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.