Yak 52 ZK-XXS

Our latest Yak 52 was built by Intreprinderea De Avioane Bacau, Romania as c/n 8910001 in about 1989 and registered in the Russian Federation as RA-02149.

It was sold to the UK and became G-IMIC on 21-08-2002.  It had wheels up landing at Seething, Norfolk 01-12-2009.  It was cancelled from the UK civil register on 17-11-2011 and exported to New Zealand.  

Thanks to Adam Duffield for this photo of G-IMIC.

After arriving in New Zealand it was registered as ZK-XXS to Kaipara Aviation Trust of North Shore, Auckland on 18/9/12.  The Kaipara Aviation Trust owns an interesting collection of aircraft including Stearman ZK-BWR, Cessna Bird Dog ZK-DOG and Mooney Ovation ZK-VVB.

It was assembled at Ardmore by Huib Volker of  Hawk Aero Ltd, and some upgrading work was carried out including the installation of a 3 bladed propellor.  It doesn't have the shutters fitted at the front of the cowling as apparently they are not really needed in New Zealand conditions.

The 2 photos above show ZK-XXS during early test flights at Ardmore.  Huib told me that the aircraft has flown around 40 hours in New Zealand to date.  Huib also has some other very interesting aircraft projects on the go, of which I am sure we will hear more of in time.

Thanks to Huib Volker for the above 2 photos.

Scenic Circle Cessnas

Earl Hagaman, the boss of Scenic Circle Hotels, gets around his New Zealand chain of hotels in his own aircraft.

 

The primary aircraft is the Cessna P210N Centurion ZK-SCH [Scenic Circle Hotels]

 (c/n P21000718) which flew into Christchurch from Honolulu and Pago Pago on 25-02-2004 as N6109W.

It is seen below at Rangiora on 25-03-2004 and yes the bent prop in the background is a result of an incident three days previous.

It was registered as ZK-SCH on 13-04-2004 to the Scenic Circle Hotels Ltd and is based in the Company hangar at Christchurch International Airport.

An earlier aircraft that Earl purchased is the Cessna 182P Skylane ZK-EKK (c/n 18263492).

This came in from Noumea on 01-07-1977 and was registered to Dalhoff and King on 14-07-1977 before moving south to Peter Bowmar of Waikaia from 28-10-1982.

Earl acquired it towards the end on June 1989 and it is kept in the same Christchurch hangar as a back up aircraft

Note that both have vortex generators on the upper leading edge of the wings.

Both aircraft were captured outside on Tuesday the 27th.

Viva la Beaver. ZK-AMA.

Sir Minty has come up with the goods today and got this nice long shot of the De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver ZK-AMA2 (c/n 1477) tied up on Auckland Harbour.

Originally one of several operated by the Air Force of Ghana from 1961.

It was purchased by Aerial Agriculture of Australian and converted to an aerial top dressing aircraft around 1974. But a sudden fluctuation in the Ozzie ag industry saw the aircraft parked up for around ten years before it was refurbished and listed as VH-HAQ - went onto floats and operated in Queensland between 1984 and 1989.

It then moved back to Canada as C-GBVR and remained operational there (still on floats) until sold to NZ at the end of May.

And this is how I spied it at Sydney/Bankstown on 13-07-1975 in Ag mode but with no work on.

Ashburton this Day.

Allan Bowman has sent in these three shots of action at Ashburton today (27-08-2013.

 The Cessna 172H ZK-TOR (c/n 55598) is seen taking off on grass vector 02.

This is one of only seven examples of the "H" model that we have had in NZ. It was first listed here on 03-09-1996 to Heli-Hunt and Fish Ltd and then to current owner Stewart Parsons of Waitotara from 27-07-1999.

 While below - Working from the edge of the main vector was the Skyfarmers Aviation Air Tractor AT-504 ZK SKF (c/n 504-4015). This one first flew in NZ on 03-08-2012.

A previous posting from Allan on ZK-SKF can be seen at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/skyfarmers-air-tractor-zk-skf.html

Yet Another BO 105

The nimble MBB BO 105 helicopter is enjoying something of a second coming here, with eight machines having joined the civil register in the last few years, and several more airframes currently stored. Soon to join them is BO 105 CBS-5 ZK-HMR (c/n S-761), ex D-HGSV out of Germany. Built in 1986 as a CBS-4 model, it flew in the US and Mexico before being updated to -5 status in 2003. Latterly, it was operated by ADAC, the German motoring organisation, in whose orange colours it will operate initially. Seen in Helipro's Palmerston North hangar yesterday, it should fly by the end of the week. Also waiting in the wings with Helipro is another machine, c/n S-656, ex 9M-SAR, and before that ZK-HSJ.

