Textron 182T Skylane ZK-VEV at Christchurch.

 Arriving in Christchurch from Oamaru today was the Textron 182T Skylane ZK-VEV c/n 18283307 as listed to Withoutalid Ltd of Oamaru. 

Built at Independence, Kansas, USA, registered as N366KT to Textron Aviation Inc, and certified on 28-01-2025 with its first flight on 28-05-2025. Title moved to Southwind Global Aviation Inc of Moundridge, Kansas from 02-07-2025.
Its US registration was cancelled on 12-08-2025 for it to become ZK-VEV from 14-08-2025 following assembly and certification at AVTEK Timaru. Its first flight there was on 01-10-2025.

Two Rangiora visitors today 30-06-2026

 These two itinerants were noted at Rangiora this day - Tuesday the 30th.

"Black 83" is the Yakovlev Yak-52 ZK-ADM2 c/n 833601.

It came in from Ashburton, did some local flying, and returned to Ashburton today.

This aircraft was sourced from Italy having previously served with DOSSAF as RA-3490K. 

It arrived by sea in March 2017 and became ZK-ADM2 on the 6th listed to the ZK-ADM Syndicate.

ZK-LAJ2 c/n 40DS003 is a Shandong Bin Ao Aircraft Industries Co Ltd's DA40D Diamond Star - a turbo-diesel powered version.

See HERE for more on the Chinese manufacturing of the Diamond Aircraft.

It was first noted with Beidahuang General Aviation Co in China registered as B-9369. It was delivered to Fieldair at Palmerston North for its NZ certification, and first flew here on 14-05-2024 for delivery to Nelson as ZK-LAJ2 for New Zealand Aviation Academy Ltd.

It passed through from, and returned to Nelson.

Cessna 172N ZK-EOK

Visiting Pauanui airfield today was the Cessna 172N ZK-EOK which has somehow eluded blog coverage in its 47 years of flying in NZ.   Imported new in 1979 it had a succession of flight training roles in Oamaru, Motueka and Auckland before being acquired by its current Pukekohe owner in 2008.

 

King AIr NZ2350 moving on out at Christchurch.

Yesterday afternoon I captured the R.N.Z.A.F Beechcraft Super King Air B350i NZ2350 C/n FL-897 taxiing out to depart northward.

This was initially built as N897HP with the Beechcraft, corporation for delivery to the Philippines to become RP-C1834 in March of 2014.

On 23-02-2018 it was delivered to Hawker Pacific Pty Ltd in Syndney, Australia and became VH-ZPF2.

Following pre-delivery work for the RNZAF it was ferried from Sydney to Ohakea on 19-11-2018 to be cancelled from the Australian civil aircraft register on 29-11-2018 to enter service with 42 Squadron as NZ2350.

Wellington from Allister of zkarj.co.nz #2

 

