Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Mirages (2) - ZK-ERZ to ZK-EYY Registered Mirages

Ken Asplin and Trevor Barrett who had flown their Mirages from North Cape to Bluff in February 1982, were the agents for the Mirage trading as Skyflight Waikato and as I mentioned in my previous post there was a big demand for them with 35 Mirages being registered in 1982.  Below is their advertisement for the Mirage singing its benefits:

This photo shows Skyflight Waikato's presence at the February 1982 AACA flyin at Taupo with three Mirages and their support van.  I didn't note their registrations but they were not Ken Asplin's or Trevor Barret's Mirages (which were in different colours).

There were eleven Mirages registered in the ZK-ERZ to ZK-EYY series in 1982 as follows:

ZK-ERZ

ZK-ESQ at Timaru during the North Cape to Bluff flight.

ZK-ESQ above and below showing the chameleon characteristics of microlights.

ZK-EXO

ZK-EXY

ZK-EYI

ZK-EYN being taken to the airstrip for its first flight.

ZK-EYU

ZK-EYV 

ZK-EYW on display at Classic Flyers Tauranga.

ZK-EYX

ZK-EYY at Tauranga, 1997

Wellington Airport runway extensions completed 24-03-2026.

Wellington Airport completed installation of innovative new runway safety zones yesterday, 24-03-2026, with energy absorbing blocks now in place at each end of the airport runway.

The engineered materials arresting system (EMAS) provides additional safety in the unlikely event of an accidental aircraft overrun.

It also effectively extends the usable length of the runway by optimising space between the safety zones, providing a landing distance increase of 143m and a take-off distance increase of 37m.

Wellington Airport chief executive Matt Clarke says it has been a complex project requiring a lot of careful planning.

“In a way, physically installing the blocks was the easy part. Much harder was the planning and coordination required to realign the underground lighting, navigation aids, runway entrances and exits, and flight procedures.

“Most of this work had to be done between 1am and 6am to avoid impacting flight operations, and the final changeover last night was the most complicated part of the whole project with around 80 people involved.

“All of our line markings had to be updated in one go, for which we used 15 line marking trucks – pretty much every crew available in the lower North Island.

“We planned and rehearsed the sequence of everything to the minute to ensure we were all set for flights to begin on the new settings from 6am this morning.

“We want to thank everyone involved in this project including our airlines, the Civil Aviation Authority, Airways, the New Zealand Airline Pilots Association, Runway Safe, and our contractors and advisors who worked tirelessly while the city slept.”

Thanks to Wellington Airport Company News site.

The Wellington Airport Company CEO Matt Clarke standing at the northern end of the runway.

The EMAS blocks clearly visible behind Matt.

Above we see the Airways Corporation of NZ's Piper PA-42-1000 Cheyenne 400LS IV ZK-FIS2            c/n 42-5527019 on short finals for a calibration run on runway 34.

Below we see ZK-FIS at rest - a 'tea break I believe'.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Ultraflight Mirages (1) - ZK-KJA

The next type of micolight aircraft to be registered in New Zealand was the Ultraflight Mirage and the first of these was Ken Asplin's ZK-KJA.  Of course there had been several Mirages flying here when they were not required to be registered but I don't know how many of them there were.

The Ultraflight Mirage was designed by Frank Riley in the US and was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.  It was developed from the Aerodyne vector and Hill Humbug ultralights and conformed to the US FAR 103 regulations for ultralight aircraft which required the empty weight to be no more than 254 pounds (115 Kg) and the Mirage came in at 246 pounds (112 kg).  It was a single seat cable braced high wing microlight with a tricycle undercarriage, constructed from aluminium tubing with the flying surfaces covered with dacron sailcloth.  It had a Kawasaki TA440A twin cylinder 2 stroke engine from a snowmobile and this produced 35 HP.  The engine was mounted above the leading edge of the wing and drove a pusher propellor  behind the wing by an extension shaft.  The control system involved spoilers on each wing to reduce lift and therefore turn the aircraft, and standard rudder cables. An optional fairing could be fitted.

The specifications for the Mirage were: wingspan 32 feet (9.8 metres), length 19 feet 6 inches (9.54 metres), wing area 13.4 square metres, empty weight 246 pounds (112 Kg) and MAUW was 500 pounds (227 Kg).  The cruising speed was 50 mph and the stall speed was around 25 mph.

We have had 39 Mirages registered in New Zealand and remarkably 35 of them were registered in 1982 - that shows quite a bit of pent up demand for microlight flying!

ZK-KJA early during the North Cape to Bluff flight.

ZK-KJA later

Auster ZK-AZF and Lismore Field. 14th of March 2026.

Back on the 14th of March a gathering was held on the Vincent Family farm property at Lismore to celebrate fifty years of ownership of the Auster ZK-AZF.

Sadly also it was the closure of their private airfield.

