A new colour scheme for ZK-CBS

 Lord Nelson grabbed this long shot of the Patchett Ag Air Ltd's Cessna 185A ZK-CBS c/n 185-0398 in its new paint scheme.

Nice to see it retains a small "Mount Cook Lilly" on its fin.

SEE HERE for more photos of ZK-CBS.  Just keep scrolling down.

A Couple More from Ardmore Yesterday 1-10-2026

Yesterday I was with a group of MOTAT volunteers led by Flyernzl who were interested to see a couple of Mosquitos in the flesh.  In between Mosquitos we had lunch at the Ardmore cafe at a reserved table on the deck.  It was quite neat to be able to sit there with my camera handy while a succession of aircraft came and went.  Here are a couple of them:

The Embraer EMB 500 Phenom 100 ZK-PHN taxied out and took off.  This is a 2011 model that has been operated by owners in Odessa in the Ukraine, Tbilisi in Georgia and in Guernsey before coming to New Zealand in December 2020.  It was registered ZK-PHN on 8/12/20 to Pouaki Investments Ltd of Auckland and it is operated by Pacific Jets Ltd of Ardmore.

And somewhat incongruously an ag helicopter arrived, being Helisika's Airbus AS 350 B2 Squirrel equipped as a sprayer ZK-IDJ3.  Helisika Agricultural Ltd have only owned it since May 2026.

And on the Mosquito front there is good progress on both the B IV series 2 bomber DZ542 at Drury (this is for sale and you can find out more about it on the net), and also the FB Mark VI TE881 at Avspecs with engine runs not too far away I reckon.  More exciting times!

Northern Rescue Helicopter's Leonardo AW 169 ZK-IHB/2 at Ardmore Today 1-10-2026

The latest Northern Rescue Helicopter's Leonardo AW 169 was out at Ardmore today.  This is the fourth Leonardo AW 169 in their upgraded fleet:

ZK-IHB2 (c/n 69062) is a 2018 model built by Leonardo Helicopters spA in Milan, Italy.  It was registered as SE-JSI on 1 Feb 2018 to Vertical Aviation No.2 Ltd, Dublin, Ireland and was operated as an air ambulance in Sweden.  It was cancelled on 15/11/24 and shipped to New Zealand.

It was registered as ZK-IHB2 on 19/2/25 to Northern Rescue Helicopter Ltd of Whangarei, but it has only recently been restored to airworthy status.
 

King Airs rule the roost at Nelson September 30th.

Bill Mannix snapped these three Beechcraft King Airs at Nelson yesterday 30-09-2026.

The locally based King Air B200 of the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service ZK-FDT2 c/n BB-1934 entered service on 12-12-2023.

A more informative post on this airframe can be seen HERE

In the background above is the King Air B200 ZK-LFL c/n BB-1814 as registered with Air Freight NZ Ltd and operated by Life Flight.

As mentioned previously HERE

Above we have ZK-SDH2 c/n BB-1643 - also a King Air B200, registered to Skyline Aviation of Napier but operated by Southern Districts Health out of Momona (Dunedin).

This was first noted in the USA in late 1998 as N23356 with Raytheon for delivery to the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Jandakot, West Australia as VH-LWO from July of 1999.

From November 2010 it was with two private operators before being ferried from Gold Coast, through Norfolk Island to reach Napier on 29-08-2020.

It became ZK-SDH2 with Skyline on 01-10-2020 - with the SDH registration inferring

Southern Districts Health.

PAL XL 750 Falco 3000 ZK-PNX at Hamilton

The Super Air Pacific Aerospace Ltd XL 750 modified to Falco 3000 configuration ZK-PNX has been wheeled out by Part 66 Maintenance at Hamilton in a spectacular new colour scheme:

ZK-PNX in its new Super Air scheme which features the logo of parent company Ballance Agri Nutrients prominently.  This scheme might be a one off although Super Air do operate another Falco 3000 being ZK-JBC.  The photo is a screen shot from the Part 66 Maintenance Facebook page.

Piper PA18-95 Super Cub ZK-BSK

After being hangared at Whitianga airfield for some years the acquisition of Super Cub ZK-BSK by new Whitianga syndicate owners has seen it return to flying.   Originally built in November 1960 it first flew at Ardmore in March 1961 before delivery to the Wellington Aero Club.   Today it flew down to Pauanui airfield for coffee with 6 other Whitianga resident aircraft.

 

Vans RV 7 ZK-JMX at Mercer

I recently came across a photo of Ken Watters' new RV 7, taken by Ken at Mercer:

ZK-JMX (c/n 70423) is a long term project of Ken's and was registered on 14/10/21.  It has not flown yet and Ken is working through the list of to do jobs before it is ready for final inspection.

Thanks for the photo Ken.

Heart of the Beast Cessna 183 and a Half at Wanaka

Gareth Arscott attended Warbirds Over Wanaka 2026 having travelled from England and he was intrigued with a Cessna fuselage that was on the airfield.  He couldn't find anything about N6188Z and it was as though it didn't exist.  So he asked me if we could find out anything about it.  And it turned out to be quite an interesting story. 