This is the second part of the two blog posts from Allister's own site at zkarj.co.nz Begin Again By Allister of zkarj.co.nz on 27th June, 2026 There is not much to include in this post in the way of photos, after the previous catch-up. But there is a most definite line in the sand between that post and this.  I still remember the day, in the middle of December, 1986, when I was standing in a camera shop in Lucky Plaza, on Singapore’s Orchard Road. It was there that my brother bought his Nikon DSLR and, in so doing, thrust his Cosina CS-1 at me and said something like “There you go.” It was my first SLR camera. From memory, it had a 70-210mm Tokina lens. Importantly, the CS-1 used the Pentax K-mount system for lens mounting. A dozen years later, I made it into Pentax proper with an MZ-50, along with Sigma 28-80mm and 100-300mm lenses. In 2005, I got my first DSLR, a Pentax *ist DS. Then followed more Pentax bodies — K10D, K-5, KP, and finally K-3 III. The lenses changed, too. The Sigma 100-300mm was replaced with a Pentax 55-300mm ED, then 55-300mm WR, then 55-300 PLM. Quite recently, I added a Pentax 150-450mm. I’ve had a motley collection of shorter lenses, too (from Dad’s old M 28mm to the latest 16-50mm PLM) but the longer lenses are the ones that pertain to this site. In June of 2026, very nearly 40 years since I inherited the CS-1, I bought a new body that was not Pentax. In order to fund this, I sold the K-3 III, 16-50mm PLM, and 150-450mm, but I still have (and will keep) the KP and 55-300mm PLM (a configuration that is responsible for a lot of my aviation photo portfolio). The replacement gear (so far… I have no illusions of it stopping here) is as follows: Canon R5 Mk II Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM Canon RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM For the moment, I intend that the KP and 55-300mm PLM will still serve aviation duties — the reason for the change is, in fact, my bird photography. But having just today bought the 200-800mm, I thought I might try it out at the airport. I picked an… interesting… day to try it. After a day of weather disruptions, there were still diversions going on today (27-06-2026). I had heard five flights attempt approaches before I actually saw one try to land. But some got in and several got out. It was clear the pilots were working very hard and had plenty of decisions to make on whether to proceed. Even a Sounds Air Cessna Caravan was quite circumspect with a takeoff. It turns out, as I expected, that 200mm is a bit much for standing close to the runway. From the spot at Wexford Road, I could comfortably fill the frame with a Caravan awaiting entry to the runway! The bigger challenge today was holding the camera still in the wind. Both the camera and the lens have stabilisation, but even they cannot cope if I can’t even keep the aircraft in the frame! And so to the handful of photos I did well enough with to publish. Case in point… this was cropped from a shot at 242mm. I only zoomed in because it looked daft with just the wingtips out of frame. I then cropped further for better composition. The subject is Beechcraft Super King Air B200, ZK-RSQ(2) of the New Zealand Air Ambulance Service. This next shot, of Air New Zealand Airbus A320, ZK-OXC, was taken at 800mm and is about a 60% crop of the original. However, the aircraft was approximately 1km away! Hence the amount of moisture between me and it. And an 87% crop at 200mm as it got much closer. Right… I’ll spare you all the technical details for the rest. I just thought it was interesting to consider the new geometry I’m dealing with. It turns out this was the first time I had seen ZK-LFW, one of Life Flight Trusts, Beechcraft Super King Air B200s. Finally, Air New Zealand Bombardier Q300, ZK-NEO, shows a bit of the ‘lumpy’ final approach. The Q300s were not having a good time of it getting in today. Of those 5 missed approaches I mentioned at the beginning, 4 were Q300s.

Wellington from Alister of zkarj.co.nz #1

 Here we have the first of two posts from Allister working Wellington Airport from a different perspective.

Into Winter from Allister of zkarj.co.nz

 

Allister on 27th June, 2026

I thought it had been a while since I posted, but I see it was only in May. Go me! This post does a little bit of a catch-up, but not quite up to today. (See the following post for the reason). Below Carefully concealing its registration behind a winch, BK117B-2 ZK-HES4 does a short hover-taxi before departing. From memory, it had come down from Taranaki to Wellington Hospital before positioning to the airport, presumably for fuel. See HERE for a previous posting on ZK-HES4. I hadn’t seen the Cessna 525B CitationJet CJ3 ZK-RJZ for a while. The registration refers to the owners — Robert Jones Holdings Ltd. The founder, Bob Jones, passed away about a year ago. It is currently operated by Wellington Jet Charter Trust. This cute little Grumman American AA-1B Trainer, ZK-DKX, was a rarity. I’ve seen the closely related Traveller before, but not this model. It has been registered to Gallett Properties Ltd of Nelson since August of 2005. I got probably my best study yet of Wellington’s new Life Flight Trust rescue helicopter, Airbus Helicopters H145 D3 (basically the descendant of the BK117 line), ZK-IXS3. See HERE for a previous mention of ZK-IXS3. I’ve seen Wellington Aero Club’s Piper PA-38 Tomahawk, ZK-WAC3, often enough but this was a perfectly timed shot. And finally for this post, I got another chance to see QantasLink’s green-liveried Airbus A220-371 c/n 55253, VH-X4A. I was close to the runway with a long lens, so went for this tight shot.

The second post will cover Allister's photographic efforts at Wellington Airport.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Skycraft Scouts (2) - ZK-EWL to ZK-EZN

Starting on all our registered Skycraft Scouts in alphabetical registration order: 

ZK-EWL (c/n MAANZ/025)

Registered 19 Mar 1982 to Wayne B. Affleck, Kawerau (who was one of the North Island distributors), then 28 Jun 1982 J. Dohnt & M. C. Salt, Te Puke, then 5 Jul 1985 N. Baymires, Te Puke, then 15 Jun 1990 F. Robinson, Drury (18HP 1-cyl Fuji Robin 330 engine).  Cancelled 29 Aug 1994 withdrawn from use.

