Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Mark Elworthy's Easy Riser

In researching for information on my series of Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand I have been provided with a scanned copy of The History of the South Canterbury Microlight Club (thanks Grant) which was published by John Nicolson in August 1996.  His first couple of paragraphs interested me greatly and I quote them as follows:

1.1  Pete James was one of a small gathering of North islander's who were to to become the original microlight founders in New Zealand.  During 1978-80, Pete - an accomplished hang glider pilot - was one of several hang glider pilots who decided to experiment with powered hang gliding.  They had been watching the events of powered flight by the Americans who had been flying "ultralights" since about 1976.  After trial-and-error flights the "microlight" soon became a reality for the assembly of thrill seekers.  And so the NZ microlight came into being.  (this is as I have posted in my first post on early Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand that you can see  HERE )

1.2  Meantime, here in Sth Canty in 1980, a local PPL was into powered hang glider flight too.  Mark Elworthy had purchased an American Easy Riser bi-plane hang glider, the first aircraft to resemble a microlight, and had been flying it frequently in free flight from atop Mt Horrible.  Mark had been corresponding with Pete in the NI and was keen to move into powered flight.  Mark attached a McCulloch 101 (125cc) go-cart engine to his Easy Riser.  Although initially plagued with growing pains, Mark eventually got things right and made numerous powered flights in his Easy Riser, later registered (?) as Maanz 060.  George Adams was to purchase Mz060 a few years later. (I do not think this Easy Riser was ever officially registered on the civil register).

This information was new to me and it shows that there was another flying microlight in New Zealand in 1980, before microlights had to be registered (joining Pete James' Easy Riser and Richard Brett's machine in the Waikato, Murray Hagen's Pfedgeling in Southland and Terry Delore's trike around Christchurch).  There may well be others that we don't know about.  Of course, if anyone has information on very early microlights in New Zealand please contact the editor and we will add to the story.  

Also, if anyone has a photo of Mark Elworthy's Easy Riser we would love to see it.  

In case readers do not have an idea of what an Easy Riser powered ultralight is, here is a good video which shows its history:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFwU9O1wjgQ

This is a screen shot from the video, not, unfortunately Mark Elworthy's machine (although it would have looked just like this!).

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Some More Photos from Hamilton in October 1980

In researching for my series of Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand, I have come across some more photos from Janic Geelen of the very early days of microlights here, before they were required to be registered:

Can anyone add any further information about these photos?  I have heard a story about when Americans Tommy Namais and Marty Waller came to New Zealand they bought examples of several microlights with them and offered dealerships.  Maybe these 3 microlights were part of this?  Can anyone confirm?

There was another microlight on the airfield that day, being Pete James' weight shift Quicksilver E but Pete tells me that that one was imported by him and this will form the start of my series of Quicksilvers in New Zealand (of which there have been 112 registered!). 

Rangiora Friday visitation 08-05-2026

 First stop for the day was with Aero Fix which had this Robinson R44 Raven II ZK-HRY2 c/n 10966 out front. This is currently listed to Gerald Jefferies of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
This has been in NZ since new in late 2005 and has been mentioned in these pages previously.
Following ten years with Anderson Helicopters Ltd of Hokitika from 2014 - it went to Gerald Jefferies of Hanmer Springs in May of 2025 - with a recent change of Address to Australia.

I managed to catch the Southbranch Farm Ltd's Maule M-5-235C Lunar Rocket ZK-MEZ c/n 7228C after it arrived back from a round of circuits. 

t looks much more hairy chested with its larger wheels.
For earlier posts on ZK-MEZ SEE HERE

A resident from the same Hangar 8 was this Australian registered Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage VH-BHR2  c/n 4622019. This arrived into Christchurch International direct from Melbourne on 01-02-2026.

this was built as N9157Q and delivered to Australia to become VH-LBE on 02-06-1989. After five operators it returned to the USA to become N113KR from 29-06-2007

It returned to Australia to become VH-BHR2 on 01-03-2012. It is currently listed to George Glaister of Balclutha who also has interests in the Culverden area.

As a PA-46-350P it is the first of this model in NZ and is not covered by the current NZ type certificate - (which only covers the -310P and the 500TP models) hence it remains on the Australian register. 

George also operates the Piper PA-32-300 Cherokee Six ZK-OMT and previously had the Cherokee Six ZK-ECV.

For further details on VH-BHR See here.

ZK-HPB the Ninth!

Brien O'Brien was at Kaipara Flats yesterday when (Sir) Peter Beck flew in in his latest helicopter to do some stuff at Rocket Lab in Warkworth:

ZK-HPB9 (c/n 20165) is a used Airbus MBB-BK 117 D-2 model that was registered to Advanced Flight Ltd of Auckland in December 2025 and is operated by them for Peter Beck.  It replaced his previous EC130T2 helicopter ZK-HPB8 which was cancelled in March 2025 and went to Australia as VH-83E. 

