Wanaka # 14

Not all the action was at Wanaka.

On Sunday the 1st of April I captured these four aircraft.

 Spotted at the Cromwell Racecourse strip was the Gardan GY-20 Minicab U/L ZK-BUC (c/n AACA/90.

Below is an extract from an earlier blog post on ZK-BUC.

Our Third Minicab was ZK-BUC (GY 201 c/n AACA/90/1) which was built by Ron Stockley of Te Aroha, and was registered to him on 9/9/75.  It was sold to the G Browning and M Taylor syndicate of Matamata on 7/10/95 and to the Ross Ag Air/Taylor syndicate of Matamata on 20/7/10. It was purchased by Cliff Bellingham of Pukekohe, on 4/10/12. 

An ownership change to John Sarginson of Queenstown was listed on 06-12-2014.

 Tucked away in the long grass at Cromwell was the Monnett Sonerai 1 UL ZK-EEV (c/n 00261) of Gavin Brown from Te Awamutu.

Below is an extract from the NZ Aviation News Magazine at the time of its registration on 23-04-2015.

Back on 22-06-1997 two Formula V aircraft collided over Grabeski Airport on Long Island New York. One of these was Chris Kalishek’s Monnett Sonerai named “Sunbeam”. Chris survived but with serious injuries and during his recovery he began to build another Sonerai I, single seat aircraft incorporating modifications learned from his fateful ‘Sunbeam” racer.  Next thing was that Chris became redundant and found out that the FAA would not renew his medical. So this is why the aircraft has zero flight time when sold. The Sonerai had been registered as N20VW back on 23-06-2004 and was referred to as “Bio-Dread” which comes from Captain Power and the Soldiers of Fortune and “instils intense fear in humans”. I don’t believe it was painted as such. It was advertised for sale and was purchased by Neville Cameron of Coromandel and imported in 2013 and then on sold to Gavin Brown at Te Awamutu and has become ZK-EEV₂. It has a Great Plains VW 1915 engine and real round instruments.

 Up on the Alexandra airfield was the Cessna 182R Skylane II ZK-NML (c/n 18267842) which was listed to the Kapiti Districts Aero Club (Inc) at Paraparaumu on 17-12-2017.

This is a 1981 model which was imported into NZ from Australia for Brian Hore of Nokomai Station in June of 1993.

 Captured at Alexandra in the fading light was the Neico Lancair 235 ZK-SDQ (c/n AACA/1060). It is still with D S Buchanan and A J Davis.

Extract from an earlier post below -

 ZK-SDQ was the first Lancair registered in NZ.  It was built by Len Helms of Hamilton from an Avtek kit and was first registered on 19/11/90. 

It was sold to John Spry of Wellington on 30/9/97 as a replacement for his cancelled ZK-PDS, and then to SM Sutherland of Whangarei on 11/10/05 following the completion of his ZK-VDQ.  

Finally it was sold back to Wellington, to D S Buchanan and A J Davis, on 5/8/07.  It is still current.