ZK-IDY at NZRT

 I dropped into Rangiora this afternoon and just by chance managed to grab this shot of the Eurocopter EC 130 B4 ZK-IDY (c/n 3642) just clearing the 'Black Hangar' and heading back along the field to its new operating base at Way To Go Heli Services Ltd with whom it was registered on 01-07-2017.

It initially flew on its French test registration of F-WQDN in late 2002 before becoming ZS-RZA in South Africa. Its last operator there was the South African Red Cross Air Mercy Service.

Bryan Comerford of Porirua imported it and listed it here in NZ on 22-01-2015.

Precision Helicopters (Heliforce) operated it until returning it to Bryan in May this year.

It has had a brief previous mention HERE.

Pauanui

A cold blue sky weekend on the Coromandel brought amongst the regular succession of Cessna 172s, a variety of other visitors to Pauanui.  These included our sole Sling LSA aircraft,  ZK-SLG from its base at Kaipara Flats ;  Ardmore based R2160 ZK-SPN and another of the CTC DA20 fleet,  ZK-CSI, on a training flight.

Arrival Into EAA Airventure at Oshkosh 2017

A neat video of an arrival at Oshkosh 2017 from the cockpit of a Zenair 650 tri-gear (N104ZZ).  It is quite long at 41 minutes but you get a good tour over the landscape approaching Oshkosh and there are some basic flight parameters on the screen.  It also is really interesting hearing how the Oshkosh tower controllers handle such a volume of traffic.  I reckon this guy did a great job!

The link is:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc0sunhWqmw#t=646.514975

Classic Fighters 2017 - Bristol Freighter ZK-CPT

A unique aircraft type at Classic Fighters 2017 was the resident Bristol B 170-31 Freighter ZK-CPT (c/n 13126).  Its history has been posted previously on this blog at:  http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/bargeldo1-and-bristol-freighter.html

I think this is the only mobile Bristol Freighter in the world, and it taxied up and down the crowd line during the lunch break, with a few lucky passengers - enlarge the photo by clicking on it twice and see a couple of children waving from the hatch above the cockpit.

It also now doubles as a memorial to Safe Air as the name has now disappeared from Woodbourne being replaced by the Airbus name.

Partenavia ZK-TCP

Noted today at Whangarei by Jean210 was the Partenavia P68C-TC ZK-TCP (c/n 371-44-TC

This Partenavia is powered with two Lycoming TIO-360 at 210hp apiece.

First noted as N9719L in February 1987 with Midwest Holdings of Harrobsburg, Kentucky it had five other owners until being re-registered as N17XL in November of 2004.

It ferried down to NA via Hilo, Christmas Island, Pago Pago and Tonga to reach Auckland on 30-11-2004.

Its US registration was cancelled on 05-08-2005 for it to become ZK-TCP on 30-09-2005.

It has remained with the same owner/operator at Whangarai since.

This aircraft was mentioned briefly some time back Here

Pauanui

Reflective of the weather around the North Island of late the visitors to Pauanui in the last week or so have been few and far between but amongst those who did venture out was another 172S from the CTC fleet, ZK-CTZ,  and making a first visit,  the 2017 import Cessna 182T ZK-TLC

Aeroprakt A 32 Vixxen(s) of New Zealand

I thought I would follow on from my earlier posts on Aeroprakt A 22 Foxbats of New Zealand with the A 32 Vixxen, as it is a development of the Foxbat.  It is also a design of Yuri Yakovlev and it first flew in January 2014.

The A 32 Vixxen has a shorter wingspan than the Foxbat - 9.45 metres (31 feet) as against 10.10 metres (33 feet 2 inches).  It is also cleaned up aerodynamically which gives it a 20 knot increase in cruise speed on the same 100HP Rotax 912ULS engine.

ZK-WCB (c/n 10) was  registered to Foxbat Enterprises Ltd of Pukekohe on 2/5/16.  It is photo'd above at Kaipara Flats on 16/12/16 and below on takeoff at the 2016 Black Sands flyin at Raglan on 5/11/16.

ZK-WCB has twin control yokes, Cessna style, but the Vixxen can be optionally fitted with a central Y stick.

JA17MB at Garden City.

Eurocopter EC130 B4 JA17MB (c/n4228) recently arrived from Japan and will shortly enter the ZK register.

These two shots were taken back on the 16th of this month with work started on its NZ certification by the Garden City Helicopters team.

 Below - Taken today out in the sunshine at the Garden City facility at Christchurch International by Tony McFarlin.

I suspect we looking at ZK-IGF pending.