ZK-EWM (c/n MAANZ/026)  Registered 19 Mar 1982 to Wayne B. Affleck, Kawerau, then 8 Nov 82 Affleck Aviation, Auckland, then 28 Jul 1983 Aitken Farms, Te Kuiti, then 5 Aug 1983 G. J. & J. L. Aitken, Te Kuiti.  Cancelled 28 Jul 1994 as withdrawn from use.

ZK-EXI (c/n MAANZ/162)  Registered 19 Oct 1982 to B. C. Williams, Mount Maunganui.  Cancelled 19 Jun 1997 as withdrawn from use.   

ZK-EXN (c/n MAANZ/161)  Registered 26 Oct 1982 to Paul M. Duncan, Timaru, then 15 May 1984 J. G. Hutt, Fairlie.  Cancelled 24 Feb 1992 as withdrawn from use. Stored at Rangitata Island.  

ZK-EXQ (c/n MAANZ/157)

Registered 28 Oct 1982 to E. H. Coates, Ngatapa, Gisborne, then 21 Feb 1985 C. J. P. Vissers, Auckland Cancelled 27 Aug 1997 as registration revoked.  Stored at Rangitata Island.  

ZK-EXV (c/n MAANZ/048)  Registered 8 Apr 1982 to D. S. MacKenzie, Christchurch, then 13 Jul 1982 K. E. Dash, Kumara, then 31 Aug 1983 D. Y. Roberts, Hokitika, then 17 Jun 1992 R. J. L. Bradey, Kumara.  Cancelled 27 Aug 1997 Registration revoked.

ZK-EYJ (c/n MAANZ/052)  Registered 25 May 1982 to D. D. Tabor, Gore.  Cancelled 27 Aug 1997 registration revoked.

ZK-EYK (c/n MAANZ/049)

Registered 25 May 1982 to Struan R. Brodie, Rangitata Island, then 20 Mar 1984 D. M. A. & M. S. McMillan, Temuka, then 29 Jan 1988 H. W. Bradley, Ashburton. Spark plug lead came off in flight and pilot force landed due to power loss near Bunnythorpe 1 Jan 1990.  Pilot hand prop started engine but slipped and prop hit his ankle.  then 5 Oct 1996 D. M. A. McMillan, Temuka.  Cancelled 26 Sep 2000 as withdrawn from use.  Re-registered  7 Apr 2003 to Russell K. Brodie, Rangitata Island.  Cancelled 2 Oct 2008 as withdrawn from use.  

It is now stored at the Brodie's nascent microlight museum at Rangitata Island.

ZK-EYO (c/n MAANZ/068)

Registered 9 Jun 1982 to E. L. Clode, Orepuki, Riverton.  Cancelled 11 Mar 1992 as withdrawn from use.  Re-registered 27 Jan 1998 to Marel H. J. Maria, Waitakere Exported to ?  Cancelled 15 Jul 1999.

ZK-EYR (c/n MAANZ/066)  Registered 9 Jun 1982 to D. M. McElrea, Heriot.  Cancelled 18 Aug 1995 as withdrawn from use.

ZK-EYT (c/n MAANZ/055)  Registered 9 Jun 1982 to R. C. Nordstrand, New Plymouth  Cancelled 18 Jun 1998 Registration revoked.  

ZK-EZN (c/n MAANZ/085)  Registered 4 Aug 1982 to R. Mark Farrant, Rotorua, then 7 May 1990 R. Heslop, Waihi Beach.   Cancelled 24 Feb 1992 as withdrawn from use.  Re-registered 11 Jul 1995 B. J. Neville, Taupo.  Cancelled 17 Aug 2000 as withdrawn from use.

Topdressing DC 3s (4) - ZK-AWO

 The next topdressing DC 3 was ZK-AWO:

Photos at Napier on 17/11/69 (above) and at Wanganui on 6/4/75 (below)

Douglas C-47B-35-DK (c/n 16732/33480)

Built by The Douglas Aircraft Co, Oklahoma City, OK with 2x 1200HP 14-cyl R-1830-92 Twin Wasp radial engines as 44-77148 

15 Jun 1945 USAAF but diverted under “lend-lease”  Exported to New Zealand 

NZ3548 7 Jul 1945 RNZAF 1 ASU Hamilton 

RNZAF 40 Sqn, Whenuapai 

Mar 1946 RNZAF 41 Sqn, Whenuapai.  Struck Off Charge 1 Jul 1952 

11 Jul 1952 NZ National Airways Corp Converted for civil use 23 Oct 1952 

ZK-AWO 3 Nov 1952 NZ National Airways Corp, Wellington named  “Putaitai” Converted to freighter at Christchurch 29 Sep 1958 

