Question time #50 with 2nd clue added.

A fluke shot !

But of what ?

04-06-2009. Due to unpopular demand I have added a second clue below.

Same object - different direction.

Question time # 47 Resolution

PIK 20 ZK-GKG c/n 20067 as flown by John Robinson.

Pekka Tammi was a student at the Polytekniknikkojen IlmailuKerho RY, (which is a longer way of saying PIK) where with a bit of help from Ilkka Rantasalo and Raimo Nurminen he designed a glider to meet the recently changed 15m standard class rules (1971 - 72 we are talking here). This included the use of water ballast and wing flaps. It is the wing flaps/brakes that make this glider so different from most which tend to have what are generally referred to as Schempp-Hirth wing brakes and separate conventional trailing edge flaps. The Schempp-Hirth brakes pop up out of the wing surface (sometimes below as well) somewhere about the wing spar region of the wing. This destroys the lift over that section of the wing and increases the drag and therefore the rate of descent. The PIK on the other hand has trailing edge flaps down to about 40 degrees and beyond that - down to 90 degrees are barn door brakes. With the brakes so far back on the wing the centre of pressure moves back when they are deployed and the flying attitude changes to very nose down.

The above photo from Andy Heap shows the approach mode of GKG with it all hanging out. Full brakes and wheel down. This gives the approximately -45 degree attitude - however the flight attitude is actually nearer to about -30 degrees. A very unnerving feeling standing on the peddles for the first few flights watching the ground arriving.

Again unlike other gliders with Schempp-Hirth type brakes which can be altered +/- during the approach to suit aiming points, descent rates etc : On the PIK it is normally; once down thats it ; your are committed. So the secret for the PIK was to make absolute certain you will reach the landing field before cranking the brakes out.

It is also surprising how little round out is actually needed to plop this glider down.

Another useless bit of information is that in the PIK if you are too high on final with it all hanging down, you can actually poke the nose down even more and instead of the speed building up alarmingly as per the normal glider, the drag actually increases and the descent naturally steepens even more.

By my guess we have had 9 PIK's in NZ. 6 model 20's and 3 model 30's. Some being self launching.

I very much regret not purchasing this glider when I had the chance back in 93.

Photos lifted from the Andy Heap collection.

Rotorway Executive ZK-HUN

Rotorway Executive ZK-HUR3 c/n 3216 was built in between 1986 and 1988 by Orville Neisingh from a factory kit and registered as the Neisingh Exec with the c/n 001. Tom Taylor acquired it and partially dismantled it for conversion to a Turbine engine. This was never completed and it was sold to Bruce Burdekin in 2007.
Bruce imported it into NZ and set up at number 5 hangar at Wigram and registered it as ZK-HUR on 20-03-2007. Alas it proved not to be quiet what Bruce had purchased.
A new mainframe was purchased but damaged in transit. This was repaired. Then a new tail boon and tail rotor was obtained. The engine is an in house Rotorway 152 of 140hp. This drives onto a quad V drive belt. With the closure of Wigram this project has moved to Rangiora, creating more delay, but it is progressing slowly.

Seldom seen visitors from out west.

Two reasonably seldom seen aircraft dropped in to Rangiora for fuel following an outing from their respective bases near Sheffield in inland Canterbury this afternoon.
Above is Piper PA-18-95 Super Cub ZK-BKX c/n 18-4684 of Fred Bull.

And the one and only (in NZ) Beagle Auster A109 Airdale ZK-CCW c/n B528 of Charlie Draper.
This is one of only 43 built and about five airworthy survivors.

Another Photo of ZK-AEJ at Foxpine 1995

Breaking the cabin fever at Rangiora today.

After nearly two weeks of horridible weather in the Christchurch area we got a lovely cool sunny day today. I dropped into Rangiora for a while this afternoon and the place was really buzzing. Aircraft and people pleased to get airborne.
Murphy Rebel ZK-VAL2 [c/n 408R] with Neville Sommerville dashing off.

Rans S6ES TD Coyote 11 ZK-DYM [c/n 4051657] (Delta Yankee Kermit) about to commit aviation.

Ed Langston thrashing the circuit in his Vans RV-4 ZK-SIM2 [c/n 2826]

The Clayton Auster J4 ZK-AXC [c/n 2080] just off it annual.

Jodel D.11 ZK-EDG [c/n AACA/17/2] locally based just in from checking the curvature of the earth.

Heli CD Contractors Hughes 369E ZK-HCD3 [c/n 0021E] departing after refueling.

Ruth departing in the Tecnam P2002 Siera RG ZK-SRG2 [c/n 364]. It has been based on the nearby Vallance airstrip for a while.