EAA Airventure at Oshkosh 2017 - Lets Try That Again

As I posted yesterday, the EAA Airventure is now taking place at Oshkosh, WI.  I reckoned there would be a lot of Kiwis attending, as evidenced by the New Zealand flag flying proudly above the main entrance gate (I am pretty sure this is a 2017 photo).

No doubt you can find plenty of links but here are a couple from AirshowStuff.com on You Tube.

Saturday 22 July 2017 arrivals:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1za7a4AYJA

and Sunday 23 July 2017 arrivals:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N0ohv8ltno

EAA Airventure 2017 at Oshkosh

While not New Zealand civil aviation, I thought readers would be interested in the largest airshow in the world that is taking place all this week at Oshkosh, WI.  I guess a lot of Kiwis will be there.

A link that I found that gave quite good coverage is at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2cDPClLwx4

I think one of the most impressive aircraft was the "Screamin Sasquatch" Jet Waco Taperwing (similar looking to Marty Cantlon's ZK-WTW), which has a P&W 985 radial engine plus a General Electric J85 jet engine from a Learjet 24 which together give a power to weight ratio of better than 1:1!

But actually everything at Oshkosh is impressive!

Yak-52 ZK-ADM

The Yakovlev Yak-52 ZK-ADM2  (c/n 833601) I believe it obtained its NZ CofA on Thursday.

I captured it arriving back, joining overhead, at Rangiora this afternoon with Ian and Lachie flying.

It arrived in NZ marked as RA-3490K in March this year having been listed to the ZK-ADM Syndicate on 06-03-2017.

Water ratings included !

It now carries the number '83' on its fuselage.

A Grey Day at Mechanics Bay 23-7-2017

It was nice to be able to have a special afternoon tea at Mikano Restaurant this afternoon, and it was great that we got a window seat overlooking the helipad.

Not a lot was going on as the rain came down.  The only helicopter out in the rain was Inflite's Robinson R 44 Raven II ZK-ICG which has been posted by me on this blog previously (see http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2016/11/robinson-r-44-at-mechanics-bay-today-1.html ), but I have not had the viewpoint from Mikano before.

Fortunately the rain stopped and some tourists came along and went for a short local flight.

A climbing turn...

and out to the harbour around the container terminal...

then back to the helipad.

Oh, and the afternoon tea was very tasty too.

Two from Ardmore 23-7-17D

Diamond Aircraft Industries GMBH DA 62 VH-DNU msn 62.027 departed for HZL late morning after doing a couple of circuits earlier.

Seen this afternoon was Cessna 182T  ZK-TLC msn 18282081. This aircraft was first registered here on 6-4-17 and is ex VH-NIH.  It is registered to SMS Millipaed RD 3 Drury.

A couple from Fox Glacier

Here we have three shots taken at Fox Glacier.

 The Aerospatiale AS 350 ZK-HFK3 (c.n 1397) was built as a late 1981 'D' model and served under three different US registrations.
 It originally gracied our register as an AS 350B ZK-HDT2 with Helicopters (NZ) Ltd of Nelson (hence the colour scheme) between September 1990 and April 1995. 

It was sent over to HNZ's Australian subsidiary, Helicopters (Australia) Pty Ltd of Belmont, West Australia and became VH-WCD. 

It returned to the ZK register with Helicopters (NZ) Ltd as ZK-HFK3 on 11-10-2001. 

It then served a bit of time in Cambodia in 2003 before returning to NZ and was noted operating with Garden City Helicopters before an ownership change on 19-09-2003 placed it with the Kapiti Districts Aero Club (Inc) at Paraparaumu.
It also was operated by AV8 Helicopters before returning to Helicopters (NZ) Ltd from 07-05-2004. 

Upgradied from the AS 350B to the B2 model from 18-10-2007 it was transferred to The Helicopter Line Ltd from 30-11-2010 and as you can see wears 'Glacier Helicopters' titles.

 Hughes 369D ZK-HNJ2 (c/n 1280406D) was a late 1978 production airframe and remained in the States until exported to Australia in 1989. 

It entered the NZ register on 15-09-1995 with Fiordland Helicopters Ltd at Te Anau before moving on to James Scott of Hokitika from 22-02-1996. It was re-listed to Fox Franz Heliservices Ltd of Fox Glacier on 10-08-2016.

And above, one that I almost got.

Aeroprakt A 22LS Foxbats of New Zealand (2)

Sometime around 2013 Doug King of Lite Flight Green NZ Ltd, based at Pukekohe, became the New Zealand agent for Aeroprakt and he has been quite active in selling Foxbats with another 9 aircraft imported since that time.  All of these recent imports have been the upgraded A 22LS models.

