Ardmore Sightings

Piper PA23-250 Aztec ZK-FVP has been flitting around the country in recent weeks and was outside the avionics experts 30 Nov.


Schweizer 269C-1 ZK-HMC of H F T Limited taking time out from training 30 Nov.


Schweizer 269C-1 ZK-HNC also from the H F T Limited stable. 









AS350B2 Squirrel ZK-HOP of Helisika carried a brief flight 30 Nov.

 Above, Robinson R44 Clipper II ZK-HVV was receiving attention 23 Nov.

Agusta A119 Koala ZK-ITP minus identity and with a new paint job on 23 Nov.  The helicopter, once employed on medivac work out of New Plymouth as ZK-ITR, underwent an ownership change to Heliflite Pacific on 22 Nov and was cancelled from the register 30 Nov as being exported.  As at that date, the helicopter was still in the Heliflite hanger at Ardmore wearing this Westpac Rescue livery.


It was great to see something other than Cessna's doing circuit work at Ardmore 30 Nov. 
Pitts S1 ZK-MPM on the seal.  Check out http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2011/11/pitts-s-1-specials-of-new-zealand.html



Mountain Air/Fly My Sky BN2 Islander ZK-SFK departs Ardmore 30 Nov for the short (traffic permitting) hop across to Auckland Intl.

Vans RV7 ZK-NRV at Rangitata Island

Another photo from Allan Bowman taken at Rangitati Island today (29-11-2011) showing the Vans RV7 ZK-NRV (c/n 71414). This was registered to Alastair Kay of Dunedin on 25-01-2007 and first flew at Taieri on 01-04-2007.

A new local at Rangiora.

A recent new arrival at Rangiora is ZK-KJA, a classic from the late 1950's. This Piper PA24-180 Comanche has a relatively early c/n of 24-82 and appeared on the US register as N5076P. I can find nine US owners before it was cancelled and shipped to NZ, arriving here on 06-05-1998, for Cliff W Johnston of Havelock North. He used his initials to register it as ZK-CWJ2 on 21-01-1999 following a restoration. It was re-registered as ZK-KJA on 03-07-2007 with an ownership change the same day to Kevin Jane of Normanby. It was sold to James Turner on 25-10-2011 and I first spied it at Rangiora on the 30th.

As a useless aside: The first ZK-CJW was a Mount Cook Airlines 748 and was often referred to as Captain Williams Jallopy. Cliff Johnston has since built up a Alpi Pioneer Jay Hawk which has become ZK-CWJ3.

Dannevirke's Christmas Parade

The Hawkes Bay town of Dannevirke held its annual Christmas Parade over this last weekend, nothing spectacular about that I hear you say other than the fact local operator Outgro flew their turbine Robinson R66 ZK-HAG onto the back of their truck and participated in the procession.

ZK-HAG is unrecognisable from the accompanying photo taken soon after its arrival in the country earlier this year, the first R66 on the ZK register.

QW from www.galonghaulnews.blogspot.com photo

At Ardmore April 2011, MRC photo

ZK-CEC on the move.

Reims Cessna F406 Caravan 11 ZK-CEC2 (c/n F406-0012) is on the move. It was spotted at Taupo on 27-11-2011 by Henry McIntyre. It had just been flown in by Guy Stevenson. It has been stripped and is parked outside the Farmers Air Hangar.

It departed Taupo today (28-11-11) for Auckland, Norfolk Island and then on to Coolangatta. (Where next ?)
In its time in NZ it has flown under the ZK-CII2 , the ZK-VAA2 , ZK-XLC and finally the ZK-CEC2 registrations.
It has featured before on this blog in its Air Charter East Coast scheme. See

http://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2011/06/some-pics-from-gisborne-1.html

L V Eade = ZK-LVE Rans S6

Two more photos from Allan Bowman taken at Rangiora on 27-11-2011 showing the brand new Rans S-6ES Coyote 11 ZK-LVE (c/n 05051662ES) as built by Les Eade at Cheviot and registered on the 23rd.
Above it is having engine runs by Paul Woodley of Woodley Aircraft Services, and below with its cowls in place.

Below is a shot of the port wing completed and awaiting to be bagged. as seen at Cheviot on 03-08-2011

A view of the office as seen on 26-11-2011.

Les currently runs the Evans VP-1 ZK-VPI which, from memory he purchased in 2002 and re-worked it with a 1834cc VW engine.

Further up the Rangitata River.

Further up the Rangitata River from the earlier Rangitata Island posts Matt Hayes was at work.
Firstly on Arch King's strip he captured the Just Aircraft Highlander ZK-MLT (c/n JA212) with its 29 inch wheels and Rotax 914 turbo engine.
Below is the Alpi Pioneer 300 Hawk ZK-MWL (c/n 211) of Michael Leefe.

Based on this strip is Arch King's Cessna U206G Stationair 6 ZK-JDV (c/n U206G-04775). This was an import via Airflite South for the Otago Aero Club, reaching Dunedin from Australia on 28-06-1994.

