WASSI Tomahawks at the Walsh

The Walsh Memorial Scout Flying School at Matamata wraps up today, 23 January 2024, and from photos I have seen there were a lot of Piper PA 38 Tomahawk trainers there.  However three of them had a commonality:

These three Tomahawks are owned by the Walsh Aviation Support Society Incorporated (WASSI) and are painted in their colour scheme but in different colours.  ZK-JRS3 is the most recently completed being a restoration of the former ZK-ESI and having been registered to WASSI on 30/10/23.

Their previous rebuild is ZK-NJT which was rebuilt from the damaged N24364 by JEM Aviation.  It is operated by Air Hawkes Bay Ltd during the rest of the year.

And the original WASSI Tomahawk is ZK-FML resplendent in yellow.  It is leased to the Wellington Aero Club during the rest of the year.

I understand that WASSI also own Tomahawks ZK-JHF and ZK-MAJ and also the Cessna 152 ZK-MUM (which is currently being worked on at JEM Aviation and wears the same colour scheme with a blue trim).  

The WASSI was started in 2018 and exists to support the Walsh Memorial Scout Flying School by providing a fleet of training aircraft of a high standard and with modern equipment.  This is in recognition that the future of GA is in young people and the Walsh provides excellent flying training for young people every year, run by a lot of volunteers in all capacities.  The homepage of WASSI can be found HERE

Thanks for the photos Mark.