Thursday 31 July 2008
Ardmore of late
At Ardmore 24Jul was this Hastings based Champion which has been on the registered since 1981!
Duchess ZK-FIC has taken on a new identity from 25Jun as ZK-SMI
Appears that Jetranger ZK-HOP has adopted a modified scheme.
Hughes 500D ZK-HRI from Masterton arrived at Oceania 24Jul.
New Trislander for GBA
Sunday 27 July 2008
Unknown Cessna ID
Question time #15
One and the same ZK-ICJ
And blow me down; here it is again. This time as ZK-ICJ at Tauranga on 10-02-2007. It was first listed in NZ to Clark & Jolly at Taupo on 01-10-2002. Then to Helilink on 17-02-04; Harbour & Gulf on 30-06-05 and now with Kiwi Kopters Tauranga Ltd from 15-12-05.
Patrille goes fencing #2
I hope the pilot purchased a Art Union ticket.
The aircraft is still alive and well with Tony Mackle out of Tea Pot Valley.
Question time #14 Answer
It was delivered to the Australian Army on 30-08-1962 having briefly been tested using the US registration of N2644Y. Interesting to note here that in earlier days Cessna used to register their aircraft using the last two numbers of the c/n as the last two numbers of the US registration.
In a similar vein the Australian military use the last three numbers of the c/n as the last three numbers of the military serial number - preceeded by a type number (98 for the Cessna 180) and the letter "A" for Australia.
In the case of this C180 it became A98-144. Its colour scheme in the early 1970's was full military scheme.
This particular C180 joined the Queensland Police Force in 1975 as VH-PFT, followed by a fist full of private owners until by 1992 it was with the Western Australia Skydiving Academy. In October 1994 it ended down in the mangroves near Broome.
It was shipped to NZ and over a four year period was rebuilt by Kim Christophers and registered as ZK-TUA on 24-09-1998 and first flew on 27-09-98. Why "TUA" well the next owner from 10-11-98 was Tim U Austin.
Hugh & Sam Bethell became the listed owners from 17-03-06, but when they both obtained C185's it moved on to David Sinclair of Balclutha from 25-10-2006.
No winner. Pic taken at Christchurch in November 1998
Sidewinder location !
I took the above shot of N50VL , c/n 55 , at Wanaka on 22-01-2002.
The FAA lists it as a Martin Van Lieden Sidewinder with an airworthiness date of 20-05-1987.
Also a sale reported to K A A F Museum Pursuit Inc. Still currently listed, but staus unknown.
Friday 18 July 2008
Question time #14
Omaka on 16th July
Thursday 17 July 2008
The things we do.
Sidling in towards the heli-pad close to the light house and auto weather station.In less than two hours all the lifting was done. This used to take yonks when supplies arrived at the landing rock on the east coast of the island by boat and lifted by crane (before the crane was decommissioned) and then loaded manually onto a very steep railway line. At the top of the railway items were then handled onto a trailer for dispersal as required. It is all much quicker, safer and probably cheaper these days.
Wednesday 16 July 2008
Pics from Auckland
Sunday 13 July 2008
Ah, Can't you just hear it !
But wot about "Agh ha Pratt & Whitney and Hamilton Standard"
Oh sweet memories - Can't you just hear it.
1941 was a good year for building North American Harvards. (ie, 67 years young).
Here we have ZK-XSA burning up some carbon credits and stimulating the ear drums as it heads back to its home strip.
Yak Yak Yak
Yak 55M ZK-YKV arrived back at NZRT a couple of minutes later. I imagine that with the pending Wigram closure it will be back to stay.
And the resident Yak 52 ZK-YRA of BDH Investments (Brian Hall) came out to puff some smoke.
Friday 11 July 2008
New batch of Robinson Helicopters at Skysales
Behind ISX is the all blue Robinson R44 ZK-HLD5 , c/n 12261, soon to be off for painting in its new operators scheme.
Thursday 10 July 2008
Rangiora news.
Saturday 5 July 2008
Squirrel ZK-HYS & Lama ZK-IRA go offshore.
Photo by Glen Reid of Skysales Aviation - lifted from an earlier blog on 16-12-2007.
ZK-EWD cancelled
Cessna 172P Skyhawk II ZK-EWD c/n 17275009 was imported new by Dalhoff and King Aviation of Ardmore and came on the register on 25-08-1981 for delivery to the D&K Flying School.
Following a period with Motor Holdings Air Services from 1982 - 1985 it moved to the Southland Aero Club. In August of 1991 it joined the Napier Aero Club and then to Flywrite at Feilding in February 1996. It was registered to Air Charter Manawatu in November 1998.
On 25-10-2007 it crashed into a river bed near Omaka (I believe) after clipping a fence during an overshoot following an attempt at a downwind landing.
It was cancelled from the register on 18-06-2008.
Friday 4 July 2008
Thursday 3 July 2008
Registration pending !
It carries the "Double Hill Station" titles on its tail boon and on the engine cover below the rotor head it has "Operated by Mt Hutt Helicopters".
This is ZK-HYY (without all of its previous Star Wars art work) in its new ID.
The first Fletcher ZK-BDS
It joined the NZ civil register as ZK-BDS on 09-09-1954 for Robertson Air Services Ltd at Hamilton and first flew here on 24-09-1954.
At this stage it had an open cockpit and was powered with a 225hp Continental O-470E.
By September 1956 it had an enclosed cockpit.
It had several engine upgrades over the years. In December 1960 it had a 240hp O-470N; In May 1967 a 260hp IO-470D was tested and in December 1975 it was up to a 300hp IO-520F
The above picture shows ZK-BDS in Robertson Air Services colour scheme at Hamilton on 03-09-1979 carrying the number "1" on its rudder and "Prototype" on its engine cowling.
It first flew with the 400hp Lycoming IO-720 on 21-12-1981 to become a FU24-950M.The final engine fitted was the turbine Walter 601D and it flew with this on 08-06-1999.
Here it is at Whakatane with its Walter engine on 16-03-2000.
On 20-09-2003 it was munted when it struck a hill in adverse weather at Matawai and was finally deregistered on 30-06-2008.Patrille does some fencing.
This pic taken with my old Kodak 620 in the days before I could afford telephoto or zoom lenses, shows the 180 on short final at Invercargill.
Obviously a little lighter. The port undercarriage left behind, and if you look at the horizontal tailplane you will note a change in dihedral. In fact the complete left elevator is missing and a portion of the right elevator was also missing. All turned out ok and the aircraft is still with us today.
As usual this pic is a digital photo of the original, which doesn't help the clarity in any way.
I stumbled over this pic in a heap of my unfiled ZK-B## photos whilst looking for a suitable photo for the next blog topic.
Wednesday 2 July 2008
Tuesday 1 July 2008
Hiller FH-1100 ZK-HCI
By my count, of the eight FH-1100's that reached our register, four are still around.