ZK-JGT2 (c/n 079) was originally registered to Lite Flight Green of Nadi, Fiji in August 2012 as DQ-LFG.  It was imported into New Zealand and registered on 5/12/12 to ST Growers Ltd of Tuakau (JGT are the owners' initials).  It is photo'd above at the 2013 Black Sands flyin at Raglan, on 2/11/13.

ZK-LFG (c/n 168) was registered to Lite Flight Green on 15/5/13 and was sold to the CC Aviation Group (Jon Farmer and Peter Beer) on 25/9/13.  It is photo'd above at the 2013 Black Sands flyin at Raglan, on 2/11/13.  Unfortunately it crashed at the Pukekohe East airstrip on 1/11/14, injuring Don King and his passenger.  It was cancelled form the register on 9/12/14.

ZK-LFD (c/n 198) was registered to Lite Flight Green on 16/1/14.  On 1/9/14 it was sold to Paul and Sarahanne Brown of Dannevirke.  More recently it has returned North to the Auckland Flying School Ltd of Pokeno, being registered to them on 25/1/17.  It is photo'd above at the 2014 SAANZ flying at Bridge Pa, Hastings, on 8/3/14 where it was doing a demonstration of glider towing.

The next FoxBaT to be registered was John Weissing's ZK-FBT2 (c/n 217) which was registered to him on 8/6/14.  It is photo'd above and below at Dargaville on 17/8/16.

On take off showing the Foxbat's big wing.

ZK-LFB (c/n 221) was registered to Lite Flight Green on 23/10/14 and then sold to David G McMillan of Greymouth on 12/8/15.  It is photo'd above at the 2015 SAANZ flyin at Ashburton, on 7/2/15 when it was the company demonstrator.

Doug King imported a replacement Foxbat for the CC Aviation Group of Auckland to replace their earlier ZK-LFG and it was registered to the group (Jon Farmer and Peter Beer) on 6/3/15 as ZK-LFG2 (c/n 227).  It is photo'd above on the Pukekohe East airstrip on 2/5/15, looking very similar to its predecessor.

ZK-CKL2 (c/n 243) was registered to Steven Williams of Auckland on 17/9/15.  It is based at Dargaville where the above photo was taken on 16/4/16.

ZK-LFP (c/n 237) was registered to Lite Flight Green NZ Ltd on 3/7/15 and remains in their ownership as the company demonstrator.  It is photo'd above at Pauanui on 7/1/17.

And finally for now ZK-LFK (c/n 256) was registered to Lite Flight Green on 8/3/16 and sold to Heslerton Station Ltd of Leeston on 20/4/17.  It is photo'd above at the 2016 Black Sands flyin at Raglan, on 5/11/16.

I am sure that we will see more Foxbats in New Zealand in the future, and then there is the new A 32 Vixxen which is a development of the Foxbat, and of which Doug King has imported an example as a company demonstrator.

Diamond DA62 VH-DNU

Seen at Ardmore today by Magnaman was the Diamond DA62 VH-DNU4 (c/n 62.027).

This was registered to the Australian agents Hawker Pacific Pty Ltd on 01-08-2016.

It ferried across from Bankstown, Kingsford Smith International, and Norfolk Island and into Auckland on 20-07-2017. Then it hopped over to Ardmore yesterday and parked up at the Ardmore Flying School facility.

 It did a couple of circuits between the showers.

It has been previously mentioned at :

HERE

and

Here

Virgin ATR's at Nelson today.

Lord Nelson snapped these two GIE Avions De Transport Regional ATR72-212A's at Nelson today.

 Above is VH-FVH (c/n 954) which was registered to Aviation Airframe Holding Pte Ltd of Singapore on 11-08-2011 and is operated by Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd.

I believe it arrived at the ANZ Regional Maintenance facility at Nelson on 16-06-2017.

Also on site was VH-FVL (c/n 974) which was registered, as above, on 14-09-2011.

Flight Radar 24 tells me it arrived at Nelson from Brisbane on 18-07-2017 for maintenance.

Australian Arrival at Ardmore early afternoon 21-7-17

Diamond Aircraft Industries GMBH DA 62 VH-DNU msn 62.027 seen about to land at Ardmore just after 13.15 after making the short flight from Auckland International in between downpours. Yesterday the aircraft flew Bankstown-Sydney-Norfolk Island- Auckland. I believe it is the first time this model has been to New Zealand.

After arrival the aircraft went to the Ardmore Flying School ramp. It is registered to Hawker Pacific PTY Ltd, Bankstown, NSW,  Australia so perhaps here on demo ? or a sale ?