The above pic shows ZK-JDV on the Lake Herron Strip yesterday.

 These two aerial shots were taken in the Lake Herron area yesterday.

It went to the Wakatipu Aero Club in July of 2000 & was photographed in their scheme at Queenstown on 16-08-2006, just days before it joined the Aoraki Mount Cook Ski Planes fleet.

At some point during its recent career it was badly damaged by hail and has had much re skinning carried out.

Hamilton visit by Henry M

Henry McIntyre has provided three photographs from Hamilton taken on Saturday 26-11-2011.
Outside the Pacific Aerospace hangars were  two PAC 750XL's.
Above is ZK-KBK (c/n 174) with temporary registration marks applied.
Below is ZK-KBP (c/n 178) in its Island Hoppers scheme with cargo pod fitted beneath. It will soon be heading over to Fiji to Join ZK-KBD.

Parked up and seemingly unused is the only Cessna T303 Crusader on our Register. ZK-EXA is c/n T303-00110, one of only 315 built. It was registered to Motor Holdings (Aviation) Ltd at Ardmore on 03-05-1982.

Below is a view of ZK-EXA in better times. Hamilton on 23-02-2009.

Mignet H.M.16 ZK-FLE

Currently stored at Rangitata Island with Russell Brodie is this Mignet H.M.16 ZK-FLE2 (c/n HM16/G/1) [Flying Flea]. These two photographs taken on 26-11-2011 by Allan Bowman show it out in the daylight with wings extended and folded.
As mentioned below this was constructed by Rob Germon of Ngatea and joined our register on 06-08-2001. Ownership transferred to C E & S J Taylor at Rotorua on 10-03-2002 and then to John Bissett of Timaru on 19-07-2004. Its registration was revoked on 12-04-2006 and it is now stored in Russell's collection.

Below is an extract from the write up that ZK-FLE received when it was first registered.

Mignet H.M.16/G ZK-FLE₂ is a development of the earlier Hm16 Flying Flea design from Henri Mignet in 1934. Rob Germon’s newer version has a much more developed fuselage, new reflexed aerofoil section and incorporates a re-developed centre of gravity situation. One needs to remember that Henri Mignet was only 5 foot tall. This aircraft has a wing area of 88 square feet with the front wingspan of 17.5 feet and a rear wingspan of 14.6 feet. Powered is by a 37 hp Cuyuna engine pulling an empty weight of 340 pounds and an all up weight of 600 pounds. Test flying should be underway as you read this column. The English speaking world tends to remember only the 1930 Hm14 Pou Du Ciel (Flying Flea) and the first book put out by the British Air League which did not include a true and correct C of G situation in their translation. Three of these machines appeared on the New Zealand register as ZM-AAA, ZM-AAB and ZM-AAC, with at least four others flying (one being involved in a fatal crash) and several more building projects known about during the mid 1930’s onward. At the same time there were over 100 flying in France. Henri produced a new book about the construction of the Hm14 but this I believe was never translated. There are currently over 400 Fleas, of various models, flying world wide including the model HM1000 used by the French Military for surveillance. Some two years ago Rob put forward a case to have Henri Mignet installed in the EAA Hall of Fame. This was successful and the EAA flew Henri’s son Pierre and his wife to the ceremony in the USA.

Rangitata Island 26-11-2011.

Some of the aircraft gathered on Saturday (26-11-2011) at Rangitata Island included the Simon Johnson Rans S-6 Coyote TD ZK-MOO2 (c/n 05051665-S), the Rans S-6S ZK-CDC2 (c/n 09071833-5) from the S6 Cartel, helping out with the ATC.

Also on site was the Tiger Moth ZK-BRL (Tiger 43), the Cessna 180 ZK-BUQ now based there with the Skydiving Kiwis, Cessna 172 ZK-DXL - also now based there and the Rans S10 ZK-ECA. Also on field was the John Lindner Fisher Horizon 11 ZK-JQM (c/n AH0025) which is now powered by a Rotax 582 (instead of the earlier Subaru engine), and the syndicate owned Rans S9 Chaos ZK-KLI (c/n 0593123)

Photos and report from Allan Bowman

Timaru 15 Squadron ATC at Rangitata Island.

This weekend just finished, the Timaru ATC 15 Squadron camped over at the Russell Brodie airfield at Rangitata Island.

These two photopraphs sent in by Allan Bowman show some of the tented accommodation alongside the open hangar of Greg Burt with the nose of his Fokker DVI Replica ZK-TBF just visible.
Bottom view shows some of the group awaiting training flights in the local resident Rans S6 Coyote ZK-JHZ.
In the background is the Moth Manor; accommodation available to passing aviators.

Pitts S 2 Specials of New Zealand - Imported Aircraft (1)

In the mid to late 1980's several Pitts S2's were imported into Auckland, for sport aerobatics.

The photos are from the Keith Morris collection unless otherwise noted.

