New Sonex Tri-Gear ZK-VWS at Matamata

Late last year a new Sonex was registered to a Putaruru owner but I had not seen a photo of it until Gavin Magill posted one he took at Matamata back on 19/9/20:

ZK-VWS (c/n 1631) was built in Australia as 19-8656 and was registered in New Zealand to EJ Stegen of Putaruru on 4/10/19.

Evans VP-1 Volksplane ZK-EDA

The first Evans VP-1 Volksplane in NZ was ZK-EDA (c/n V1685/AACA/183) as built by Lloyd Cox of Napier and registered on 07-11-1974 and originally powered with a 1600cc VW engine.

Its early career can be seen in an earlier post on this link.

https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/search?q=zk-eda

The photo below shows it at Rangiora on 21-08-2007 whilst with Nigel and Juliet Forrester of Waiau. The VW engine is clearly visible.

It was sold to Don Leach of Amberley in July of 2008 but quickly moved on to Bombus International Ltd of Hastings in September of 2008.

And below a close up of its enclosed canopy. 

Tony Pinny of Te Awamutu took it on from 15-06-2010 and re-engined it with a Rotax 582 and fitted Cessna brakes and wheels.

By now it was Rotax 582 powered.

 

Tony sold it to Leon Jacobs of Mt Maunganui in February 2013 who in turn sold it to Gary Whatmough of Hikurangi in July of 2013.

It was trailered north but I believe it never flew again.

Its registration was cancelled on 10-07-2020 as withdrawn.

Challenger ZK-JCX

The Quad City Challenger II ZK-JCX (c/n CH2-0593-0976/MAANZ/493) was first registered to the Manawatu Microlight Club (Inc) of Feilding on 09-09-1993.

The Huntley Cole Syndicate also of Feilding took it over from 01-07-2000 followed by Ray Eden of Waimate from 01-03-2003. 

Photo above taken at Feilding on 28-01-2003.

Malcolm Pooke, initially of Montalto acquired it from mid-March of 2008, with a move to Oxford in September 2011.

It was sold to Tony Christiansen of Tauranga in mid-January of 2012 and ferried north by Leon Jacobs.

In the photo below it is seen whilst on delivery morth, at Flat Hills near Taihape, with a 40l long range tank on the rear seat.

Tony Christiansen, who was a motivational speaker, had it converted to hand controls and added the 'Check Yr Attitude' script behind the cockpit and 'Challenger 2' on the nose and the large 'Challenger' on the rear fuselage and tail.

It has just been sold to a lucky new owner.

ZK-PMC at Christchurch

Piper PA-24-260 Comanche ZK-PMC2 (c/n 24-4833) was noted on the tie downs on the western grass of Christchurch International today.

This is of 1969 vintage and was ferried into Auckland by Jim Hazelton on 18-06-2008 to become ZK-PMC2 with Helicopter Services Support Ltd of Taupo from 22-07-2008. 

Ownership was transferred to John Funnell on 22-02-2016 and to present owner John Arends of Pahiatua on 14-01-2020.

ZK-EZG/2 at Pauanui

Further to Keith's North Shore blog below of DR107 ZK-EZG2 here's its arrival at Pauanui for its first visit.

 

Rihn One Design ZK-EZG/2 in the Fog at North Shore this Morning 26-9-2020

I got up quite early this morning to catch up with David Wilkinson 7 am at North Shore and to see his new One Design ZK-EZG2 in action.  David test flew his aircraft back on 4 September but I was otherwise busy that day.  He told me that he now has 11 hours up.

Unfortunately there was quite heavy fog which kept him on the ground until after 9 am.

However the diffuse light was quite good for photos.

Taxying to the fuel pumps at around 7.30.

When the fog lifted he headed to Pauanui - over to you Richard!

A Nice Cessna 185 at NZKF Today 25-9-2020

I spent a very pleasant day at Kaipara Flats airfield today, repainting my Jodel D 9 rudder and catching up on a couple of minor maintenance jobs.  It is great when you hang around an airfield for a chunk of time that lots of interesting people drop in for a chat.  One visitor was Dan Gaddum who was up from Tauranga in his very nice alphabetic Cessna A185F ZK-JKL2 :

ZK-JKL2 (c/n 18504340) is ex N9360N and was first registered here on 14/9/06 to JK and LM Holdings of Taihape.  It has been owned by Dan since 24/3/18.

Vans RV 9A at Paraparaumu 20-9-2020

Last Sunday was a beautiful day over the North Island at least, and there were lots of aircraft out in the sun at many locations.  Tim Gorman was at Paraparaumu and photo'd this:  

Vans RV 9A ZK-RVE2 (c/n 91391) was registered to a Wellington owner back on 18/3/16.  It has been elusive to catch and I believe it has not yet flown.

