Friday 28 June 2013

Stoddard-Hamilton Glasairs of New Zealand (2) - Glasair IIs

The Glasair II came along in 1986 with a wider and deeper cabin. It was further developed in 1989 into the Glasair II S with a 14 inch fuselage stretch, and then again in 1993 into the Glasair Super II S with a further 6 inch fuselage extension, the wing repositioned slightly aft and with increased tail surface areas.  It still could be built as a taildragger (TD) version, a fixed tricycle version (FT) or a retractable version (RG).

The Glasair II S had a length 6.30 metres (20 feet 8 inches), a wingspan of 7.10 metres (23 feet 3 inches) and a wing area of 81.3 square feet.  Empty weight was 635 Kg (1,400 pounds) and MAUW was 998 Kg (2,200 pounds)  With an O-360 motor cruise was 221 mph.

We have had 2 Glasair IIs in New Zealand to date.

ZK-MKP (c/n 2367) built by Buster Persson of Whitianga was our first Glasair II.  It was a Super II S-FT model. with a Lycoming O-320 motor.  It was first registered on 1/11/01 and it first flew on 16/11/01.  It is photo'd above at the 2004 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga.  It was cancelled on 8/4/05 and it was sold to Australia where it became VH-NEO.  Interestingly, the 3 aircraft in the above photo ZK-MKP, ZK-REH and ZK-NRV have all been sold to Australia.

And our second Glasair II was ZK-REH (c/n 2138) which was a II S-FT model built by Brian Horne of North Shore.  It was registered on 26/6/02 and its first flight was on 7/9/02.  It was powered by a Lycoming IO 360 motor and had extended wingtips.  The above photo of ZK-REH was taken at an Auckland Chapter SAANZ flyin at Pikes Point in 2003.  It flew across the Tasman in February 2009, and was sold in Australia where it was registered VH-PND.  Its New Zealand registration was cancelled on 6/3/09.

 

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