BRM Aero Bristell NG 5s of New Zealand

The next type of sport aircraft to be registered in New Zealand in 2013 was the BRM Aero Bristell NG 5.

BRM Aero Ltd was formed by Milan Bristela and his son Martin in 2009 based in Kunovice in the Czech Republic.  The company has since gone on to manufacture more than 500 aircraft with the NG 5 being their first aircraft that was introduced in 2011.  The NG 5 is also built as a taildragger or with a retractable undercarriage, and has been renamed as the Bristell Classic.  More recently BRM Aero have introduced the high wing B 8 and the bigger low wing B 23 models.

The Bristell NG 5 was designed by Milan Bristela and is of aluminium construction with composite cowling and fairings.  The specifications are:  length 6.45 metres (21 feet 2 inches), the wingspan can be 8.17 metres (26 feet 10 inches) or 9.13 metres (29 feet 11 inches) and the corresponding wing area is 113 square feet or 126.5 square feet.  Empty weight is around 310 kg (683 pounds) for the short wing or 320 Kg (705 pounds) for the long wing, and as all the NG 5s in New Zealand are LSAs the MAUW is 598 Kg (1.320 pounds).  Engines can range from the 80 HP Rotax 912 UL to the 141 HP Rotax 915 iS, and with a 100 HP Rotax the cruise speed is around 115 knots while the stall speed with full flaps is around 30 knots.

We have had six Bristell NG 5s in New Zealand to date, as follows:

ZK-LMR (c/n 058/2013) was first registered on 30/7/13 to Aerohire Ltd of Whakatane and it is photo'd above at Whakatane on 21/4/17.

ZK-NGT (c/n 307/2018) was registered to Colin B McRae of Pokeno on 10/1/18, and it is photo'd above at Pauanui on 10/8/18.

Also registered on 10/1/18 was ZK-NGZ (c/n 308/2018).  This was registered to Martin Henton of Taupiri, who along with Bill Henwood are the principals of Anderson Aviation New Zealand, who are the New Zealand agents for BRM Aero Bristell.  ZK-NGZ is photo'd above at Martin Henton's home airstrip at Taupiri, on 21/3/19 in its very New Zealand colour scheme.

Also present at Taupiri on 21/3/19 was their demonstrator ZK-NGB.  If you look closely at the photo and enlarge it, you can see that ZK-NGZ is a long wing model and that ZK-NGB is a short wing version (compare the wing length outboard from the landing lights).

Our next Bristell NG 5 was imported from the UK where it was registered G-STLL on 24/1/13.  You can see some of its history at https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2018/06/brm-aero-bristell-ng5-zk-cla.html  The Bristell was cancelled from the UK register on 19/2/18 and it was registered in New Zealand on 6/6/18 as ZK-CLA2 (c.n LAA385/15183) for Chris Lyle of Kerikeri.  It is photo's above at Kaipara Flats airfield on 8/12/18.

 

ZK-NGB (c/n 344/2018) was imported by the local Bristell agents Anderson Aviation NZ Ltd in mid 2018 and was displayed at the 2018 Field Days at Mystery Creek.  It was registered to Anderson Aviation NZ Ltd on 19/2/19 and used as a demonstrator, and it was sold to the Pekamu Trust of Te Kopuru (Alan Nelson) on 4/10/19.  It is photo'd above at Dargaville on 26/10/19 looking very smart.

And finally for now, our sixth Bristell NG 5 to be registered is ZK-SAM4 (c/n 455/2019) that was imported for Stuart E (Stu) Reid of Ohaupo and registered to him on 5/12/19.  It is our second short wing NG 5 after ZK-NGB.  It received a special colour scheme at Anderson Aviation and is photo'd above on its first visit to Pauanui on 22/1/20.  Stu Reid has owned a succession of aircraft that he has registered ZK-SAM.  Another very smart looking aircraft, but I reckon all our Bristell NG 5s look great.