Mechanics Bay Helicopters

A surprise at the Mechanics Bay Heliport this morning were 2 Aeropower Australia Hughes 369Es VH-HVO s/n 0347E and VH-SUV s/n 0421E.   The company is based at Redcliffe near Brisbane and specialises in power line patrols.   After fueling up both headed south.

Flying in at the same time was Auckland privately owned AS355NP ZK-ICT which hasnt appeared on this blog before.

Aucklands New Rescue Helicopter at Ardmore 28-9-18

Leonardo AW169 ZK-HLH msn 69082 a brand new helicopter for the Auckland Helicopter Rescue Trust had it's rotors fitted and tested late yesterday. This helicopter is one of two ordered by the trust and is I believe a first of type here.It was placed on the register on 2-8-18

West Coast

Continuing our travels on the West Coast Karamea airfield was quiet apart from the arrival of Helicopter Charter Karamea's Bell 206L-1 ZK-HKE,  which was imported from Canada in 2015.

Further down the road at a very wet Hokitika inside was Ranger Helicopters Hughes 369E ZK-HMO

And the 200th Bantam appropriately registered ZK-TOO,  which had been acquired in a damaged state and rebuilt in Hokitika

ZK-HTH

Eurocopter AS 350 B2 ZK-HTH (c/n 2824) came onto our register on 20-09-2018 listed with Heli-Hire Ltd of Ngongataha.

Hairy Mole Rat captured it flying at Tauranga yesterday 26-09-2018.

 It was previously N129TM with Tom Matson Air.

Pic   below of it as N129TM.

Rangiora on Sunday 23rd

I passed through Rangiora on Sunday the 23rd and captured these three aircraft of interest.

A day of difficult lighting for my olde camera.

 The De Havilland DH82A ZK-AON (c/n DHNZ80) stopped in briefly. 

It is listed with W A Lamb of Taradale , Hastings. 

 ZK-FIZ2 is the Team Rocket FI c/n 173 of John Baynes of Gore.

She has featured several time before Here

A local that I don't see out often is the Tim Gould Zenair CH701 STOL ZK-SLO (c/n 7-6442).

It has been mentioned before HERE

Fox Glacier

As with Franz Josef  in the blog below there was a lot of activity at Fox Glacier yesterday,  the Skydive Fox operation were taking customers aloft from the Fox airfield in the Walter powered Fu24 ZK-DJE.

Also at the airfield was Mountain Helicopters AS350B2 ZK-HYO which was imported from Malaysia in 2017 and was flying tourists into the mountains together with Inflite marked AS355F1 ZK-HKY.

Down the road at the Fox Franz Heli Services base was AS350BA ZK-ICI,  imported from Greece back in 2016.

Franz Josef

A sunny day on the West Coast brought a buzz of helicopter activity around Franz Josef including at the Glacier Country Helicopter base off Hwy 6 the very smart AS350B2 ZK-HFH,  with their KH369HS ZK-HBS hangared.

At the town heliport Fox Franz Helicopters were busy using AS350BA ZK-HGE

While at their base off Highway 6 was Hughes 369D ZK-HHO

Back at the town heliport were 2 Helicopter Line AS350B2 that have not been blogged before, ZK-HSN and HSO

While at the Franz Josef airfield was Skydive Franz Turbo Porter ZK-MCK,  with Air Safaris GA8 Airvan ZK-SAZ busy on sightseeing flights and Arrow ZK-EKR hangared.

VH-TQN at Ardmore on 24-9-1

HARS Fokker F27 Friendship Mk 500 VH-TQN msn 10680 ex ZK-POH flew from Auckland to Ardmore on 23-9-18, I understand it will remain at Ardmore until it leaves for Australia. The last time I can recall seeing a Friendship at Ardmore was during the spraying for Painted Apple Moth in West Auckland in October 2002.

New Van's RV 9A ZK-VNS at North Shore

Soon to be test flown at North Shore airfield is LSA Aviation Ltd's Van's RV 9A ZK-VNS (c/n 92055) that was first registered on 8/1/18.  You can see the RV 9's longer wings in this view.

Fokker E II Eindecker Replica Flying

Back on 1st September I posted about Russell and Ross Brodie's Airdrome Aeroplanes Fokker E II replica ZK-EII3 that was close to slipping the surly bonds of earth.  That post can be found HERE

It has now flown and is shown above over the South Canterbury countryside on a lovely day yesterday 22/9/18.  Thanks to Ross Brodie's Facebook page and Alex Mitchell for the photo.

ZK-AMA on 22-9-18

De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver Mk I ZK-AMA msn 1477 at rest alongside its jetty on 22-9-18.Note the door from Beaver ZK-BBX which Auckland Seaplanes have purchased.