ZK-DDL2 the Tecnam P2004 Bravo [c/n 051] of Diamond Plant and Equipment Hire was out for a breath of air fresh.

The Small's Cessna 172L Skyhawk ZK-DAW [c/n 59737] from the Haka Valley dropped in briefly. They have had this for nearly 35 years now.

Cessna A185F Skywagon ZK-DSO [c/n A185F-02282] about to venture forth on a local flight.

And happiness is:- Terry Salmon back after a 45 minute blat in Corby CJ-1 Starlet ZK-EEZ [c/n AACA/130/1].

ZK-REX moving aside for another ZK-REX.

ZK-REX4 above was built by Rex and Ruth Newman at Omaka and was first registered on 15-07-2004 after some 1900 hours of labour. This is a Vans RV7A c/n 71200 and is one of three built by Rex. This was re-registered as ZK-RFX on the 26-05-2009.

The second edition became ZK-MIS and was registered by Rex on 19-10-2007 before being relisted to The COD Impact Trust on 09-01-2008.

Rex now has a third such aircraft almost ready to roll out. My guess being that this will become ZK-REX5 in the very near future.

[As a matter of interest: If a registration has been issued several times, I add a number to indicate which allocation we are discussing. In the case above we are talking about ZK-REX issues number 4 and maybe 5].
To help complete the picture:-
ZK-REX1 was a Cessna 310B [c/n 310B-35654] from 1958 until 1959.
ZK-REX2 was a Embraer 110P2 Bandeirante [c/n 110-184] between 1989 and 1996.
ZK-REX3 was a Embraer 110P1 Bandeirante [c/n 110407] between 1996 and 1999.
ZK-REX4 was Vans RV7A [c/n 71200] as above.

ZK-AEJ

At opening of Browns Road airport, New Plymouth, 4th March 1967




At Ardmore 2003

So sad that this wonderful old aircraft has departed this country after 76 years here.
In my view, this is one occasion where the Historic Artifacts act should have been bought into play.

The Racing has gone out of Rugby, Racing & Beer.

De Havilland DH60M (Gipsy 11) , c/n 1542 , ZK-AEJ, often referred to as "The Racing Moth" has been cancelled as exported after being advertised for sale some time. The Beech G17S ZK-MOE (c/n B-14) and the DH89A ZK-SWR (c/n 6853) have also been advertised.

ZK-AEJ has an extensive history which I have listed below.

I don't actually have any really good pictures of it, but these three will give some idea of its radiant beauty.

Top pic shows it at Rangiora on 19-06-2002 whilst undergoing repairs following a woopsie.

Centre & lower pics taken earlier at Mandeville on 11-12-1991.

It was cancelled on 20-05-2009 as exported.

Brief history :-

De Havilland DH60M c/n 1542 gained its first Certifiate of Registration as G-AAXG in May of 1930 and although still under the ownership of the De havilland Aircraft Co Ltd went to Alan S Butler. First flight was on 26-06-1930 with its C of A (N0 2603) being issued the same day.

It was built as a special "one off" racer with a flush covering over the front cockpit, a smaller undercarriage and was said to have had non folding wings. [Not sure about that because it certainly has folding wings now].

It was flown into second place in the 1930 Kings Cup race by Alan Butler on 05-07-1930.

It was then entered into the International Touring Competition in July & August of 1930 and was given the competition number of "K5" [As seen in the pic above].

Its UK registration was cancelled in August 1930 and delivered to Eduoard Bret of Cannes, France who won the Coupe Zenith des Avions Legers on 27-09-1930 with a record flight of 8 hours and 44 minutes around the Bordeaux - Tours - Orly - Marseille - Toulouse - Bordeaux circuit. It was registered in France as F-AJZB on 23-10-1930 to Eduoard Bret. He also won the Coupe Zenith in 1931.

The aircraft returned to the UK in February 1933 as part exchange for the DH80A G-ABDG with its French registration being cancelled in April of 1933.

It took up its olde UK registration of G-AAXG on 23-02-1933 with The Honorable Brian Lewis who traded as Brian Lewis & Co Ltd out of Heston. Its C of A was renewed on 09-03-1933 and was then sold to Lieutenant Home R A Kidston and was delivered to DH at Stag Lane in June 1933 for packing and shipping out to NZ.

It was shipped out on HMS Diomede (Kidson was serving on this ship at the time) in January 1934 with the intention of becoming ZK-ADF. But it was not flown and the registration was not taken up. It departed on the ship again until they returned to Auckland again on 12-11-1934

It was then operated in NZ still in its UK markings until they were cancelled in December of 1935.

