Photo of Fledgeling ZK-PJH (and Another One of ZK-FVN)

After posting Michael Bach's photo of his Pterodactyl Fledgeling microlight ZK-FVN. Peter Lewis has come up with a photo of Fledgeling ZK-PJH as well as another one of ZK-FVN:

ZK-PJH at Masterton in January 1988 with a small registration on the wingtip rudder..

And ZK-FVN at an unknown location - can anyone identify where this is?

Again, I will go back to my original post and add these photos in.  We have had a great response to my requests for Fledgeling photos.  I hope it can continue as I make my way through our Ascenders!

Helicopter Alphabet Soup at Rosedale Yesterday 14-6-2026

It wasn't exactly a pie run but around lunchtime yesterday I was in Rosedale on the North Shore and so I bought a pie (from a gold medal award winning bakery) and drove across the road to eat it at the Inflite/Heletranz heliport.  There were a couple of helicopters there with what reminded me of alphabet soup registrations:

Down the end was a former Prime Minister's Eurocopter EC 130 B4 ZK-IJK4 that is operated by Inflite

Then out front was reverse registered Eurocopter AS 350 B3 ZK-IKJ which is also registered to Inflite 

 

but has small Heletranz Helicopters markings on the side.

As  does the Inflite registered Robinson R 44 II ZK-IHE2 (click to enlarge).  And there was a brand new H 130 T2 in the hangar that was finished in bright red so that will be one to look out for!

Pilatus PC-12/45 ZK-PLZ departs our shores.

 The Pilatus PC-12/45 ZK-PLZ (c/n 445) was ferried from Blenheim (Woodbourne) to Ardmore on Wednesday the 14th of January for final preparations before heading offshore to Canada.

Pilatus PC-12/45 c/n 445 was manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft Ltd at Stans, Switzerland and was issued the factory test registration of HB-FSC on 17-01-2002.

It was delivered to India for Tata Iron & Steel Co of Jamshedpur on 15-04-2002 to become VT-TSA from 03-05-2002. 

The aircraft was returned to Pilatus in late October of 2003 and is seen above (thanks to Chris Haag & Airliners.com) at Bern-Belp in 31-10-2003.

Pilatus re-registered it as HB-FPN on 18-11-2003 - its original Swiss registration having been reallocated to another airframe.

It was then flown to Australia to become VH-JMU3 on 13-02-2004.

Its first Australian owner was Jeffrey McCloy of Gateshead, NSW with a title change to J R Tours Pty Ltd from 12-04-2006.

Above we have VH-JMU3 at Redcliffe, Queensland on 17-04-2007 by Tony Arbon.

Further ownership changes had it with Ocean Dynamics Air Pty Ltd of Ascot, Queensland from 18-06-2007, followed by the CNR Group Holdings PTE Ltd of Singapore to be operated by Aviation Partners Pty Ltd of Manly, NSW from 21-06-2011. 

The final Australian owner being Todd Kelly (V8 Super car driver) of Patterson Lakes, NSW.

It was ferried from Melbourne/Essenden to Wellington on 30-04-2015 - then up to Feilding to Avcraft for its NZ certification to became ZK-PLZ on 28-05-2015 for Sounds Air Travel & Tourism Ltd of Picton.

It was delivered from Feilding to its Woodbourne base on 30-05-2015 with its first revenue flight from Blenheim to Taupo on 02-06-2015.

The photo above shows it at Taupo on 20-02-2016 with full Sounds Air titles on the upper fuselage and their insignia on the fin.

It was flown over to Coolangatta in early August 2016 for a repaint to its current 'Executive' scheme and returned to Auckland, Nelson and Feilding on 15-08-2016

This morning - 15-01-2026 - ZK-PLZ hopped over to Auckland International for clearance formalities and then departed for Apia.

The new owners are due to pick up the aircraft from Honolulu.

Thanks to Lord Nelson for a heads up on this departure.

A Photo of Pterodactyl Fledgeling ZK-FVN

In my post yesterday on Pterodactyl Fledgelings I mentioned Unfortunately we don't have a photo of ZK-FVN, and this will also be the case for many of the microlights that I will post about in coming posts. 

But blog reader Michael Bach who once part-owned ZK-FVN has sent in a photo of it!