Ultravia Pelican Clubs of New Zealand

The next type of 2 seater homebuilt aircraft to appear in New Zealand was the Ultravia Pelican Club which was introduced by Jon Farmer of Auckland who held the agency and was involved in building many of the Pelicans that have flown in New Zealand.

The Pelican Club was the second Pelican model to be designed by Jean Rene Lepage in Canada, and it was offered as a kit produced by Ultravia Aero International of Quebec, Canada.  It has a fibreglass fuselage and either aluminium framed fabric covered or all metal wings depending on the model, and it could be built with either a tailwheel or tricycle undercarriage.  It has also been fitted with floats overseas.  The earlier GS model usually had a Rotax 582 motor, and the later PL model usually had a Rotax 912 or 914 motor.  Ultravia went bankrupt in 2006 and the rights to the Pelican Club design were acquired by Kolb Aircraft Company, who produced an upgraded Pelican as the Kolb Flyer Super Sport, but we haven't had any of this model in New Zealand.  Most recently, since 2007, Pelican Club kits and completed aircraft are produced by Ballard Sport Aircraft of Sherbrooke, Quebec.

The GS model had a length of 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 metres), a wingspan of 34 feet 5 inches (10.48 metres), and a wing area of 158 square feet.  Empty weight was 500 pounds (254 Kg) and MAUW was 1,050 pounds (476 Kg).

The PL model had a length of 19 feet 10 inches (6.0 metres), a wingspan of 29 feet 6 inches (9.0 metres) and a wing area of 108 square feet.  Empty weight was 750 pounds (340 Kg) and MAUW was 1,400 pounds (635 Kg).  With a Rotax 582 the GS cruised at 100 mph, and with a Rotax 912 the PL cruised at around 115 mph.

We have had 7 Pelican Clubs in New Zealand to date, as follows:

Our first Pelican Club was ZK-FTE (c/n AACA/1071 but later changed to 370), a GS model, which was built by Jon Farmer of Auckland and was first registered on 2/5/89.  It is photo'd above at the 1992 AACA flyin at Tauranga.

It was sold to DE and E Thompson of Auckland on 23/12/95, who based it at the old AACA strip at Pikes point beside the Manakau Harbour.  It was damaged at Pikes Point in 1998 when a hangar roof collapsed on it.  However, it must have been rebuilt because it is still current, and it was sold to AN Sowry of Woodville on 21/12/11.

ZK-OOO (c/n 522) a tri-gear GS model was registered to Arthur A Thomas of Taupiri on 20/7/94 and first flew on 23/8/94.  It is photo'd above at Te Kowhai in December 2003, at a flyin to celebrate 100 years of flight, the only time I have ever seen it.  It was damaged on 20/9/00 at Taupiri but I assume it was repaired as it is still registered.

ZK-MAL (c/n 524), another GS model, was built by Malcolm Simpson of Takanini, and was first registered on 1/12/94.  It was sold to the PG Nicholson and ME Bach Partnership of Auckland on 6/10/06, and very on in their ownership it is photo'd above on 3/11/06 at the 2006 Black Sands flyin at Raglan.  More recently it was sold to WB Pendray of Wellington and it is based at Paraparaumu.

The first Pelican Club PL model to appear in the New Zealand Civil Register was ZK-PPL (c/n 582) which was built by A White of North Shore, and was first registered on 10/1/95.  Ownership transferred to Kiwi Air of Auckland on 20/4/95 and it is photo'd above at the 2005 Black Sands flyin on 3/12/05.  Ownership transferred to the JM Bennet family Trust of Wanganui on 22/11/99, and it is still current.

ZK-JGY (c/n 523) is listed as a VS model and was built by Jon Farmer and first registered to him on 27/8/97.  It was damaged on 26/4/98 but was repaired then sold to RE Grice of Warkworth on 23/12/98.  It was then bought by SG Mist of Whangarei, under whose ownership it was photo'd above in 2010 at Dargaville by Bill Lambeth.  Thanks for the use of the photo Bill.

Finally, it was sold to Craig Mitchell-Anyon of Wanganui on 31/8/11 and he re-registered the aircraft as ZK-CMA on 28/9/12.  It is hangared at Wanganui in the same hangar as ZK-PPL.  Thanks very much for the photo Craig.

ZK-JHP (c/n 529) was built by Jon farmer and Chris Todd of Auckland, and was first registered on27/8/99.  It is a tri-gear PL model, and is photo'd above very early on in its life at the 2000 SAANZ flyin at Matamata.