ZK-PIT (c/n 2020) is an Aerotek built S 2A model built in 1972 and is ex N80011. It was imported by Stan Smith in a damaged state and after a lengthy rebuild was first registered in New Zealand on 12/7/85. It was sold to W N (Bill) Arnold of Auckland on 3/11/87 then to J D S Orr also of Auckland on 14/4/89. It is photo'd above at the 1989 National Aerobatics Championships at Waipukurau.

It was sold to Aviation Adventures of Waikanae on 1/8/96 and then to the Kapiti Districts Aero Club on 23/4/98. The above photo was taken at Foxpine in late 1995. It was then owned by a succession of owners in the Christchurch area - Barnstormers 2000 Ltd on 7/7/99, Christchurch Flying School in 2001 and then the Christchurch Flying School (2004) Ltd on 1/9/05. It sat semi derelict at Wigram for some time before being refurbished at Napier by Ragwing Research ( S W Husheer) with ownership changing on 3/8/07.

Finally it was sold to Classic Flights of Wanaka on 10/7/09 where it is currently used for tourist flights. It is photo'd here at Wanaka by Blue Bus on 21/11/10.

ZK-WIZ (c/n 3000) is an Aerotek built S 2S model built in 1980 and is ex N31492. It was imported by Bill Arnold of Auckland and was first registered in New Zealand on 26/07/89. It was sold to John Luff of Wanganui on 29/9/93. The above photo was taken at Wanganui in 1993.

It was then sold back to the Auckland area, to Doug Brooker, on 22/9/95. It was sold to the Special Syndicate of North Shore on 26/4/99 and somewhere along the line was repainted in this yellow and blue colour scheme. It is photo'd here at North Shore on 22/5/10.

ZK-MAD (c/n 9627) is an Aviat S 2B model built in 1986 and is ex N260J. It was imported to New Zealand by the Great Stunt Company and Waitemata Aero Club and was first registered in New Zealand on 15/10/90. It is photo'd here at an airshow at Matamata in the 1990's with Master Trade advertising. Several Pitt's were painted with advertising around this time and ZK-MAD was also painted with Lion Red advertising for a time.

It was sold to Flight 2000 Ltd of Ardmore on 15/12/00, and it is photo'd here at the 2000 AACA flyin at Matamata.

Finally it was sold to the Great Stunt Company of Ardmore (a syndicate of 20 members) on 27/8/02. It was very active around Ardmore and at airshows around New Zealand but tragically it crashed on 7/12/09 when it was returning from an airshow at Masterton and it was caught out by bad weather when crossing the Stratford Gap, killing the pilot. The above photo was taken outside its Ardmore hangar in 2008.

Horowhenua Gleanings 19-11-11

Carrying on South from Feilding I called in to Foxpine but there was nothing happening there.

So on to Levin where I called on Gavin Waite who built Zenith CH 700 ZK-OUZ. Gavin had it at home in his garage for some maintenance.

Then further South to the Otaki Airstrip which is becoming a busy airstrip. There are 2 hangars there and in the original hangar were two interesting aircraft - Nigel Frederikson's Sonex ZK-NAF in a neat colour scheme, and in the back of the photo, Max Saunders Flitzer ZK-FZR which unfortunately was heavily covered. The Flitzer is a whimsical old style biplane and Max's example is complete with German titles.

The other newer hangar contained several aircraft including the Harmon Rocket ZK-TWU and Celier Xenon gyroplane ZK-ZMY.

ZK-NGF

A couple of shots of old Boeing 737-3U3 ZK-NGF (c/n 29734) seen near the ANZES hangar today at Christchurch.
It was leased to ANZ and arrived here on 05-0 -2000. Its final revenue service was from Auckland to Christchurch on 09-07-2011 after having flown hours 33100 hours and completed 31362 cycles. It was then sold to ANZ for parting out

And that folks was the 2000th blog.

Garden City - Flying Doctor hangar

 The latest fixed wing addition to the Garden City Helicopter fleet is this Beech C09A King Air ZK-FDN2 (c/n LJ-1606) which arrived in Auckland on 22-08-2011. It has served nearly eight years on the German register, then three on the Bulgarian register, followed by a few months in the US before delivery to NZ. It is due to have its Company markings applied next week.
Below is a view of the cockpit of ZK-FDN.

Its bigger cousin is the Beech 200C Super King Air ZK-FDR (c/n BL 31). This has been on the scene since September of 2009. It did eight years in the US followed by twenty years in Australia.
The obvious visual differences are that the 200C has the longer fuselage with more windows and the "T" tail.

Also in town today was the Cessna 421B Golden Eagle ZK-KBF (c/n 421B-0943). Seen here refueling at the Canterbury Aero Club. This has been with Garden City since 21-10-1994.

Below : One that doesn't come out of the hangar every day is the John Currie Family trust De Havilland DH115 Vampire Mk35W ZK-VAM (c/n 4171). This is ex Australian Air Force and still retains these markings. It flew across the Tasman on delivery on 20-11-1990

Thanks to Garden City Helicopters for the look around.