Michael says "That’s me standing beside it in the early 90’s at a field near Matakana on our way north to Kaikohe I think"  Thanks very much for the photo Michael, and hopefully other blog readers can fill in other gaps in early microlight photos as I post their histories.

I also discovered that I had left out another Pterodactyl Fledgeling that was registered here, being ZK-PJH (c/n MAANZ/054) which was a Fledgeling 430D that was registered to P J Havill of Wellington on 13/2 82, and was cancelled as withdrawn on 27/9/05.  I don't suppose anyone has a photo of this one?

I will go back and update my previous post with this additional information.

Christchurch arrivals today. 14-01-2026.

 Dropping in from Hamilton was the Beechcraft B200 Super King Air ZK-LFL (c/n BB-1814) as registered with Air Freight NZ Ltd. 

This is operated by Life Flight and carries 'accuro life insurance' decals on the engine cowls.

Built back in 2002 and listed to the manufacturer as N60914 on 09-10-2002.
It ferried from Dubbo to Sydney and Wellington on 02-08-2022 and became ZK-LFL from 23-08-2022.
It ferried into Australia in early April of 2003 to become VH-MVW3 on 15-04-2003 with RFDS of Australia (S Eastern Section) of Broken Hill, NSW. It was re-registered as VH-AMS5 on 20-10-2004 and then to VH-MWV2 from 12-10-2010 now under the renamed Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (South Eastern Section of Sydney.

  For three previous posts on ZK-LFL  SEE HERE.

******

Waltzing in from across the ditch was this Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 VH-SCR2 (c/n 5557) which has been registered to Bezza Holdings Pty Ltd since 15-02-2018 and is operated by Australian Corporate Jet Charters Pty Ltd of Essendon, Victoria. 

Since new in 2003 it operated under at least three Canadian registrations before moving to Australia in 2018.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Pterodactyls (1) - Fledgelings and our first Ascender

I have previously covered the formation of the Microlight Association of New Zealand (MAANZ) in a post in September 2025, and the link to that post is HERE  Prior to the formation of MAANZ several pioneer microlighters had been flying "under the radar" (literally!) in the unregulated environment in unregistered machines.  The issue by the Civil Aviation Division of the  Ministry of Transport of the first set of microlight rules (Civil Aviation Advisory Circular (CAIC 47) meant that microlights could be registered and the first to be registered was Murray Hagen's Pterodactyl Ascender ZK-ESS.

The Pterodactyl series of microlights was developed in the US from the Manta Fledge hang glider of the 1970s.  The Manta Fledge was a weight shift rigid wing hang glider with wingtip rudders.  In 1977 Californian Jack McCornack designed a tubular structure with wheels that hung below the wing and replaced the weight shift seat, and he bolted a 16 HP 2 stroke Xenoah engine on as a pusher driving a 36 inch propeller.  This was the Pterodactyl Fledgeling.  This in turn was developed by Jack McCornack into the Pterodactyl Ascender with the addition of a canard wing to control pitch.

I have also previously posted about the first Fledgeling in New Zealand which was imported by Murray Hagen in 1979 and eventually flown successfully by him.  I will re-post the photos of this early Fledgeling:

Murray flying his Pterodactyl Fledgeling in 1979. 

Murray with his as yet unregistered (and not required to be) Fledgeling.

Then Murray added a canard to make the machine our first Pterodactyl Ascender.

ZK-ESS (c/n MAANZ/015) was the first microlight to be registered in New Zealand on 11/12/81.  It was registered to Murray Hagen of Tuatapere and he became the New Zealand agent for Pterodactyl microlights.  Murray sold it to Eddie Craig of Timaru on 13/6/83 and it is photo'd above at a Waitohi microlight flyin on 5/4/85.  It was destroyed in a hangar fire at Temuka on 27/5/89.

Our second Pterodactyl Fledgeling to be registered was the out of sequence personally registered ZK-PJH (c/n MAANZ/054) which was a Fledgeling 430D that was registered to P J Havill of Wellington on 13/2 82, and was cancelled as withdrawn on 27/9/05.  Unfortunately we don't have a photo of ZK-PJH, and this will also be the case for many of the microlights that I will post about in coming posts.  I don't suppose anyone has a photo of this one?