It is photo'd above (not sure where, but in Auckland), now with some trim stripes .  It was sold to GD and HM Stuart of Invercargill on 10/7/09 and then to TB Clearwater of Edendale on 30/1/11.  It was damaged when it hit a fence on take off at Wyndham on 13/2/11 but it is still registered.

And our final Pelican Club for now is the PL model ZK-PLP/ZK-PTP (c/n 663).  This aircraft was built by Tony Cameron of Levin for HE Bennik, also of Levin and was first registered to him as ZK-PLP on 30/11/99.  It is fitted with a 115 HP Rotax 914 motor.  It was sold to P O'Donnell of Levin on 14/6/04 and the registration was cancelled on 1/7/04 when it was re-registered as ZK-PTP.  It is photo'd above as ZK-PTP at the 2005 Black Sands flyin.  I was fortunate to be able to photo it as ZK-PTP as it was sold to T Kernohan of Levin on 28/7/05 and re-registered back to its original registration of ZK-PLP!

And here is ZK-PLP photo'd at the 2011 RAANZ flyin at Masterton on 12/3/11.

Cessna 180 ZK-BEG

The Cessna 180 (c/n 30612) was allocated the US registration N2312C on the Cessna production line but instead was exported to NZ where it was registered ZK-BEG on 23-12-1953 to Rural Aviation Ltd at New Plymouth. It gained its CofA on 19-02-1954 and took up duties with Airspread Ltd of Tauranga from this same date.

These first two photos which come from the Lou Forhecz collection show ZK-BEG outside the old large World War II hangar at Tauranga wearing Airspread Ltd titles.

Above is I suspect the earlier colour scheme with Company titles on the forward fuselage, and below with titles on the fuselage side.

 ZK-BEG had an undercarriage collapse at Waitawheta on 16-08-1962.

The above photo comes from CMM's fab collection of colour slides and shows ZK-BEG following repairs, outside its Tauranga hangar - minus Company titles and just prior to export to Australia - Date would be late 1962.
It was exported to Australia and was registered as VH-SSQ in February 1963 with Super Spread Aviation Pty Ltd of Melbourne.

The following three shots were taken by Geoff Goodall and are from the Ed Coates collection.

 The photo below shows VH-SSQ in May of 1963 in Super Spread titles.

It then went to Robby's Aerial Service Pty Ltd of Parafield from 01-02-1964.
It was then sold to Coondair Pty Ltd of Tintinara who re-registered it in their VH-CD* bloc of registrations as VH CDW2 on 22-10-1965.

Photo below shows VH-CDW2 at Tintinara, SA in September of 1966.

It had a variety of owners (about seven) over the next seven years.

Below it is seen at Northam, WA in May 1970, by now as a 4 seater and owned by GRD Co, a Sydney Company supporting an aerial survey operation in the area.

 Below is a later view of VH-CDW seen at Jandakot in February 1971 sporting full GRD titles.   

By 12-07-1972 VH-CDW was in the hands of Crop Syndicate Rockhampton but was damaged in a ground loop at Rockhampton on 03-03-1976 and was cancelled from the register on 04-08-1976.

It was later repaired and restored to the Australian register on 12-11-93 with H McKillop of Scone, NSW.

VH-CDW ferried across the Tasman Sea via Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands and reached Auckland on 15-03-1994, was cancelled from the Ozzie register on 17-11-1994 and became ZK-MUZ on the 25th with Murray Trowbridge of Christchurch.

 Above is ZK-MUZ at it West Melton base on 22-02-1996.

Finally ZK-MUZ at the Easter gathering at Waitohi on 14-04-2001. 

Masterton trio yesterday 24-08-2013

GML has supplied the following three photographs taken at Masterton in the early afternoon of Saturday the 24th August 2013.

Above we have the Pitts S-2A Special ZK-JAG2 (c/n 2126) which has been in the ownership of Michael Burkhart Ltd of Masterton since the end of June last year.

Earlier posts on this aircraft can been viewed at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2010/05/pitts-s-2a-zk-jag.html

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2011/12/pitts-s-2-specials-of-new-zealand.html

The syndicate owned - but on the line with the Wellington Aero Club - Nanchang CJ-6 ZK-MAO (c/n 4432002) being pre flighted.

It also has been blogged before - See:-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=mao

Also with the Michael Burkhart Ltd of Masterton is this Reims Cessna FRA150L Aerobat ZK-TDI (c/n FRA 1500253). French assembled in late 1974, it briefly served in the UK as G-BCVH before heading out to Noumea to become F-ODAL in April of 1975. It was damaged about mid 1977 and came to NZ for Dalhoff and King to sort out during which time it was converted to tail dragger configuration. It has been with Michael since February of 2007.

Rangiora lunch time selection.