The story went like this - the fuselage marked as N6188Z was in fact cobbled together from the remains of a Cessna 182 and a Cessna 185 by a local metal worker.  Apparently the forward fuselage was from a 182 that crashed in the Wairau Valley a couple of years ago (but we are not sure of the registration), and the tailboom of a 185 was grafted on to replicate a crashed aircraft for the Brad Pitt film "Heart of the Beast".  The bottom cowling was from Cessna 185 ZK-MUR which overturned near Mavora Lakes on 2/10/21 (but is still current).

Then the fuselage was painted with the fictitious registration N6188Z and the colour scheme of the Cessna A185F amphibious floatplane ZK-DWW which was owned at the time by Darlington Drilling and Piling Ltd of Blenheim (Nigel Griffith).  Nigel flew ZK-DWW for the film and it "crashed", which is were the Cessna 183 and a half fuselage comes in, for the post crash scenes.

And here is a photo of ZK-DWW being filmed for the film (thanks to the Cessna 180/185 Facebook group).  Nigel Griffith did all the flying for the film.

"Heart of the Beast" is an adventure survival film starring Brad Pitt that is set in Alaska but was filmed on location around Queenstown Lake Wakatipu, Milford Sound and in the Mt Aspiring National Park, and it has just been released in cinemas.

Another Friday Rangiora visitation.

 Sitting pretty and awaiting is passengers today was the Pelorus Air Ltd's Cessna A185F Skywagon II ZK-PRM c/n 18504414. 

This ferried into Auckland from Pago Pago as N45738 on 27-11-1983 via Motor Holdings (Aviation) Ltd at Ardmore. It was registered to them on 14-12-1983 and delivered to new owner P & G Meads of Rotorua nine days later.

Current owner Cliff Marchant listed it from 26-10-1989 trading under the Sounds Air name, transferring to the Pelorus Air offshoot on 20-01-2014.

ZK-PRM is about to be back on its amphibious floats again very soon.

Why don't you have a look at the Pelorus Sounds facebook page HERE

One we have not seen on this blog previously is the Rotor Flight Dynamic Sub 4 Tandem Dominator ZK-RCY c/n EA81 418402 which was registered to Ian and Sonya Crook of Invercargill on 

08-05-2001.

This has a Subaru EA81 engine with Neil Hintz mods and 28 foot Dragon Wing blades and was first flown at Manapouri by Bill Black on 28-06-2001.

Ownership changed to David Shaw of Christchurch in April of 2008.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Goldwings

I reckon that the Goldwing was a really interesting microlight, as it was of different construction to the tube and sailcloth microlights that preceded it.  It was designed by Craig Catto and was inspired by Burt Rutan's Vari Eze.  Like the Vari Eze the Goldwing is a canard with swept wings and winglets and was of composite construction with the wing being of foam and aluminium covered by a glass fibre skin.  It was provided as a kit by Goldwing Ltd of Jackson,  California, and the construction time was stated to be around 200 hours.  The New Zealand agent was Ian Todd of Rotorua who was also a leading light in MAANZ.  (Click twice on the photos below to enlarge them to read the text better)

We have only had three Goldwings registered in New Zealand as below:

Missing a bit of tape from the E.

ZK-FDE (c/n MAANZ/126)

Registered 8 Sep 1982 to Ian R. Todd, Lake Okareka, Rotorua, then 29 Nov 1983 H. W. A. Barr, Whangarei, then 29 Jun 1988 D. M. Moynihan, Whangarei, then 7 Jul 1994 M. J. Douglas, Whangarei, then 27 Sep 1998 K. W. Sample, Hikurangi and Kawerau, then 6 Aug 2000 Donald F. R. McMillan, Kaikohe, then 27 Jan 2003 Neil M. France, Auckland, then 30 Sep 2005 Russell K. Brodie, Temuka.    Cancelled 2 Oct 2008 as withdrawn from use.  It is currently preserved at Rangitata Island.

ZK-FDV (c/n MAANZ/151)

Registered 11 Oct 1982 to Ray A. Stonehouse, Rotorua, then 13 Nov 1987 Ian F. Heappy & ? Watt, Ohakune @ 25 hrs FT, then 4 Jun 1993 Robert M. Payne, Te Awamutu, then 6 Sep 1997 A (Tony) R. Wood, Wellington.  Cancelled 10 Aug 2000 as destroyed.  The demise of this aircraft is a mystery as no accident was ever reported.

ZK-FKD (c/n MAANZ/292)

Registered 8 Nov 1984 to Ian Todd Marine & Sports Ltd, Rotorua (First Flight Waharoa 26 Jan 1985), then 24 Mar 1993 P. H. Cook, Patea, then 6 Jul 1993 M. J. Harre, Stratford. Cancelled 6 Nov 2000 as withdrawn from use (seen at Rotorua).