Honey Bebe Delivery Flight South (1)

As some blog readers may know, I have been trying unsuccessfully to sell my Jodel D9 Bebe  ZK-KMM "Honey Bebe" for more than a year.  Maybe this was because she is hand started (prop swung) and doesn't have brakes, but that is as I built her 43 years ago and she turned out to be really lovely to fly.  So as I had decided to finish my pilot-in-command flying career what to do with her?  I investigated donating her to a museum but that didn't seem hopeful for various reasons.  Then I talked to Russell Brodie who told me that they would be delighted to have her and fly her at Rangitata Island where the sport of flying is very strong.  So that is what I decided to do.

That bought up the question of how to get her from Warkworth to South Canterbury and the obvious answer was to fly her down there.  She was ready to go with a fresh oil change and and what I needed was a favourable weather window.  And that is what I saw on the weather forecast on Monday 29 June - a very strong high was going to be parked over the country for 4 or 5 days so I quickly decided to head off the next day.  I packed a change of clothes and a warm jersey and gloves and some basic tools as well as a 5 litre fuel container and funnel for refueling when I had to use Mogas.  I had pre-planned the flight in my head and also carried an AOPA map book of the country as well as notes for the aerodromes I would land at, and these enabled me to set off with no electronic aids and navigate by dead reckoning following coasts, rivers and roads (IFC and IFR).

So I set off from Kaipara Flats airfield at 11.00 am on Tuesday 30 June bound for Te Kowhai and Stratford under blue skies and with light winds:

Flying down the beach off Woodhill Forest after crossing the Kaipara Harbour - on my way!

Past Piha and Lion Rock.

And on across the Manukau Heads under 1500 feet.

Then cut across to the Glenbrook Steel Mill which is a good landmark, with a slight wind on the nose.

Then the I Follow Rivers bit down the Waikato River.

And when you get to Huntly change to Black Sands frequency for Te Kowhai.

Brien O'Brien and Steve Woodhead flew down to Te Kowhai to see me off and here I am ready to start the next leg of my journey.  Thanks guys.

Take off from Te Kowhai.  Thanks to Steve Woodhead for the photos.

I flew South of Mt Pirongia and out to the West Coast at the Kawhia Harbour.  That is the Aotea Harbour and Mount Karioi in the distance.

Over the Southern part of the Kawhia Harbour.  The small settlement in the middle of the photo is Te Waitere I think.  A very remote village.

The West Coast black sands coastline is pretty rugged.

More cliffs with more black sands as we head South.

Then Mokau off the wing which is a good landmark.

Getting there now, about to fly past the spectacular White Cliffs just South of Tongaporutu.

Finally I cut inland after the White Cliffs to stay clear of the New Plymouth control zone and aim for Mount Taranaki.  Keep this up with New Plymouth out to starboard for reference until you cross State Highway 3 then turn left and follow the highway to Stratford.  

My flight times were 1 hour 35 minutes to Te Kowhai and 1 hour 45 minutes to Stratford.  The sun was getting a bit low when I arrived to be met by Wayne Richmond who had overhauled my VW motor all those years ago.  Thanks for your help Wayne.  After topping up with Avgas we put Honey Bebe away in Wayne's hangar which was great because there was quite a frost overnight (Stratford is nearly 1,000 feet above sea level) and there still wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Ashburton fling wings on Friday.

 There were two helicopters out during my fleeting visit.

The Hughes 369D ZK-HDE3 c/n 610992D was conveniently pushed out of its hangar just as I was strolling from the Aero Club.

This rather interesting D model began life in the US in June of 1981 and became N5016G followed by N317BM in about August of 2006. 

It hit the NZ register on 09-09-2011 for just seven days as ZK-HBZ3 with Oceania Aviation Ltd of Ardmore, only to be re-registered as ZK-HDE3 on the 15th, still with Oceania, until being listed to Heli-Flightworks Ltd of Ashburton on 04-04-2012. 

It returned to Oceania from mid-May of 2018 and then on to Hokitika Helicopter Services Ltd from 27-08-2018. From October 2021 it was in the care of Hoki Heli Hire Ltd of Hokitika.

It then went to Mount Hut Aviation near Methven for a major conversion to become a Hughes 369 Super D model and was listed to its current operator Alister Yeoman of Ashburton.

SEE HERE for some details on this Super D conversion.
Thanks to Alister for photo permission.

Popping up from behind another hangar was the Hughes 269B ZK-HOR2 c/n 840132.

Cast your mind back to August of 1965 - because this was when this Hughes 269B N9408F first appeared on the US register.

After at least five operators in the USA it came to NZ and became ZK-HTU from 29-03-1985 and initially operated out of Hanmer.

Four more operators followed until it had an incident in the Tararua Ranges on 27-02-1994.

Following repairs it returned to the register as ZK-HOR2 on 19-12-1995. 

After five more operators it joined current owner Alex Forsyth of Ashburton on 10-09-2023.

A fleeting visitation to Ashburton on Friday the 3rd

 A quick visit to Ashburton on Friday for a pick up found the following three aircraft out getting some fresh air.

Above we have the Tecnam P92 Echo MkII ZK-EAD3 c/n 1658 which was new to Gyrate NZ (2017) Ltd of Mount Maunganui on 14-10-2021. It arrived in Ashburton from Tauranga, via Dannevirke on May 28th.

Below is the Tecnam P92 Echo MkII ZK-RJR c/n 1642 which has been with the NZ agent Jetboat.Com Ltd of Gore as a demonstrator since initially registered on 25-06-2021.
It was delivered to Ashburton via Oamaru on April the 23rd.

Both have now been taken on by Top Gun Aviation Ltd of Ashburton and are on line with the Mid Canterbury Aero Club.

Not very often noted outside was Kevin Langford's Yakovlev Yak - 55 ZK-JPO c/n 880609.

All three have been previously mentioned in these pages.

Thursday at Rangiora.

 And still they come.

Another of the Oamaru based New Zealand Airline Academy's Tecnams about to depart Rangiora following maintenance with Griff of Clearprop Ltd.( See HERE )

ZK-NYU is c/n 1422 and joined the Academy in February this year.

Below we have a desperation long range shot of the Michael Godfrey Kitplanes Of Africa Explorer  ZK-MSC c/n 159-01-12.

This was I believe its first flight from Rangiora following its arrival from up north and after completion of the new owners tweaking to suit his needs.

Falcon 7X N997X into Christchurch on Friday the 3rd

 Cruising into Christchurch on Friday was the Dassault Falcon 7X N997X c/n 144 as captured here by Tony McFarlin.

A product of 2011 and initially registered with the French test registration of F-WWVY before taking up F-GYBJ from 16-03-2012. In early November of 2012 it joined Jet Asia Ltd as B-8206 and then became N656FN from early February of 2018. It was re-registered to N997X in June of 2022.

Bell LongRanger ZK-IWI at Nelson

Noted at Nelson on Wednesday was the Bell 206L-1 LongRanger ZK-IWI4 c/n 45213.

This LongRanger started as N2750R before delivery to Canada to become C-GLNC in about March of 1980. In early November of 1988 it became N91ZT followed by VH-JOW with Sunshine Coast Helicopter Rescue Service at Maroochydore, Queensland from 19-06-1989. It was then operated by Commercial Helicopters Pty Ltd of Mudgee, NSW from December 2009 until becoming ZK-IWI4 with Coast To Coast Helicopters Tasman Ltd of Upper Moutere last month.

Another Bill Mannix photo.

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.