Early in the month a stray turned up at Rangiora in the shape of the Hoffman H36 Dimona motor glider ZK-GCB2 c/n 3537. It had powered down from Drury and Omaka on the 2nd.

It is pictured above having just been tied down following a flight from Rangiora out to the Springfield ridges and return.

The following day it went out to the Puketeraki and Torlesse Ranges and return.

It has been mentioned several times previously on this site.

SEE  

HERE

 

Beech V35A Bonanza ZK-RMZ

 The latest Beechcraft addition to the New Zealand civil aircraft register is the V35A Bonanza c/n D8978.

This was initially registered as N7851R in 1969 and cancelled on 11-09-1990 on export to South Africa where it became ZS-MYN.

The only operator that I know about was Willem Nieuwenhuisa (sp ?) and Grahan Ticton out of Rand from February of 2009.

The photo below was taken at Lanseria on 20-09-2006 by Ray Barber.

It was listed in NZ on 08-05-2025 to The Tolaga Bay Trading Co of Tolaga Bay, and was certified at Napier and first flew as ZK-RMZ on 31-10-2025.

Photo below from Aaron Murphy was taken at Hastings on 01-11-2025.

It is the 4th 'V' tailed Bonanza on our register.

Pulsar ZK-DMC/2 at Waipukurau Recently

Seen recently in a hangar at Waipukurau on 2 November by Jordan Elvy and photo'd with permission of the owner:

ZK-DMC2 (c/n 325/MAANZ/510) has recently changed ownership to a Napier owner.  Of course this is the former ZK-RUS as photo'd below at Rangiora on 1 April 2017.

And it was re-registered when Northern Aviation Ltd's Yak 52 was registered ZK-RUS2 in early 2024.

Piper PA-36-375 Brave ZK-EIW

The Piper PA-36-375 Brave ZK-EIW c/n 36-7902006 was the eighth PA-36, from a total of eleven registered in New Zealand.

It was first registered to the New Zealand Piper Aircraft agents, Airwork (NZ) Ltd, at Ardmore,            as ZK-EIW on 24-05-1979. 

With an Avco-Lycoming IO-720 engine of 375 horse power - its first flight in NZ was on 11-07-1979 - it was delivered to Airwork's agricultural division on the 13th and did its first ag job on the 28th.

Above, late in 1979, a photo from CMM showing the team on the Clarence airstrip in North Canterbury.

That is Col Bolger siting on the nose, with SH1 in the background.

I'm guessing this is at its home base at Rangiora when they were using ZK-EIW whilst their 300hp Pawnee Brave ZK-EIA was being repaired following a tree strike.

                                                                                       At Timaru.

At Oamaru 26-04-1981.

From 31-08-1981 it was registered to Airwork Agricultural Aviation Ltd (PGG) of Rangiora.

This was 50% owned by Airwork (NZ)) Ltd and McAlpines (Mitre 10).

Near Waimate

On 18-11-1981 it was damaged when it failed to get airborne near Waimate.

Of the eleven registered here, two were destroyed in NZ, the remaining nine ended up in Australia.

ZK-EIW was exported to Australia and eventually cancelled on 27-03-1986 for it to became VH-SOT2 on 03-10-1986 with Shane McNaul of Wodonga, Victoria and later of Wakool, NSW from 03-09-1996.

At Wakool, NSW 07-02-1987 from Paul Daw.

From November 1998 it was listed with Shane Flack, initially at Coleambaly and then from several other bases in NSW. More recently at Jerilderie.

At Yarrawonga, Victoria 22-09-2012. A photograph from Roland Jahne.

At Jerilderie, NSW 21-02-2015. A Robert Frola photograph.

It is still currently registered to Shane Flack of Jerilderie.

China Eastern Airlines to and from Shanghai

In my last post I mentioned that I was off for a few weeks to cruise up the Yangtze River, and now we are back home again after some amazing sights and assaults on the senses.  I did not see much of aviation in China except for a couple of military helicopters at Jingdezhen which is the city where Changhe helicopters are based - they were flying in the distance and one was smaller and the other bigger so I think they were the Change Z-8 heavy army transport helicopter and the Changhe Z-10 attack helicopter (thanks to Google).  Then at Wuhan I saw a Xi'an Y-20 Kunpeng heavy lift military transport aircraft doing circuits at a nearby air base (it looks like a C-17 Globemaster).  And at several places I heard the distinctive sound of military fighter jets overhead but I was never able to see them.  Then there was a big airshow and aviation trade fair at Zuhai I think which was on TV and the most interesting thing to me was a 9 aircraft Nanchang formation aerobatics team that were all painted up identically.

And now for a link to New Zealand civil aviation!  We flew to and from Shanghai from Auckland International by China Eastern Airlines who operate several flights a day I think to and from destinations in China.  Our flight up to Shanghai turned out to be on a fairly new Airbus A350-900 (December 2023) which was a nice surprise as it wasn't the type that was on our tickets.  It was B-32FQ, note that China has now gone to a mixture of numbers and letters in their aircraft registrations.

This was the best photo I could get of it as we boarded around 10 pm in the dark.

Twelve hours later arriving at Pudong airport around dawn and you get a nice view of the landing from the screen in front of us.  I gave the pilot a pass mark for the landing.

Then coming back from Shanghai yesterday we flew in a pretty tired Boeing B777-300 B-2001.  This turned out to be the first B777-300 that was delivered to China Eastern back in September 2014.

Cessna T240 N362CS visits Christchurch again.

The Cessna T240 Corvalis N362CS c/n T24002062 dropped in from Wanaka on Friday morning - returning to Wanaka later.

                                It has featured several times previous in these pages -  See HERE

EC130B4 ZK-IJK 4

Calling into Pauanui airfield very briefly last evening was Inflite's EC130B4 ZK-IJK4 whose registration reflects its owner, John Key.   This was originally imported from Mexico as ZK-HBZ4 in 2016, being reregistered IJK earlier this year.

 

Cessna R182 ZK-MPE

Visiting Pauanui airfield today from Ardmore was the Cessna R182 ZK-MPE which hasnt featured on this Blog before.   This is a 1978 model exported originally to Australia as VH-MII before moving onto NZ in early 2020 and undergoing a lengthy complete refurbishment.

 

Cessna 185B Skywagon ZK-CEW revisited.

 The Cessna 185B Skywagon ZK-CEW c/n 185B-0528 was imported new from the Cessna Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas where it had been test flown as N5228Z.

It was registered to the then NZ Cessna agents Rex Aviation (NZ) Ltd at New Plymouth on 15-03-1963.

It was officially listed to Mount Cook Air Services Ltd on 23-05-1963.

                         Above is the best photograph I have seen of ZK-CEW. Source unknow
                                           Taken between March 1963 and October of 1965.

ZK-CEW crashed on the Albert Glacier on 23-10-1965. Some sixty years ago.

We mentioned this in a previous blog post ten years ago. HERE

Question time resolved.

 It has been some time since we have posted a 'Question Time'.

So have a gander at this photo.

Tell me what aircraft make and model do we have here ?

And what ZK registration would you put on it ?

********************************************************

This question was resolved very quickly by "Anonymous"

It is indeed the undercarriage to the Lockheed L12A Electra Junior ZK-LHE.

So, to Anonymous has gone the anonymous chocolate fish to an anonymous address.

Enjoy.

Above : Two views of the L12A undercarriage.

Yes there is some considerable differences between the L10 and L12 undercarriages.

Below :  a view of an L10 undercarriage.