Ardmore Airacobra

Actually, the main reason I went down to Ardmore last Wednesday was to catch up with progress on Jerry Yagen's Bell P 39 Airacobra at Pioneer Aero

As you can see, progress is very good.  The Airacobra will be finished and flying this year.  It will be registered here for test flying. 

We might have the prospect of the Airacobra being wheeled out on one side of Ardmore as the Mosquito is wheeled out over on the other side!

NOTAR ZK-IEG

Noted yesterday at Heli Maintenance in Christchurch was the MD 500N NOTAR ZK-IEG2  (c/n LN016).

This NOTAR was originally N52110 with MD Helicopters of Mesa Arizona from 08-02-1992 before venturing up to Canada to become C-FMYW with Heli-Max Ltd at Trois Riveres Quebec four months later. It was re-listed to Heli-Transport Inc of same address on 13-02-2006 and was noted soon after listed for sale with around 6400 airframe hours.

It popped up in NZ as ZK-IJW with Reid Heslop Helicopters at Wakefield from 24-08-2011.

See more Here.

By 22-12-2016 it was listed to Heliventures NZ Ltd of Oamaru who re-registered it as ZK-IEG2 on 25-01-2017.

I noted it yesterday wearing small Amuri Helicopter Ltd markings and in this all white scheme.

Of interest on the rear of the fuselage was the 'Down To The Wire' label.

For more on this project see https://www.facebook.com/WiresKillPilots/

To complete the picture - so to speak - we have below a pic of it as ZK-IJW as seen at Glenorchy on 24-10-2015 by Magnaman.

And as ZK-IEG in its Heliventures NZ Ltd scheme at Heli Maintenance Christchurch on 16-11-2017.

Helicopters from North Shore

And continuing Helicopter Friday, here are a couple from North Shore that I have photo'd recently:

The Northland Emergency Services Trust's Sikorsky S 76A ZK-IKM lifts off on 19/9/18.  This has been posted on the blog before but not in the standard NEST scheme - have a look at its old scheme by typing in ZK-IKM into the search box at the top left of the home screen..

and the Ralph Schultz Helicopters Ltd's Hughes H369E ZK-INO lifts off on 14/9/18.

Ardmore

Continuing the theme of helicopters at Ardmore in the blogs below today offered Heliflite's MBB Bo105CBS-4 ZK-HYT in a new colour scheme

Ardmore on Wednesday 19-9-2018

With a day to kill in Auckland while the car gets a new cambelt, what else in there to do but to drive the courtesy car down to Ardmore.  It was pretty quiet and would have been a lot quieter if not for the helicopter movements.

It was nice to catch up with Agairnz and to catch Helicopter Queenstown's "new" Eurocopter AS 350 B3 Sqirrel ZK-INT2.  He has already posted his photo taken at the same time.

Advanced Flight Ltd's Giumbal Cabri G2 ZK-HAF3 was carrying out training.

Ardmore Flying School's new Diamond DA 42 ZK-EAP3 thrummed into the air with its distinctive twin diesel engine note.

and taxied back with 4 on board.

While an older twin design, Auckland Aero Club's Beech Duchess ZK-SMI arrived.

Squirrel ZK-HNC

Continuing the helicopter theme of the last couple of post I offer the Aerospatiale AS 350 B2 ZK-HNC3 (c/n 1322) which is the latest addition to the Christchurch Helicopters 2001 Ltd's fleet.

This is what the NZ Aviation News Magazine said about it following its registration on 02-07-2018.

Aerospatiale additions include an AS 350 B2 for Christchurch Helicopters 2001 Ltd as ZK-HNC. 

As D-HKHL this was operated by Helicopter Services Hanover GmbH in 1985-1986 before proceeding to Iceland to join their Coastguard as TF-GRO₃ until re-listing as TF-SYR₂ in 1999 and then returning to Germany as D-HFEM in 2000 to serve with Helitransair and then with Heli-Aviation GmbH from 2010. 

From 06-09-2015 it was listed with Heraklion Nikos Kazanatakis for operations in Greece and nearby territories. 

Interestingly the first ZK-HNC was almost also an ex Greek machine but this became ZK-HBU₂ instead, with the Hughes 269C ex ZK-HIF₂ taking its place as ZK-HNC₁. ZK-HNC₂ was a Schweizer 269Ci.

It is in the black and white colour scheme now being adopted for the Christchurch Helicopters fleet.

Big Bell at Ardmore 20-9-18

Bell 412EP P2-HNZ msn 36099 arrived at Ardmore mid afternoon on 20-9-18 from Mechanics Bay and after taking on fuel departed for New Plymouth. This helicopter is ex ZK-HDY and has been operating in Papua New Guinea with Helifix Operations PNG