In the meantime it had been registered in NZ as ZK-AEJ on 16-09-1935 [I think] to R G Tappenden of Auckland. (I assume the date difference between its NZ registration & the UK cancellation would be due to the mail delivery time).

It went to J Allen of Wairoa, but was based in Hastings on 21-10-1936.

With hostillities it was impressed into the military on 09-09-1939 but because of its special nature was not used, but stored until sold off in 1942 to Butler & Carrol.

It then moved to R N Brown who traded as Snake Gully Airways. Its first post war flight was on 20-12-1945.

It returned to J Allen again before being acquired by Gordon Reader under Early Bird Flying of Palmerston North on 12-09-1966. Here it got named "Racing". Two other aircraft in this fleet carried the names Rugby [Rearwin ZK-AKF] and Beer [DH 94 Moth Minor ZK-BFP] .(hence the title of this blog).

Earlybird Flying Ltd of PN appear on 17-03-1967 until it was withdrawn and stored at Paraparaumu of 07-01-1971.

In October 1984 it was sold and on 22-01-1985 was registered to Gerald Grocott of Hasting and roaded to Temple Martin at Hasting for a rebuild and reflown on 01-07-1987.

It was known to then spend time at Mandeville from about February 1991 still owned by Gerald Grocott.

It was damaged whilst taxying at Dargaville on 19-02-2000 and then sent down to Pat Scotter at Rangiora for repairs [pic above]. It was then flown back to Hastings.

& That briefly is the story as I see it.

Any additions, corrections etc most welcome.

All Blacks at Ardmore

Despite the bad weather at Ardmore on Tuesday afternoon, the all-black Eurocopters of Advanced Flight were busy. Their latest addition, EC 130B4 ZK-IJV, departed to the north.

ZK-HSW/4, in the fleet since late 2006 arrived, and was soon pushed under cover.



While ZK-HXW/4 sat and watched it all.

More cancellations.

Cirrus Design SR20 ZK-SRL , c/n 1500 , was built in 2005 and initially registered as N321SN and ferried into Archerfield, Australia on 30-05-05 to become VH-SRL3 to Sunland Aviation Service Pty Ltd on 23-06-05. It crossed the Ditch on 08-01-2007 into Ardmore to become ZK-SRL on 31-01-2007 with Cirrus Australasia (NZ) Ltd before moving across the field to the Auckland Aero Club (Inc) on 23-02-07.

It recrossed the Ditch from Whangarei to Norfolk Island and into Lord Howe Island on 19-05-09 and then across to Coffs Harbour the next day.

NZ registration was cancelled on 20-05-09.

Above pic at Ardmore 18-03-2008 Robinson R22A Alpha ZK-HXR , c/n 0459 , a product of 1984, spent three years in the US as N8557B before moving to NZ to become ZK-HXR on 03-11-87 with Skysales Aviation (NZ) Ltd of Christchurch. After several owners it was listed to Heli-Pest Ltd of Haast on 31-05-2006.
Sadly it crashed into Lake Wanaka during a ferry flight on 01-11-2008 with the loss of the pilot.

Above pic at Rangiora on10-05-2007.

Pic below at Nelson on 25-01-1989.

Tiger Moth ZK-BAR finally cancelled.

De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth ZK-BAR is pictured above at Ashburton on 25-07-2006.

Registered in NZ on 04-11-2004 to John Copland using the c/n of 1123. This apparently is not its true c/n but probably a corruption of 445/T.123 which was applied to A17-401 which is thought to be the original identity of this aircraft when it was constructed for the Royal Australian Air Force. Its history is a bit obscure but VH-AKF is linked to this airframe from March 1947 until a crash at Sale, Victoria on 06-01-1950. Then from 08-10-1958 VH-AHB appeared, built from many parts including VH-AKF. VH-AHB crashed at Kerang in Victoria on 10-10-1964 and seems to have disappeared for forty years to pop up as ZK-BAR.

Sadly it crashed and was burnt out not long after take off from Ashburton on 02-12-2006 claiming the life of its owner and his passenger.

Cancellation effective from 16-04-2009.

Question time # 47

What type of aircraft are we looking at here then ?

If you know that, then you will know its NZ civil registration !

Then you will also have a very good idea of who the pilot is on this occasion ?

Question time # 49 Resolved

Well I go away for a couple of days to come back and find that Anonymous has got the answer 100% first up.

Well done.

It is indeed the manufacturers plated from a P&W R1340 Radial. This one on Harvard ZK-XSA.