Later on, in 1989, we had another Pterodactyl Fledgeling registered here.  This was ZK-FVN (c/n MAANZ/438) which was registered to N W Morris of Paraparaumu on 24/11/89.  He sold it to M E Bach and I J Moorhouse of Auckland on 11/7/91 and then it went to P G Nicholson of Auckland on 3/2/93.  It was cancelled as Withdrawn from Use on 21/1/94.  Michael Bach has sent in a photo of it taken at Matakana when a group of microlights were flying to Kaikohe.  That is Michael standing by ZK-FVN.  Observant readers will note that this Fledgeling has a canard wing and is a bit different in the structure and undercarriage from the Ascender that is parked behind it and I am at a loss to explain this.  Anyway, thanks very much for the photo Michael.  

Cathay Pacific Retro Colour Scheme at Auckland International 8-1-2026

Cathay Pacific Airlines are coming up to their 80th year of flying which started on 24 September 1946, and to celebrate this milestone they have painted one of their Airbus A 350s in a retro (Lettuce Leaf Sandwich!) scheme as worn by their airliners from 1971 to 1994:

Airbus A 350-900 B-LRJ has been with Cathay Pacific for 9 years and is photo'd arriving at Auckland International in Lettuce Leaf Sandwich colours on 8/1/26.  The photo is from the Stuff website.

And here is one I prepared earlier!  An unrecorded Cathay Pacific Boeing 707 on the spectacular approach to the Kowloon end of Kai Tak airport in 1978, having turned right at the Chequerboard.  I specially took the photo with the streetlamp to give an idea of how low the airliners were and you can imagine the noise of the old jet engines of the 707!  There were endless spectacular aircraft photographing opportunities from the streets near the airport and I spent many pleasant hours taking such photos on slide film.  And you didn't have to wait long before the next airliner arrived.  They were great days in Hong Kong.  

Warbirds at Dargaville Today 10-1-2026

In what might become a regular fixture, the NZ Warbirds were at Dargaville today giving joyrides for the second January in a row.  It was part of a 3 scheduled stop tour of the North, but the flights at Kerikeri were cancelled because they might have attracted too many people to the airport!  Tomorrow the Warbirds aircraft will be giving joyrides at Whangarei.  I was not able to make it to Dargaville this time, but a couple of mates took photos:

Airtourer T6 ex NZ1762 (ZK-CPG2)

A line up of Air Force trainers with Vaughn Davis' Chipmunk 65 (ZK-CHP3) in the foreground.

The newly restored Warbirds Tiger Moth ZK-ATN2

Morgan and Harvard

CT 4B Airtrainer ZK-JMV is Tauranga based and I am not sure if it was giving joyrides.

The Harvard on duty was ZK-ENE which was also up from Tauranga

And the Ardmore based Stearman 77 ZK-BOE2 looked good overhead..

Thanks for the photos Rusty and Brian.

More Pauanui visitors

Visitors to Pauanui airfield over the last few days included the Waikato-King Country-Coromandel rescue helicopter BK117D-3 ZK-IXN which picked up a patient destined for Waikato Hospital.  This was imported new in late 2024.

Up from Palmerston North was the Partenavia P68B ZK-MYF now in a new paint scheme.  This was originally imported from Australia in late 1978 as ZK-ERA,  becoming MYF in February 2005 and more recently was in service with NZICPA, Whanganui.

And from Whakatane, Kahu Helicopters' Hughes 369E ZK-HTU3 which is also in a revised paint scheme. This was imported from Australia in 2022 together with 369E HTZ4 which is now Gisborne based.

Lake 250 Renegade ZK-WAI/3 at Kaipara Flats on 8-1-2026

A surprise first time visitor to Kaipara Flats yesterday was the Lake LA 4 Model 250 Renegade ZK-WAI3 which flew up from North Shore.  With 250 HP it sounded pretty grunty on take off!

ZK-WAI3 was registered in New Zealand on 19/12/18 to Dr Mark F Jones of Albany with whom it is still current.  It was flown across the Tasman arriving at Kerikeri on 3/5/18 as VH-WMW.

Lift off. 

And wheels up and away!

While it does not have the ZK-prefix, it does carry a couple of small New Zealand flags on the tail - here the NZ Civil Air Ensign on the starboard side,

And the NZ Red Ensign on the port side.