I recently received some correspondence from Jen Ostler of Fairbanks, Alaska.
Jen had initially sent an anonymous comment on 29-03-2026 to the earlier blog post that I had done about the Piper PA-28-161 Warrior ZK-EBM2.
I responded to the Anon post asking hopefully for some photos of N9423C (as it was registered in Jen's time) and received the following reply.
Hello Dave!
I am the accidentally anonymous commenter on this post about the plane that I trained on in the 90s.
I learned to fly with William/Bill Krayer when he owned the plane.
I won a high school essay contest, and my flight training was sponsored by an “anonymous donor” which I always suspected was actually Bill himself.
I was flying before I was driving at age 14.
I got my license with this plane after a cross country to Madras, Oregon a little after I graduated high school in John Day, Oregon in 2000.
After a while, I switched planes and flew on a friend’s Piper Archer.
The last time I flew was September 10, 2001.
After that, my friends’ insurance went too high for me to stay on his policy, and then I moved to Alaska, where I could no longer afford to fly.
I am a licensed pilot, but I am not current. I will always remember Charlie! Maybe someday I will come to New Zealand and visit.
Cheers,
Jen (Powers) Ostler in Fairbanks, Alaska.
These photos are all that I have. Photos were not as common back then!
This picture is of Bill trimming my wings after my first solo, and the picture below is of Bill smiling that day. %20-%20Copy.jpeg)
The photos of me standing next to it (above) are from the time I took my parents and sister up (below).
The photo above is of the plane flying has me in the left seat.
I wonder if the instruments look the same now?
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Below is what I wrote on 30-11-2020 about N9423C when it arrived in NZ.
The Piper PA-28-161 Warrior II ZK-EBM2 has now come online with the Canterbury Aero Club.
This 1978 model (c/n 28-7816476) gained its airworthiness certificate to the Piper Aircraft Company as N9423C in early March of 1978 and went to Blue Mountain Aviation Inc of John Day Airport, Grant County, Oregon.
In November of 1980 it joined 9423 Charlie Inc and in January of 2005 was with Robert Wille at Medford, Colorado.
Of interest - the owner’s daughter gave birth to her daughter Alicia in the aircraft on 01-12-1985 and a plaque with babies name was installed.
The aircraft was noted for sale with under 7400 hours and was purchased by the Canterbury Aero Club and was ferried from Medford, Oregon, down to Arlington, Texas for containerisation for shipping to Lyttelton along with a factory new Piper PA-28-181 Archer TX ex N80170 which became ZK-LJO, also for the Canterbury Aero Club.
Its US registration was cancelled on 10-12-2019.
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Below is the blog post I did when it arrived at the Club
Canterbury Aero Club latest arrivals.
The photo below shows N9423C in the United States as it was advertised for sale.
It was trucked from the Port of Lyttelton on a flat deck trailer on 29-01-2020.
It had been registered to the Canterbury Aero Club on 22-01-2020 as ZK-EBM2 and first flew from Christchurch International Airport on 10-09-2020.
It has had the blue stripe replaced with black to represent the Canterbury red and black scheme.
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Below is a photo of ZK-EBM2 taken at West Melton by Aaron Murphy on 28-11-2020
Below is a selection of comments to the blogs published on ZK-EBM2.
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I learned to fly in this plane at the age of 17 in 1978. It was brand new and either owned or leased by Blue Mountain Aviation in John Day, Oregon. My father Dick Evans (USCG retired) was a flight instructor there. I got my Private Pilot's License during the summer of 1978 and never flew again.
ReplyDeleteI was born on this plane 01 Dec 1988! On a flight from John Day to Bend, Oregon. Glad to see she's still around. -Alicia
ReplyDeleteHi Alicia, when we looked at and flew this aircraft in Medford Oregon back in 2019 I was told the story of you being born in the plane by Cindy the sales agent. Pretty cool story!
It's been a great addition to our fleet.
Mike
DeleteI'm the Bob Wille of Medford, Oregon who bought Charlie from Bill Krayer. He was the pilot/owner when Alicia was born and told of a snowy flight to Bend with three on board and landing with four. A great little airplane that served our family well. May she continue to train and fly a long time.
I was googling N9423C and stumbled upon your posts. I'm so excited to see its new life. I learned how to fly and got my private pilots license with this plane in John Day, Oregon when it was owned by Bill Krayer. I learned to fly this plane before I knew how to drive a car, at the age of 14. I flew it between 1996 and 2000. I will always fondly remember "Charlie".
ReplyDeleteGood morning 'Anon' from New Zealand.
I am pleased you have found your old Cherokee.
It is still going strong with the Canterbury Aero Club.
Do you by chance have a photograph of it from your days ?
If you do is there any chance you could email a copy to me please.
My address is paulldj@xtra.co.nz
Cheers.
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry I didn’t sign my name to my first post. I flew N9423C (which I prefer to think of as a Piper Warrior!) as Jennifer Powers and I’m now married and live in Fairbanks, Alaska. I’ll send photos!
DeleteThe first allocation of the ZK-EBM registration was to a Piper PA-28-140F Cherokee Cruiser (c/n 28-7625015) which spent most of its career with the Canterbury Aero Club from 1982 through to its retirement in 2013 and export to Sri-Lanka becoming 4R-MBG having accumulated over 31,000 airframe hours.