Thanks for the photo Tim.

Bantam B 22J ZK-TJK/2 at Hawera 20-9-2020

There are still many Micro Aviation Bantam microlights flying in New Zealand, in fact so many that they seem to blur in my mind.  Another one that has not featured on the blog before is the Jabiru powered B 22J ZK-TJK2: 

ZK-TJK2 (c/n 0149) was peviously ZK-MRB and was re-registered in April 2002.  It was recently registered to J A Mauchline of Wanganui, on 3/8/20.

It was photo'd by Jordan Elvy at the recent Hawera Aero Club brunch flyin on 20/9/20.  Thanks for the photo Jordan.

A New Savannah from the North

Dave and Judy Cull of Ruakaka have completed their new Savannah S and it is being test flown by Brian Taylor at Whangarei:

ZK-ZAV (c/n 18-02-54-0594) was first registered on 9/9/20.  

It looks very nice Dave and Judy.

Pauanui

An interesting arrival for coffee this morning at Pauanui was the Classic Aircraft WACO YMF ZK-CFL2.  Formerly based at Wanaka this changed ownership to Matahui Airlines of Whitianga in July 2020.

And departing last evening was the Corby Kestrel ZK-SJM as recorded in yesterday's Blog.

 

The Bandages Have Come Off Life Flight's Jetstream ZK-LFW!

Tim Gorman was at Wellington International recently and caught Life Flight's Jetstream 32 ZK-LFW in its new colours: 

Maybe this is what was always under the bandages.

I guess it might be easier to see in the air but I am not sure if I like it.

And to jog your memory, here it is in its bandages scheme.

A couple from the South Is

Receiving attention at Heliflite Ardmore today was Robinson R22 Beta II ZK-HLX which is registered to an Alexandra owner.   This was imported new in 2008.

A surprise late afternoon arrival at Pauanui was the unique Dunedin based Corby Kestrel CM2 ZK-SJM,  first registered back in 2007.   It stayed only briefly and then departed with Mercer based Cessna 152 ZK-ETZ heading north.

 

A couple from Rangiora - Sunday

 A  quick flit through Rangiora this afternoon picked up a few strays.

The Reims-Cessna F337F Super Skymaster ZK-SVY (c/n 0045) popped in for a visit. 

Landpro has just purchased the Piper PA-31 Navajo ZK-JGA which is currently being fitted out for aerial survey work and will replace ZK-SVY- which is for sale.

See the earlier post of ZK-SVY -

here  https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2017/08/reims-cessna-fa337f-zk-svy.html

 

Another out of towner was the Cessna 172K ZK-PAM (c/n 17258484) of Air Rangitata Ltd.

And a swap over.

The Ravensdown Aerowork Pacific Aerospace Cresco ZK-LTV c/n 015) up from Waimate and continuing north to Whanganui with replacement ZK-LTB (c/n 022)

heading south.

Bantam B 22S ZK-DTC/2 at Te Kowhai Today 20-9-2020

Te Kowhai was very quiet when I called through at lunchtime today.  There was only one aircraft parked out:

Bantams are synonymous with Te Kowhai so it was nice to see a very nice example out in the sun.  Micro Aviation Bantam B 22S ZK-DTC2 (c/n 06-0288) has been owned by V A Stark of Hamilton since 3/7/20, and I saw on Facebook that it is for sale.  It has not featured on the blog previously.

Around Waitomo - a Bristol in the Bush

A weekend visit to No 2 grandson who is working on a farm near Otorohanga produced an interesting find just down the road from where his farm is:

The Bristol B 170 Freighter is ex NZ5906 which was retired at Whenuapai in March 1977 and was sold to R S Dwen of Ardmore in August 1978.  It remained derelict at Ardmore until it was transported to Waihi Beach airfield in September 1994.  After a stint at the airfield, first as a restaurant and then as the clubrooms for the Waihi Aero Club, it was moved again in December 2001 to the Woodlyn Park Motels which is near the Waitomo Caves where it is used as two motel units and is slowly disappearing behind the encroaching bush.

An unexpected sighting that I would have missed were it not for No 2 grandson.

Around Auckland

A visit to Auckland International this morning revealed Barrier Air's 1st Cessna 208B Grand Caravan ZK-SDB now repainted in the company's fleet colours.  This was imported back in 2015 from the US.

Also Airwork Flight Operations' Boeing 737-400F freighter ZK-TLJ with "Toll" titling,  this was imported from the US back in 2015.

Over at Ardmore Oceania Aviation has imported 2 former Mercy Flight Western New York MBB BK117A-4 medevac helicopters,  N587TJ c/n 7047 and N584TJ c/n 7138

HeliSika Agriculture's AS350B3 sprayer ZK-HIP5 arrived back from a job.  This was originally ZK-IJO imported new in 2012 and reregistered HIP in 2018.