Thanks for the photo Brien.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait - ARV Super2 ZK-FSQ

We have been doing this for a long time!  Way back in April 2010 I did a post on some aircraft that were imported by Dougal Dallison.  In that post I could only include a photo of it as G-BSRK which it became after it was exported back to the UK in 1990 after its short life in New Zealand.  I then asked "can anyone post a photo of ZK-FSQ?" but nothing came of it.  Now 16 years later I became aware of a photo of ZK-FSQ on the AustAirData website.

The ARV Super2 was designed by Bruce Giddings in the UK in the early 1980s and was promoted by Richard Noble (holder of the 1983 world land speed record) who had identified a potential gap in the low weight low cost training aircraft market after major US manufacturers temporarily stopped production due to product liability issues.  Richard Noble set up a factory on the Isle of Wight to build the ARV (which stands for Air Recreational Vehicle) but production ceased after around 35 aircraft were built.  The prototype first flew on 11 March 1985.

The ARV Super2 was a side by side trainer with a tricycle undercarriage and a shoulder wing for good visibility.  Its specifications are:  length 18 feet (5.49 metres), wingspan 28 feet 6 inches (8.69 metres) and a wing area of 92.5 square feet.  Its empty weight was 675 pounds (306 Kg) and its MAUW was 1,100 pounds (400 kg) and with its 75 HP engine its performance was cruise speed 83 knots (95 mph) and it had a stall speed of  48 knots (55 mph).  The engine was interesting, it was a Hewland AE75 3 cylinder 2 stroke with a 2.75 to 1 reduction gearbox.  It only weighed 108 pounds (49 Kg) and was specifically designed for the ARV Super2.  However it only had a TBO of 800 hours and with the lack of ongoing factory support, many ARV Super2s have been re-engined with Rotax 912s and Jabirus.

Obviously we have only had one ARV Super2 registered in New Zealand.  Was it registered as a microlight?

ZK-FSQ (c/n 007) was registered to Dougal Dallison of Auckland on 31/1/89 and was cancelled on 30/7/90 so its life here was quite short.  The above photo was taken at Ardmore in April 1990.

A Couple of Mirages Flying High and Low

Following my posts on all of the Ultraflight Mirages that have been registered in New Zealand, here are a couple photos of of Mirages in their element:

I understand that this photo, probably of ZK-FCA, is of Lorry (sp?) Jones descending from a height record attempt when he reached 10,000 feet.  Can anyone add anything to this story?

And by contrast, here is George Taylor flying his Mirage ZK-EYN on an aerial lambing beat over his farm at Mossburn.  Quite a few early microlights were used for farm work including spraying and I will detail some examples in a future post. 

DHC 2 Beavers ZK-AZB and ZK-BVA/2

Because we like Beavers and posted about ZK-FPZ yesterday, here are photos of Patchett Ag-Air's two Omaka based Beavers at Healthy Bastards 2026:

We have posted the extensive history of ZK-AZB HERE, but that post didn't include its ownership by Patchett Ag-Air from August 2025.

We have also posted the history of ZK-BVA2 HERE but again that didn't include its ownership by Patchett Ag-Air from May 2025.

As well as ZK-FPZ there are two other Beavers on the register - ZK-CKH with NZ Warbirds at Ardmore, and ZK-SBV with Zodie Investments Ltd of Karamea.

And there are apparently a couple more Beavers being rebuilt at Rangiora.

Thanks for the photos Tim.

DHC 2 Beaver ZK-FPZ at Tauranga

We have posted about Beaver ZK-FPZ previously HERE but we haven't yet had a good photo of it in its latest scheme, until now:

Warwick Hamilton captured it recently at Tauranga wearing Taupo Sport Skydivers script.  It is owned by Venture Aviation Ltd (John Funnell) since way back on 31/3/98. 

Thanks for the photo Warwick.

PAC 750XL ZK-JBC/2 Has Flown Again at Hamilton

The Pacific Aerospace 750XL ZK-JBC2 has recently been returned to the air by Part 66 Maintenance at Hamilton.  It had been out of service since Farmers Air was liquidated in 2025:

It has been owned by Super Air Ltd since May 2025 and is now flying in their colours (with a nod to the old Farmers Air scheme).

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Mirages (5) - Personalised Registration Mirages

For this final batch of Mirages here are six of them that had personalised registrations:

I have already covered Ken Asplin's Mirage ZK-KJA which was the first Mirage to be registered in New Zealand, on 28 December 1981.  You can see the link to that post HERE

ZK-LJT

ZK-MOT at Motueka in 1982

ZK-MRO (possibly, Not owners initials).

ZK-PAB

ZK-RVT

That is all 39 Ultrafight Mirages that we have had registered in New Zealand.  There may have been others that were not registered and there certainly were Mirages here before microlights were required to be registered.  If you were counting we have photos of 22 of them, and if any blog readers have photos of any of the others (or know of someone who might have early microlight photos) we would be delighted to see them and post them.