Sir Keith Park Memorial Airfield

In 2020 the Thames Airfield was re-named the Sir Keith Park Memorial Airfield in honour of Keith Park who was born in Thames and who went on to be a pilot in World War 1, and then to play a pivotal role in the air defences of England in World War II.  

A replica of his personal Hurricane has been erected at the entrance to the airfield:

The reason we were all there on Saturday was for the 4th Annual Wings and Wheels event.

And in another tribute to Sir Keith Park, the NZ Warbirds flew their replica Bristol F2B Fighter over from Ardmore for a flying display.  It is registered ZK-PRK and is painted in the colours of an aircraft that the then Keith Park flew in World War 1.

Pauanui

A couple of visitors to Pauanui today from further afield comprised Bell 206B ZK-IRJ up from Napier.   This was imported used from the US back in 2007, and has been with its current owner since December 2019.

And from the NZICPA college at Whanganui the Cessna A152 ZK-ELC, which was imported new in 1978 and acquired by the school in late 2017.

 

Friday visit to Rangiora

 The conversion of the N.Z.A.I Fletcher FU24-954 ZK-EUA (c/n 282) is progressing well with several manned test flights carried out. Unmanned flights will soon be conducted from another site.

It is initially being set up for unmanned night time anti locust spray operations in East Africa.

Arriving on Tuesday from Kerikeri for local new owners was the Pipistrel Sinus ZK-RDZ2 (c/n 515-SN 912 LSA).  This was first listed with the Dold Trust of Paihia on 05-04-2013.

Cessna A185F ZK-DJF/2 at Thames 31-1-2021

 A lovely "new" Cessna 185 that I had not seen before turned up at Thames yesterday:

ZK-DJF2 (c/n 1852382) has been registered to Farmers Air of Gisborne since 19/6/18.  It came from Australia where it was registered VH-UJT.  It has not appeared on the blog previously.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk 25 Flying at Stratford Today

The Hairy Mole Rat was at Stratford on Friday when Gary Marsh flew his Supermarine Spitfire Mk 25 ZK-RGV/A58-497 :

Thanks for the nice photos HMR.

I Think There Was a Yacht Race Down There

On the way back home to Kaipara Flats this afternoon I caught this image from over the Hauraki Gulf looking back towards Devonport and the City:

I will post more from the very successful Thames Wings and Wheels tomorrow.

Taranaki

An early morning visit to Hawera found Aerospread Ltd's Cessna 180J ZK-DXW over from Napier.  This was imported new back in 1976 and acquired by the company in 2012.

Up the road at Stratford an Open Day was being held for the town and many of the hangar residents came outside including Spitfire Mk25 ZK-RGV which was imported from Australia back in June 2019.   It still displays its Australian registration VH-XST.

A more recent arrival was the Waiex ZK-YEX which was also imported from Australia, but in August 2020.

And locally based Aerowork Cresco 750 ZK-LTJ emerged for the locals to inspect.

 

A few from the lower North Is

Journeying up from Wellington a stop at Paraparaumu found the Jetstream J3201 ZK-ECI parked out.  This changed ownership to Origin Air in August 2020.

Further on at Palmerston North the only Alpha R2160 in the Massey School of Aviation fleet is ZK-FXY which was purchased in January 2013.     FXY was originally registered back in 2006.

Hangared at Feilding was our latest Cirrus import is SR22 ZK-CNZ3 which was flown across the Tasman in October 2020.    It is currently for sale.

At Whanganui MidWest Helicopters AS350B-2 sprayer ZK-HFA2 had just returned from a job.  This was originally imported from Switzerland in 2001, and acquired by the company in March 2018.

Also at Whanganui the NZ International Commercial Pilot Academy's whole fleet was very busy and not blogged here before is 172S ZK-WUD which was acquired by the company in April 2019,  after reregistration from ZK-FTM.

 

Medevacs at Wellington

On the ramp at Capital Jet today was Skyline Aviation's Beech B200 ZK-WPN which is operated for the NZ Air Ambulance service.  This was originally imported from Australia in 2013 as ZK-MYM being reregistered as WPN in February 2020.

Next door the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter BK117B-2 ZK-IPT arrived.  This was imported back in 2011 from South Korea.

 

Cessna Caravans at North Shore 27-1-2021

It was just about a Caravan park at North Shore airfield around lunchtime yesterday:

I just missed Barrier Air's ZK-SDC as it departed.

At the same time ZK-SLA was in the circuit and touched down on Runway 03

As has been mentioned previously, this Grand Caravan has been leased by Barrier Air from Southern Lakes Aviation of Queenstown.

A quick turn around saw passengers and luggage unloaded, fuel filled, new passengers and luggage loaded for a total of 30 minutes on the ground.

And the third Grand Caravan was N522EX which I understand could be going to be used for military parachute dropping.

Bell Long Ranger ZK-HNY/5 at North Shore 27-1-2021

Another Avgas run to North Shore today saw the newly registered Bell 206L-4 Long Ranger ZK-HNY5 out doing some training circuits:

ZK-HNY5 (c/n 52320) was registered to Airlift New Zealand Ltd of Milford on the North Shore on 12/11/20.  It was imported from Canada where it was registered C-GLZS.

And also out doing some training was Robinson R 22 Beta ZK-IAT of Orbit Helicopters Ltd, of the same Milford, North Shore address.

ZK-ISP

Arriving into the Pauanui Waterways today was Airbus EC130T2 ZK-ISP3 of Force Aviation, Coromandel.   This was originally imported in 2014 becoming ZK-IEC3 and in December 2020 was reregistered as ISP.

 

Matamata visitors to Pauanui

The past couple of days have seen a number of visitors to Pauanui from Matamata including the very quick Bushby Midget Mustang ZK-MFE.  This was originally registered to its Timaru builder back in 2006 and acquired by its new Matamata owner in November 2020.

And registered to Matamata based aircraft leasing company,  Giles Aviation Services, is diesel powered Diamond DA40D ZK-DIM2 which was imported from Australia in 2018,  and acquired by Giles in July 2020.

 

Looking Back on the NZ Civair 2020 Year

 Well 2020 turned out to be a year unlike any other in living memory.  It started out so well!

It didn't turn out to be triple happy, but here are the blog header photos for 2020.

Thanks to the various photographers that allowed their photos to be used.

We were pleased to bring blog readers 566 posts on New Zealand civil aircraft during the year, and the variety was as wide as the blog header photos (actually wider!)

If any readers have nice New Zealand aircraft photos that they think would make a good header photo, please send them in so we can all enjoy them.

T 28B Trojan ZK-TGN Delivery Flight Today 25-1-2020

Brian Hall's North American T 28B Trojan ZK-TGN finally made its long delayed delivery flight South from Ardmore to Ashburton today.  Jordan Elvy was on hand as it transitted through Paraparaumu to catch these shots:

Thanks for the photos Jordan.