Below we see Andrew Vincent, with his daughter Hayley in the Vincent Family Auster 5C ZK-AZF c/n 1272 flying over the family airfield at Lismore on 14-03-2026

There are at least ten fixed wing and two gyrocopters on the field below.

I offer a special thanks to Les and Elizabeth for the use of tis airfield over the years.

Check out this Facebook Link

and

SEE HERE for earlier blog posts on this lovely Auster.

 

Warbirds on Parade - a Couple of WW 1 Aircraft

We should note that NZ Warbirds held a successful Warbirds on Parade airshow at Ardmore one week ago on Sunday.  From photos posted on the internet it seemed to be quite successful and the weather in the morning allowed the WW 1 aircraft fleet to fly a display.  There were 6 WW 1 replica aircraft in the sky, 3 British and 3 German so there was a fair bit of tail chasing.  A couple of nice flying photos from Ken Ryder caught my eye:

Surely you can't mistake this for anything else!  The amazing Siemens Schukert D IV replica ZK-SSW.

And I haven't seen many photos showing the colours of the topside on the Albatros D VA replica ZK-ARS2

Here is a link to a video of the WW 1 aircraft display on the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loJ_PHm9xRc

Thanks for the use of the photos Ken.

Savannah ZK-MRJ at Nelson

 The Robert Swanney ICP Savannah S ZK-MRJ c/n 18-02-54-0591 from Waihi Bech is pictured here at Nelson Airport on 22-03-2026.

See HERE for several previous mentions for MRJ.

New Savannah ZK-WIL delivered North today 21-03-2026.

 Below we have the new ICP Savannah S ZK-WIL/2 c/n 20-12-54-0749 as seen at Rangiora on         20-03-2026 by Aaron Murphy.

Today 21-03-2026 ZK-WIL headed off North for its owner Stephen Williams of Whitianga, to replace his earlier Savanah XL ZK-CVK2 which was delivered South to a new owner in Christchurch late last year.

Beechcraft A36 Bonanza ZK-ACO

  Last weekend, 14-03-2026, Rob Mackley flew his amazing Lockheed 10-A Electra ZK-AFD2 c/n 1145 down from Omaka to West Melton for the Day to give a presentation to the gathering covering the restoration of this aircraft. This has been well covered by several other sites.

This presentation by Rob attracted several other visitors.

One such was the Beechcraft A36 Bonanza ZK-ACO2 c/n E-1896. This Bonanza was built and registered to the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas and registered as N1824K in late 1981.

After two US owners it was sold in Australia and became VH-RKP2 from 28-07-1989 with Bob Kilpatrick of Windsor, NSW. (Interestingly he sold it to purchase the A36 Bonanza VH-RKP2 in December 2014 which became ZK-PVA2 in December of 2014).

The new owner from 29-01-1999 - Shoal Credit Investments Pty Ltd of Ashmore, Queensland, re-registered it as VH-WDG2 a month later. In June of 2015 it was sold to Joshua Adam of Chinchilia, Queensland.

It was ferried from Archerfield to Lord Howe Island on 25-08-2019, then to Norfolk Island, Kerekeri and Auckland the following day.

It was certified in NZ as ZK-ACO2 to Air Centre One Ground Services Ltd on 03-09-2019 until transferred to Rob Leach and Dianne Paterson of Auckland from 01-07-2021.

Current owner Andreas Michaelides of Christchurch listed it from October last year.

The earlier allocation of the ZK-ACO registration was to a De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide for the NZ Melbourne Centenary Air Race Committee - Named "Tainui" it departed Mildenhall, UK on 20-10-1934 as number 60 in the MacRobertson Air Race - It arrived in Melbourne on 02-11-1934 - finishing 5th.

A Metroliner Lives On in New Zealand!

Thanks to Mike Condon who has strong links back to his home town of Hokitika, here are some photos of the nose of the old Metroliner ZK-NSY which has been converted into a spectacular trailer.  Mike has sent in the photos taken recently at the local motor camp by Rex Boyd:

Nice!

And to remind us of the original aircraft, below is a photo of ZK-NSY at Auckland International Airport back in 2001:

Thanks for the world spanning photos Mike.

DC 3 N8336C Spirit of Douglas Flies South on 17-3-2026

The 1942 Douglas DC 3A N8336C Spirit of Douglas is currently in New Zealand as part of a world tour to commemorate the 1924 world tour of three Douglas World Cruisers and the 90th anniversary of the DC 3.  The original Douglas World Cruisers did not come to New Zealand but the Spirit of Douglas is owned by a Christchurch based New Zealand businessman so I guess that is why it is here.  I heard it fly over Warkworth on Saturday afternoon (14 March) but it was above the clouds.  And today Tuesday 17 March it is flying from Auckland to Christchurch.

Simon Hills took these photos of N8336C overflying Koputaroa earlier on today.

In this photo you can see that it has Spirit of Douglas above the windows.

Thanks for the photos Simon.