Piper PA44-180 Seminole ZK-SWL

Noted at Ardmore this morning was the latest addition to the Southern Wings training fleet, Piper PA44-180 Seminole ZK-SWL.      Originally built in 2015 it was exported to Australia in November of that year and was operated as VH-OXP by Moorabbin based Oxford Aviation Academy.     

It was delivered to NZ on 7 May via a direct 7hr 40min flight from Canberra to Auckland.

 

Cessna O-1A Bird Dog ZK-LAO

Making a very brief visit to Pauanui airfield this afternoon was the Cessna Bird Dog ZK-LAO, an O-1A model c/n 21692 which was registered to the LAO Syndicate of Auckland in May 2024.

It was originally built in July 1951 under a US Army contract as serial 51-4807 and supplied to the Thai Army under the Military Assistance Program as serial 4807.    After service it lay derelict in Thailand for some years until 2013 when it was shipped to NZ for restoration.

 

Two Christchurch arrivals on Saturday the 5th.

 Tony McFarlin captured these two jets arriving into Christchurch on Saturday.

Bombardier Global Express (BD-700-1A10) N7CG c/n 9075 of Coulson Aviation (USA) Inc cruising in.

A 1980 2000 example built as C-GHEI by Bombardier Aerospace at Downsview, Ontario, Canada.

It soon became N316GS followed by N1812C, N182U, N595E and then N7CG in December of 2024.

More familiar was the Boeing 737-86N (BCF) ZK-TXF c/n 36804 of Texel Air Ltd.

For more on this aircraft see here

Its first revenue service in NZ was on 19-04-2025.

Jean Saint-Germain Raz-Muts of New Zealand (Only One)

The unattractive sounding Raz-Mut was designed by Jean Saint-Germain of Drummondville in Quebec in 1976.  I reckon it was also unattractive looking!  It was designed as an easy to build and easy to fly ultralight but in New Zealand our sole example was registered as an Amateur Built Aircraft under the auspices of the AACA (Amateur Aircraft Constructors Association).  The fuselage construction was based on the Bensen B8 gyrocopter and the wings were of all aluminium construction and the empennage was aluminium with fabric covering.  An example was flown at Oshkosh in 1977 with a 1700cc VW engine.  The Raz-Mut was marketed as a kit.

Empty weight was around 173 Kg (380 pounds) and the MAUW was 363 Kg (800 ponds).  The performance was not spectacular with a cruise speed of 60 knots and a stall speed of around 33 knots.

We have had only one Raz-Mut constructed in New Zealand as follows:

ZK-LGW (c/n AACA 574) was built by Laurie Grant of Warkworth (hence the registration I assume) and it was registered to him on 2/3/83.  It was powered by a 1834cc VW engine.  Laurie was an ex WW II Spitfire pilot and a founding member of the Rodney Aero Club at Kaipara Flats airfield.  Laurie assembled his Raz-Mut at Ardmore where Bob Kerr took the above photo in December 1982.  I think it test flew at Ardmore but on 23/5/83 Laurie attempted his first flight at Kaipara Flats where the aircraft stalled on climb out and crashed, injuring Laurie Grant.  It was not rebuilt and was cancelled from the register on 28/9/90.

Homebuilt Gliders of NZ - Aviastroitel AC 5M Update

Back in 2012 I posted a series on the blog about homebuilt gliders of New Zealand, at which time I reckoned there had been 19 of them.  However I have recently discovered another one, being the Aviastroitel AC 5M MZ35 ZK-GPF2:

ZK-GPF2 (c/n 016) was built from a kit in America by William C Ballard of St Petersburg, Florida and registered to him as N516R on 9/10/01. It flew for around 16 hours in America before it was cancelled on 9/11/05 and shipped to New Zealand.  It was registered here as an Amateur Built Glider on 21/12/05 to Neville R Swan of Auckland (Neville Swan has owned several amateur built gliders).  It was re-designated as a Class 1 microlight on 5/5/06.  It is photo'd above at Whenuapai on 3/3/07.  On 22/9/07 its ownership changed to Thomas O'Rourke of Auckland and on 3/1/11 one of its propellor blades hit the air filter and was damaged, resulting in a forced landing near Whenuapai with quite a lot of damage when it hit a fence post.  However it was repaired and is still current with Thomas O'Rourke.