And the Central Otago Flying Club's Cessna R172K Hawk XP appropriately ZK-XPD which was imported from Australia back in 1993 and acquired by the Club in July 2020.

 

Timaru last Saturday 12th

A belated report from Timaru for last Saturday the 12th.

John Brown's Rans S-7 Courier ZK-JRB2 (c/n 0904377) on the move.

First registered on 19-10-2009

A very recent arrival from up North is the Cessna 177B Cardinal ZK-DWU (c/n 17702117) which was transferred over to Ashvegas Flyers on 09-09-2020.

And dropping in was the Supermarine Aircraft Spitfire Mk26B Replica ZK-MEB (c/n 72) of Hayden Cowan.

With Nanchang ZK-CAJ beyond.

Jetrangers and others at Hamilton

Amongst all the activity at Hamilton Airport today was a trio of Jetrangers comprising local privately owned 206B ZK-HBG5 which was imported from the US in 2009.

Up from New Plymouth the Tarata Helicopters 206B ZK-HUS which has been with the company since 2007, having been imported from the US in 1984

And also from New Plymouth the Precision Helicopters 206B ZK-IRC2 which was imported from the UK in 2015

At the Air Ambulance base the Mitsubishi Mu2B-30 ZK-KOH lost all its colours to enable a full corrosion check and is now all white.

Over the other side at the Heliport the Waikato Rescue helicopter is now Kawasaki BK117B-2 ZK-IIX in a very smart silver fern scheme.   This was imported from Papua New Guinea in late 2018

And visiting from Gisborne was Andy Stevenson Aviation's PT6A powered 2004 model Piper PA46-500TP Malibu Meridian ZK-UTE3,  which was imported from Australia in late 2019

 

Takaka Dawn Flyin from Above

Jordan Elvy flew across to the Golden Bay Flying Club's Takaka Dawn Flyin in Cessna 172M ZK-DRP from Paraparaumu.  They were one of the last to arrive and Jordan took this photo of the gathered aircraft:

I counted 29 aircraft shoehorned in, and with ZK-DRP that makes 30 visiting aircraft.  It is just as well they didn't have any more turn up!

Another Cessna 172 Taildragger - ZK-BQG

Coincidently following on from Blue Bus's post on the Cessna 172 taildragger ZK-BSU, another example was at the Golden Bay Flying Club's Dawn Raid at Takaka over the weekend:

ZK-BQG (c/n 28480) is Ray Patchett's machine, from Blenheim.  Like ZK-BSU it has had a long career in New Zealand starting from its registration on 1/5/56.  I think it is also worth a more in depth profile in the near future - come in Blue Bus!

Thanks to Jordan Elvy who took the photo and pointed out that this aircraft has not featured on the blog previously.

A Couple of Pioneers from Takaka

The Golden Bay Flying Club held a Dawn Flyin at Takaka on Saturday 12 September with a good turnout.  There were a couple of Pioneer aircraft there that were newly repainted or re-registered:

Pioneer 200 ZK-PKT2 (c/n SN97) has been repainted in a more modern Pioneer scheme.  It has been with the Global Campers Business Trust of Christchurch since November 2014. 

And Pioneer 300 ZK-KPD2 (c/n 296) has been re-registered from ZK-RJV for Kevin Dore of Christchurch.  His earlier Pioneer 200 ZK-KPD has been re-registered as ZK-SML2 since March 2020.  It has also been repainted with blue trim, although I guess the trim is a stick on decal?

Thanks for the photos Jordan.

  

Cessna 172 ZK-BSU

 Cessna ZK-BSU c/n 29604 was ferried into Ashburton for Alpine Aviation Ltd yesterday after a major rework at Flight Fix at Norfolk Road.

It is now powered with a Continental engine from a Cessna Hawk XP.

It has had a lengthy and interesting career starting from its initial NZ CofA on 22-02-1957. I think it is well worth a more in depth profile in the near future.

Unveiling of Sir Keith Park Memorial at Thames Today 13-9-2020

A memorial to Sir Keith Park was unveiled at Thames aerodrome today with celebrations that included the NZ Warbirds Bristol Fighter replica ZK-PRK, marked in the colours of an example that he flew in WW 1, flying into the aerodrome and the Spitfire Tr 9 ZK-WDQ performing above Thames.  Sir Keith Park was born in Thames in 1892.

The centrepiece of the memorial is the replica Hurricane painted in the colours of Sir Keith Park's personal Hurricane from WW 2 mounted on a plinth at the aerodrome, and here it is being craned into position earlier in the week.

Thanks to Dave Evans who took the video from which I took this screenshot.