapo and Giovanni Nustrini.  The model LN 27RG has a retractable undercarriage and another version with a fixed undercarriage was envisioned but I am not sure if this has progressed.  The design drew on New Zealand's expertise in hi-tech boat design and the kit was simplified to less than 30 carbon fibre structural components.  The use of moulded carbon fibre produces stunning aerodynamic lines which also leads to great performance.  Dimensions are:  length 6.8 metres (22 feet 4 inches), wingspan 8.02 metres (26 feet 4 inches) and a wing area of 102 square feet.  Its empty weight is around 620 Kg (1,366 pounds) and MAUW is 1,250 Kg (2,756 pounds) but this is reduced for aerobatics.  The Furio is designed to be powered by engines up to 300 HP, and with a 180 HP IO-360 it can cruise at around 200 mph and the climb is around 2,000 feet per minute.

There was a project by an English company to build a Furio with two elecrtic motors of 300 HP and twin counter-rotating propellors but again I don't think this has progressed very far.

We have had four Furios completed in New Zealand to date, and one has flown in America.  It was expected that more kits would be sold but the 2008 Global Financial Crisis got in the way.

ZK-LLG (c/n 001) (for Lapo, Lapo and Giovanni) was first registered on 14/12/07 to Falcomposite Ltd of Auckland, with whom it is still current.  It first flew at Ardmore on 6/2/08 and it is photo'd above at the 2008 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga, on 6/2/08.  It flew the Tasman to exhibit at the 2009 Avalon Airshow, and later that year was displayed at Oshkosh.

 A neat touch is the name Furio embedded in the finish of the wing.

The second Furio to fly was ZK-NJS2 (c/n 002) which was registered to Neil John Sutherland of Dunedin on 5/6/08.  Neil built his aircraft in the Falcomposite hangar at Ardmore and its first flight was on 30/7/10.  It is fitted with a 210HP IO-390 engine and as befitting an "Italian" thoroughbred it is finished in Ferrari red.  It is photo'd above at a flyin at North Shore airfield on 26/2/11.

And it is photo'd above at the 2014 SAANZ flyin at Bridge Pa airfield on 7/3/14, with a smaller registration on the tail.

The next Furio to fly was ZK-WBW2 (c/n 003) for Woody A Rouse of Queenstown, and it was registered on 10/10/11.  It was mostly built by Bill Barber (of Barber Snark fame).  It is photo'd above at the 2014 Wings Over Wanaka airshow on 18/4/141.

And the final Furio to fly here (for now) is ZK-PPK (c/n 007) which was registered to Peter P Kreiger of Waitoa on 28/4/17.  It was also built at Ardmore over an extended period of time and first flew in early 2018.  It was caught above at its home airfield of Waharoa by Richard Currie on 10/8/18.

2nd Australian arrival departing NZTG

Following on from Richard's previous post of its arrival at Pauanui we have two shots taken today at Tauranga showing the Vans RV-7 VH-JPD (c/n 73044) ready to depart.

 

 And departing.

VH-JPD was first registered on 03-02-2010 to Peter G Hicks of Durraweit Guim, Victoria.

Photographs from Hairy Mole Rat.

It follows Peter's Just Highlander VH-JPU which flew into Pauanui from Tauranga last Thursday.

See Richards arrival pic  Here

2nd Australian arrival

Further to last Thursday's Blog the 2nd of the two Australian imports, RV7 VH-JPD,  flew into its new Pauanui home this afternoon,  after assembly at Tauranga by Solo Wings.

Canadians at Ardmore 15-10-18

In the Oceania compound at Ardmore early yesterday morning were these two Aerospatiale AS 350 B2's of Canadian Helicopters. C-FHNZ msn 2005 and C-GAHP msn 1350

Top of the South

Passing through Blenheim/Omaka on Saturday I captured the Gippsland GA200C ZK-DPC2 (c/n 200C9831) of Patchett Ag-Air 2015 Ltd which had just parked outside the Marlborough Aero Club hangar following a training flight.

 An earlier post on ZK-DPC can be found Here.

Note the change of markings.

Of interest was the Schempp-Hirth Nimbus 2 ZK-GEW2 (c/n 132) as listed with Grant E Wills of Blenheim.

Followers of the N Z gliding scene may recognise this glider as being the original ZK-GLA as registered to Dave Speight of Te Anau on 17-03-1977.  

Ray Lynskey took it over from April 1983 and proceeded to rewrite the NZ gliding record book. 

It was sold onto Martyn Cook of Pukerua Bay in October of 1995.

The above three are well known names in NZ gliding - with Dave Speight selling his Cirrus ZK-GHO to get into ZK- GLA. Ray Lynskey had the Cirrus ZK-GJJ before buying ZK-GLA from Dave- he then moved on to the Ventus cM ZK-GXL followed by the Ventus 2cM ZK-GLA2. Martyn Cook had the Discus B ZK-GXN before ZK-GLA and got the LS8-18 ZK-GZN later.

 It was listed to the Vause Family Trust of Blenheim in September of 2001 and then to Grant Wills who re-registered - using his initials - as ZK-GEW2 on 24-01-2003.

Up at Takaka back on the 7th I spied the Cessna TU206F Turbo Stationair ZK-OAY (c/n TU20602397) as listed with Southbranch Farm Ltd of Christchurch.

A previous mention HERE.

Tigers at Taumarunui - the Tiger Club Spring Flyin

The Tiger Club's Spring Flyin at Taumarunui always kicks off the upcoming "flying event" season.  This year the number of attending aircraft was down due to some pretty awful weather in the few days leading up to the flyin.  However a few hardy pilots in their Tigers did make it plus Jan and Jerry Chisum's DH 60G Gipsy Moth.

The photos are from Jordan Elvy - thanks very much Jordan.

ZK-ADT came from Hastings.

ZK-AON came from Napier.

ZK-BEC came from Auckland.

ZK-BFF came from Tauranga.

ZK-BMY came from Palmerston North.

and ZK-CCQ came from Warkworth.

Taumarunui sure is a photogenic airstrip for lovely photos of lovely aircraft!

Another International NZ Connection - ZK-AGM

David Wise has sent a couple of photos of the lovely DH 83 Fox Moth marked as ZK-AGM (c/n TS2810) taken at the LAA Rally at Sywell on 31/8/18.

Actually, I did not realise that the New Zealand registration is a UK CAA Registration Mark Exemption scheme and the aircraft is actually registered as G-CIPJ (although this has been mentioned on the blog previously).

The aircraft is a long term rebuild of the original ZK-AGM which crashed near Wanaka in April 1963 and was itself a rebuild using parts of Fox Moth ZK-ADH with a new fuselage.

Previous posts on this aircraft can be found HERE (detailing its complete history), and HERE.

Thanks for the photos David.

Arrivals from Australia

Arriving this afternoon at its new home in Pauanui was Just Highlander VH-JPU which has been imported into NZ by Peter Hicks, together with his RV7 VH-JPD.

Peter and his wife have emigrated to NZ and the aircraft were shipped over and assembled by Solo Wings at Tauranga.     The RV7 will fly to Pauanui when assembly is completed.