Last service 5 Sep 1966 @ 24,109 hours Flight Time 

21 Mar 1967 Airland (NZ) Ltd, Palmerston North Converted to topdresser First Flight 15 Oct 1968 

20 Feb 1978 Fieldair Ltd, Palmerston North named “Putaitai” 

18 Nov 1980 Fieldair Holdings (Central) Ltd, Palmerston North 30 Mar 1984 Fieldair Holdings Ltd, Palmerston North Last flight 1 Mar 1984 @ 32,846 hours Flight Time (8,737 hours topdressing) 

Cancelled 29 May 1985 

After some time in storage the bulk of the aircraft was scrapped at Feilding in the early 1990s.  The nose section was acquired by Chris Rudge of Aviation Adventures Ltd.  He upgraded it and it is now on a trailer at Pukaki airfield for promotional purposes.

ZK-IQP at Rangiora on Tuesday the 23rd.

 My afternoon tea was pleasantly disturbed on Tuesday at Rangiora by the beat of the rotors and the sweet sound of a Lycoming O-360 of the Canadian Home Safari ZK-IQP c/n 0629N which has been listed with a West Eyreton syndicate since August of last year.

This Safari was imported partly built from the US and it was registered to Alan Coubray of Manakau on 14-01-2008.  It was advertised for sale on TradeMe in mid-2009 and on sold to Otorini Farms of Otorohanga in September of 2010.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Skycraft Scouts (1)

 

Although I have postulated that Pete James’ McCullough powered Easy Riser was the first microlight to fly in New Zealand, in 1978, it is possible that an early version of the Skycraft Scout could lay claim to be the first microlight to fly here.  It would be great if someone out there with a very long memory could shed some light on our first Skycraft Scouts.

The Skycraft Scout (also sometimes called the Wheeler Scout) was designed in Australia by Ronald Wheeler of Sydney who put a motor on his earlier design Tweetie hang glider in 1972.  Wheeler was a yacht builder and he used yacht fittings and sailcloth in his design.  This was well before John Moody put an engine in his Easy Riser in the US in 1975.   Scouts had 2 axis controls for rudder and elevator and used a form of wing warping for control of the roll axis.

The specifications for the Scout Mk 3 are as follows:  length 17 feet 1 inch, wingspan (5.20 metres), wingspan 28 feet 9 inches ((8.77 metres) and the wing area was 109 square feet.  It was a very light machine with the empty weight being just 130 pounds (55 Kg) while the MAUW was 310 pounds ((141 Kg).  The Scout Mk 1 started off with a 14 HP Pixie Major engine but the Mk 3 had increased power with a 21 HP Robin engine as well as other improvements.  With 21 HP the cruising speed was 47 mph and the stall speed was 20 mph.   

Because of their small fuel tank they were around the patch flyers and that is probably why we don't have photos of many of them (and thus the following posts will have quite a lot of lists).  

What we do know about Scouts in New Zealand was that they were imported by a Dunedin firm L M Wright and Company and they reckoned they sold around 80 examples of which about 50 were registered.  Of course before 1982 microlights did not have to be registered in New Zealand.  So there were a whole lot of unregistered Scouts out there, some of them potentially before 1978 but we really don’t know.  The first examples were registered in March 1982.

This is a Tweetie hang glider flying in New Zealand,

and you can see that Ron Wheeler didn't have to do much to it to turn it into a Scout!

Of course the Scout is a single seater microlight which produces its own problems for people learning to fly one.  I remember a friend of mine telling me of his early experiences in flying a Scout at low level with his instructor shouting directions to him while riding a motorcycle alongside!

One unregistered Scout that I know about was flown at various locations on the Otago Peninsula in 1989.  This Scout was around when Geoff Williams was building and flying the last of his series of unregistered homebuilt aircraft. 

The Otago Peninsula Scout getting airborne from Blueskin Bay in 1989

 This picture was captioned “the Scout crashing again(!) at Hoopers Inlet”

Interestingly there has been a recent mini resurgence in Scout restoration with Ross Brodie at Rangitata Island restoring and registering ZK-FJI in February 2023 and at Wanganui Jonathan Mauchline has restored and registered 3 Scouts being ZK-RWW, ZK-JJN and  ZK-SLF (the last two were previously unregistered ones).