 Thrashing the circuit was the Taylorcraft Auster 5D ZK-BMD. The CAA has its c/n listed as NJ635 - but this is in fact was its RAF serial number from 07-06-1944 through to January 1950 when it was sold onto the UK civil market to became G-ALZM.

 Its real c/n is 1035 and it was built as an Auster AOP5, being converted to a 5D before sale to NZ in about August of 1955.
 Now a 5D has a 130hp Gipsy Major engine and an enlarged fin and larger balanced rudder.
From memory it was re-engined with an O-320 around 1978.

Does that make it a 5D/L ?

Current listed owners are Guy Redfern and Fiona Nimmo of Kaikoura. Nice !
 

 The Robinson R44 Raven II ZK-IRW (c/n 11696) was at the pumps today. This is the third ZK registration this Raven has carried. Its first was ZK-ISL with Skysales Aviation (NZ) Ltd from 27-04-2007 before moving to Te Anau with Southern Lakes Helicopters Ltd from 31-05-2007. It was traded back to Skysales on 19-12-2011. They re-registered it a ZK-ISP on 02-12-2012 and some months later (on 11-09-2012) it was re-registered again as ZK-IRW (almost a personal registration) on sale to Wood Contracting Nelson Ltd.
 

 Up from its Ashburton base was the Kintore Trust's Jabiru Sp500 ZK-JJR2  (c/n 506) to have some radio type work carried out. This one first flew on 01-06-2012 after some ten years in storage.
 

Now a Rangiora resident is the Cessna 180B ZK-REN (c/n 50627). This arrived from Australia on 14-10-1993 and adapted its VH-RFN registration to REN as RFN was already allocated.

It moved from Wanaka to Tim Gould of Southbranch Farm Ltd on the northwest outskirts of Christchurch on 03-04-2012.

Bill Black Reunion reminder.

REUNION THIS WEEKEND ! 

You still have time to make it.

Book Launch. 

Check out the new book about Bill Black.

                                                          www.billblack.co.nz

Official Launching of the Book & Reunion Weekend 23rd-25th August 2013.

ginning up until the present day.

Let’s have a weekend in Te Anau and reminisce.

Sadly most of us only meet or come together at funerals.

This is different, bring the family.

 

www.billblack.co.nz

 

 Bill and his Squirrel ZK-HMY at Milford Sound in March 1995.
***********************

"I Did It My Way"

This book tells of the life of

Legendary Helicopter Pilot Bill Black.

Author: Merv Halliday

$40

+ $6.50 postage

Reunion Weekend

23-25th August 2013

Contact: merv@teanau.co.nz 

ODER YOUR COPY NOW

www.billblack.co.nz

Some from Ardmore 20 August

Bolkow 105 ZK-HAK was mentioned a couple of times in blog posts almost 12 months ago when it showed up at Ardmore, see http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/tba-no-more.html

It was back at Ardmore 20 August with the ZK-HAK marks more permanently applied to the tail boom that when first noted in 2012. 

Looking like it maybe headed for overseas fish spotting duties was Robinson R44 ZK-HCR.  It changed ownership to Western Pacific Helicopters of Wanaka in July this year and wears their name as small titles on the fuselage.  Western Pacific have deployed a number of helicopters to Guam over the years in support of tuna fishing.

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/visiting-helicopters-at-ardmore.html

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2010/09/biplanes-rule.html

And last, but certainly not least, was Vans RV-12 ZK-JRV.  This aircraft is based at Ardmore and featured on the blog in April this year thanks to Sir Minty : http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2013/04/vans-rv-12-zk-jrv-at-ardmore-today.html

Beaver takes to the water

Auckland Seaplanes De Havilland DHC2 Beaver ZK-AMA "Aotearoa II" has taken to the water at the city's Westhaven Marina and Tony Harsant was on hand today, 20 August, to catch her on the move.

http://www.aucklandseaplanes.com/

Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser ZK-EBP.

Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser ZK-EBP c/n 28-762526.

Allocated N9622N in the US.

It was registered to Airwork (NZ) Ltd on 04-11-1976 and transferred over to the Canterbury Aero Club on 16-02-1977.

 First view was taken on 10-06-86 in a slightly different Piper scheme.

Below on 27-01-1996 in Club colours and outside the old Club facilities about where the current International gates are.

 Two views from the balcony. Above on 12-09-1999.

 and below on 08-03-2010 with new tail colours..

 On the tie downs above on 05-01-12, and in the hangar on 20-05-2012.

A couple of incidents worthy of mention :-

On 14-11-1991 it had a wire strike at West Melton.

On 01-01-1993 it over ran the end of the strip at Rangiora and through a fence.

Resting at ease following 31352 flying hours.