Jetconnect goes Australian

Caught up with the latest Jetconnect 737-476 ZK-JTS at Auckland International today.
One point of interest is that this aircraft also carries the "Spirit of Australia" tagline, which has been carried by the VH-registered Qantas aircraft but has been absent from the local variety until now.
Then out came ZK-JTP, which has also been painted with this tagline. ZK-JTP did not carry this logo in earlier days, so perhaps the fleet is being prepared for a return to the Australian register.

ZK-JTP now:



and in earlier days (27Jan2007)

Question time # 49

What is the meaning of these numbers ?
Where are you likely to find them ?
What sort of aircraft are you likely to find it on. (Several options).


New rules this time;

Have as many guesses as you like.
I will not be responding to any questions until Sunday.

Some More Nieuport Niews

Following my previous post on Nieuports in New Zealand, I contacted Ian Sowman of Napier who built this Circa Reproductions Nieuport 11 ZK-WWI, which I think completes the Nieuport replicas in New Zealand. Thanks to Ian for the photo. As you can see, this Nieuport is different from the others as it is wearing a German colour scheme. This is because it is actually a replica of a Siemens-Schuckert D 1b, which was a German copy of a captured Nieuport. The original D 1b differed from the Nieuport in having the top wing set around 100mm lower, and having strengthened centre struts. The original also featured a Siemens-Halske 7 cylinder rotary engine that drove the propellor in the opposite direction of rotation through a gearbox that eliminated torque reaction. Ian's aircraft is powered by a Rotax 503. The colour scheme is modelled after a scheme worn by a similar replica in the USA that is part of the Kansas City Dawn Patrol (but that is another story).

And due to some factual inexactitudes in my previous post, I post the following corrections:

This is ZK-NIE (1)

This is ZK-JOZ

And this is ZK-NIE (2)

Thanks to Flyernzl for sorting this out.

Question time # 48 resolved.

Phew !
Near enough there QW.
It is a hopper loading door on PAC 750XL ZK-XLG whilst with Kairanga Aviation.
The boss - Hallett Griffin - is standing on the wing (note foot & hand).
This aircraft was originally ZK-JAD2 from 21-05-2005. Changed to ZK-XLG on 24-11-06 and cancelled on 11-08-2008 to become VH-NZJ on 12-08-08. (nice pic of VH-NZJ there QW).

Turbulent comes back

In amongst the restorations in the April 2009 CAA updates, Druine D.31 Turbulent ZK-CGK reappears.
This aircraft was one of the production batch listed by Aerocraft (NZ) Ltd. of Palmerston North in the 1970s. This aircraft was not completed at that time, and the registration was canceled in August 1977.
P J McCarty of Paraparaumu acquired the project, and apparently moved to the Auckland area soon after as ZK-CGK was seen in a hangar at Ardmore in 1982, still under construction.
The aircraft was restored to the register in January 1988 and remained active until late 1999 when the registration was again canceled.
It has now reappeared, registered to the same owner, now resident in the Papakura area.

Question time # 48

So if it's not an F15 airbrake - What is it ?

What aircraft type is it ?

In the case of more than one correct answer:-
Can you tell me who you would possibly expect to be standing beside it ?

And if there is still a flood of correct answers :- You will have to tell me what the initial registration of this aircraft was ?

Question time # 46 resolved.

Now that wasn't so hard, was it ?

It is indeed the undercarriage up locking device on a Yak 52. ZK-YRA actually.

Well done cessna185.

Question time # 46

What is the function of this object ?

What aircraft type are we looking at ?

Another Departure!

A NZ resident since 1995, Piper PA31 Navajo ZK-FIL has departed our fair shores for Australia with it departing from Auckland for Kerikeri and Norfolk Island 12May then to Lord Howe Island and Toowoomba 13May.

ZK-FIL was imported to NZ by Hamilton Aeromotive in late May 1995 as N8051Q and was intially registered ZK-JFF. From memory, it only wore this registration very briefly before becoming ZK-FIL and moving to Sunair flying from their Tauranga base. It remained with them until it came to grief at Hawera 09Feb08 when it was inadvertantly landed wheelsup. Its ownership transferred to Air2There of Paraparaumu and the aircraft was bought back to a flying state and is seen here in April this year being prepared for its export to Australia.

Paraparaumu April 2009, Steve Lowe photo

Question time # 45 No winner !

The two round datum plates can be found on the side of some Chipmunks. In this case it is ZK-CPY which is still having a few items sorted at Rangiora before its first flight in NZ. (excuse the wiggly line).

The other item was a close up of part of the spinner backing plate on the same aircraft.