Friday 4 October 2019

Ibis Magic GS 700s of New Zealand

The next type of sport aircraft to arrive here was the Ibis Magic GS 700.  Ibis Aircraft S A was formed in Santiago de Cali in Colombia in 1990 and has produced around 8 models since that time.

The Ibis Magic GS 700 was designed to comply with FAI microlight and US LSA rules and first appeared in 2003.  It is constructed mainly from 6061-T6 aluminium sheet and it was designed to use unimproved airstrips.  It looks a lot like a Cessna 150.  Its LSA specifications are:  Length 6.85 metres (22 feet 8 inches), wingspan 8.55 metres (28 feet 1 inch) with a wing area of 134 square feet.  Its empty weight is around 320 Kg (705 pounds) with a MAUW of 600 Kg (1,323 pounds).  With the standard 100 HP Rotax 912ULS engine the cruise speed is around 115 mph and the stall speed is around 35 mph.

We have had five Ibis Magics in New Zealand to date, as follows:

The first Ibis Magic GS 700 to be registered here came from Australia where it was registered 24-7125.  It was registered here on 30/8/11 as ZK-PLC (c/n GS 05-08-700-68) to Peter L Collins of Rangiora.  It is photo'd above at Rangiora very early on in its life, on 14/9/11.

And again at Rangiora on 4/5/12.

It was re-registered as ZK-KAC2 on 12/3/14, and then sold on 21/3/14 to the Skippen and Middleton Partnership of Richmond (and later Upper Moutere), with whom it is still current.  It is photo'd above at Rangiora on 21/3/14.

Next up was ZK-MGC (c/n 05-08-700-69) which was registered to Jet Boat Com Ltd of Gore (Neil Ross) on 16/9/11.  On 21/10/12 ownership changed to Brian Nimmo of Wanaka, and on 30/11/16 to the TJ Duncan and JC Templeton Syndicate of Wanaka.  It is photo'd above at Rangiora on 12/10/11.

Then followed a couple of later models that have revised cabin windows.  ZK-DUH2 (c/n 10-11-700-114) was registered to Douglas C Anderson of Christchurch on 24/4/12.  It is photo'd above at Rangiora on 30/6/12.  On 15/11/18 ownership transferred to Colin F Hay of Waimate, and the aircraft is based at his hangar at Oamaru.

Arriving in the same container was ZK-PLC2 (c/n 10-11-700-115) which was the second Ibis Magic for Peter L Collins of Rangiora.  It was registered on 17/3/14 and is photo'd above at Rangiora on 7/4/17, thanks to Blue Bus who has captured all of our Ibis Magics (until another one was imported from South Africa).

Our final Ibis Magic GS 700 to be registered to date was ZK-CCL2 (c/n 02-10-700-98), which is ex ZS-FJK and was imported to New Zealand by Juan-Pierre Schulze of Pukekohe and was registered to him on 7/11/18.  It is photo'd above at Mercer - thanks for the photo JP.

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