Saturday, 13 September 2008

Demise of ZK-DXS.

Cessna 177RG Cardinal ZK-DXS , c/n 0981 , arrived in NZ in November 1976 courtesy of Dalhoff & King Aviation of Ardmore to whom it was registered on 19-01-1977.
It was listed to P T Collins of Hastings on 21-06-77 and used by the HB & EC Aero Club. Aviation News were noted using it in the early 80's.
Pic below shows it at Pudding Hill on 25-01-1981 with Aviation News script on tail + large bird .

It went to Airwork (NZ) Ltd of Christchurch on 13-07-81 and was moved on to the Ardmore Flying School on 13-11-81.
Pic below shows it at Invercargill on 22-11-1983.
At New Plymouth on 20-03-1985.

And at Ardmore on 02-11-1993. All three with Ardmore Flying School

It spent a short time at the Bay of Islands Aero Club from July 1998 until January 1999 when it moved to Southern Air at Invercargill. Wakatipu Aero Club operated it from April 2000 until Cardinal Flyers of Feilding appear on 10-07-2000
Pic below at Wanaka on 29-02-2002 with Cardinal Flyers.
JJ Airways Ltd of North Shore became the listed operator on 19-05-07.
It crashed on take off from the Fox Glacier airstrip on Friday 5th taking out the power supply to the township. All three persons were injured with the pilot still in ICU at CHCH.
Mountain Helicopters lifted the wreck out of the bush on Thursday - three photos in the Press today.
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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous14 September 2008 at 05:15

    I tried to find the pictures with no success. Can you post the URL? Thx. VK

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dave Paull14 September 2008 at 08:36

    Morning there VK.
    A poor copy of the CHCH Press photos can be seen on the Wings Over Cambridge site at rnzaf.proboards43.com
    Open the third listed forum "NZ Civil Aviation - Yesterday & Today".
    Click on item #9 "Light plane crashes at Fox Glacier" and scroll down.
    Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MRCAviation14 September 2008 at 09:23

    BB, it actually came to grief during an attempted go-around from an aborted landing following the pilot's observation that it wasn't Franz Josef airstrip! If anyone has been in/out of Fox it is very much a one way strip (land east/takeoff west) only!

    Mike

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dave Paull14 September 2008 at 11:38

    Tks Mike.
    Yeah, I know the strip; been in and out a few times in my youth.
    My take off reasoning was based on the statement by the guy in the village (Chief of something) that heard the full noise followed by the sudden lack of noise.
    So an overshoot into rising ground then ?? Fox not Franz - Hmmm

    ReplyDelete
  5. MRCAviation14 September 2008 at 20:23

    Hmmmmm indeed! All the noise in the world won't get you out of a go 'round at Fox!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unknown19 May 2010 at 19:43

    far out, i used to fly this plane at ardmore flying school it was a great plane to fly. shame.

    ReplyDelete