Cessna 172K ZK-PAM.

I used to think that we must eventually run out of stuff to bung on this blog.

But I have now decided that this won't happen in my life time !

(We have yet to get serious about helicopters and gliders).

Photographs sent in by you readers have added greatly to our coverage. 

A photo sent in by Arch King of Air Rangitata showing his latest acquisition ZK-PAM is the sort of item that will help keep us going forever.

The Cessna 172K with the c/n 58484 was cranked out of the Cessna factory and branded as N84467 and shuffled down to Pago Pago sometime around 1969 to be operated by Air Samoa Inc.

It changed to Samoan Aviation at Apia about 1971 and was re-registered as 5W-FAM.

I stumbled across it at Ardmore in a dismantled state on 11-06-1973 - as seen below.

 It must have trundled back up to Samoa because I didn't hear of it again until it was spied at Auckland on 26-02-1983.

This time it remained and became ZK-PAM on 07-03-1983 to J F Snow of Wellington. It was listed to the Waikato Flying School at Hamilton on 08-02-1984 and then briefly to M J Johnstone of Pokeno from 28-02-1989.

Pic above taken at Hamilton on 08-01-1986.

 On 20-06-1989 the new owner is shown as the Marlborough Gliding Club at Omaka.

Below we see it at Omaka dated 11-12-1990. Not a lot of change.

Seen below at Omaka in its new scheme on 30-03-2008.

It spent the next twenty five years at Omaka; also spending time with the Marlborough Aero Club (officially between November 2002 and August 2013) but available to both parties as required.

Arch King purchased it on 01-07-2014 and it became listed to Air Rangitata Ltd and it is now based on the farm strip at Simla, along with the Cessna U206G Stationair ZK-JDV and Mike Thomas's Cessna 185A ZK-VKE.

The pic below, from Arch King, shows ZK-PAM on the Mt Potts strip - up the Rangitata.