Vans RV 12s of New Zealand (2)

The first of the next batch of RV 12s were two that first flew at Whitianga on the same day in March 2016:

The first of these was ZK-ERV (c/n 120867) which was the second RV 12 to be built by students of the Mercury Bay Area School and it was registered to Allan J Kearney of Auckland on 23/2/16.  I travelled over to Whitianga to see both of the RV 12s fly after sign off by David Gill of CAA.  ZK-ERV was the first one to be signed off and parked outside while ZK-LSV was signed off, and then they both taxied out for their first flights with ZK-ERV being flown by Alan Coubray.  The above photo shows it taxying in after its first flight, on 14/3/16.

The other RV 12 to fly at Whitianga on 14/3/16 was Jim Evans's ZK-LSV (c/n 12066).  This was a Vans factory built Light Sport Aircraft which was registered in the US as N302VA on 26/10/15 and cancelled from the US register on 8/3/16.  It was registered in New Zealand on 10/3/16 to Rotor Blades (NZ) Ltd of Whitianga and it is photo'd above taxying in after its first flight at Whitianga on 14/3/16, flown by Jim Evans.  On 12/6/18 ownership changed to James A Evans of Whitianga.  Tragically ZK-LSV was lost in a fatal accident near Coromandel on 14 June 2019, killing Jim Evans.  The aircraft was cancelled from the register on 28/6/19.

ZK-DMB2 (c/n 12-917) is the second RV 12 to be built by Malcolm Belcher of Havelock North.  It is photo'd above at the first flyin of the year in 2019, at Waipukurau on 1/1/19.

ZK-EAA3 (c/n 120952) is the third RV 12 built by students of the Mercury Bay Area School.  It was registered on 10/5/17 to John S Gemmell of Auckland and it is based at Whitianga.  It is photo'd above at the 2019 Wings and Wheels at Thames, in 26/1/19.

ZK-SMB (for Student Microlight Build) (c/n 121059) was built by students from Hastings and Havelock North schools under the tutelage of Peter Steers who heads up the Aero Club Youth Microlight Build project.  It was registered to the Hawkes Bay and East Coast Aero Club (who funded the purchase of the kit), on 9/2/19.  It is photo'd at Hastings on 29/11/19.

And our most recently registered RV 12 is Gary Thorne's ZK-VGT (c/n 120172) which was registered to him at Rotorua on 22/1/20.  Thanks very much for the photo Gary, which was taken at Rotorua on 13/3/20.

The twelve RV 12s I have posted are far from all the that will be registered here, and we will see many more of them in the future.  I know of at least two others in the Auckland area that are close to flying and the Mercury Bay Area School has their fourth one nearly completed.  Another very successful design from Vans.