And to more completely update my original post on Aviastroitel AC 5M MZ35 gliders (see HERE), below is a much better photo of our other example ZK-GPO:

Since my 2012 post it has been sold, on 10/12/14, to Lee Middleton of Wellsford.  I understand it is for sale.

Thanks to Peter Lewis for the photos.

A Memorial for Peter Mole

 

A memorial for our own Hairy Mole Rat.  Photo from Warwick Hamilton.

Nelson visitors 29-06-2025

Bill Mannix captured these two visitors at Nelson this morning 29-06-2025.

PHI New Zealand Ltds Agusta AW139 ZK-HNO2 c/n 31156 flew IFR pretty much direct from New Plymouth to Nelson this morning. 

Then carried out a VIP flight around the weather beaten area, including Riwaka, Tapawera, almost to St Arnaud, Golden Downs, Wakefield and back to Nelson.

It then returned to New Plymouth.

This Agusta AW139 began as VH-NZF c/n 31156 from 06-01-2009 HNZ Cougar Helicopters Pty Ltd of Belmont, Western Australia on lease to Helicopters (NZ) Ltd.

It was entered onto the NZ register as ZK-HNO2 on 04-03-2011 with Helicopters (NZ) Ltd of Nelson. It followed the Company name change to Helicopters (NZ) Limited from 07-07-2011 and then HNZ New Zealand Limited from 30-10-2012. This in turn became PHI New Zealand Limited from 29-09-2020.

It carries the name 'Manupaatiki on its nose.

Also noted was the Search And Rescue Services Ltd Kawasaki BK117 SD2 ZK-IRU c/n 1101, also connected to the recent weather event. 

It flew into Nelson via the Outer Marlborough Sounds yesterday and did several local flights and departed back to Wellington today.

Of 1995 vintage and ex Japan as JA6743 it served time in Australia as VH-BKS6 from May of 2011.

It was imported into NZ in November 2012 for its current owner.

It still carries the 'Waikato - King Country' titles on the lower fuselage.

Super Rallye on a Pole at Dannevirke!

I had heard about this from press reports, but yesterday Simon Hills and Jordan Elvy were passing through Dannevirke and spied the re-creation of the Morane-Saulnier MS 885 Super Rallye ZK-CGZ displayed on a pole:

ZK-CGZ (sort of) on its pole at Dannevirke.

It has been re-created as a labour of love by Dannevirke Man Trevor Beale and wears the logos of "Trevor Beale Log Transport" on the fuselage and "Kindly Donated by Schmidt Scrap and Tranz" on the nose.

ZK-CGZ (c/n 5394) was registered to the New Zealand Morane Saulnier agents Seabrook Fowlds Ltd of Auckland in May 1964 and was operated by NZ Aerosales Ltd of Paraparaumu and also by Sounds Scenic Flights Ltd of Blenheim before going to R T Fullerton-Smith of Ongarue on 11/7/67 and then on to the Waikato Aero Club.  It is photo'd here early on in its life at Rotorua on 10/10/64

And here it is at Ardmore in September 1973 just 7 months before crashing near Lake Rotoiti on 13/4/74.  It was cancelled from the register quite a bit later, on 20/10/88.

A stranger at Rangiora on the 24th.

    Parked outside the Canterbury Recreational Aircraft Club at Rangiora on Tuesday the 24th was the     Aeroandina MXP-150 'Kimbaya' ZK-RTZ c/n AA-02-14-15-056 as registered to Pan Tam Holdings       Ltd on 04-02-2025.

 For more details on this Colombian built aircraft and its close cousin ZK-RTT  See Here

Christchurch diversion for China Eastern A330 B-5943

 China Eastern's Airbus A330-243 B-5943 diverted to Christchurch from its direct Hangzhou to Auckland flight today because of bad weather.

Flight time 13 hours and 23 minutes.

The weather in Christchurch didn't look all that exciting either.

It later headed back up to Auckland and then on to Sydney and onward to Hangzhou.

With a c/n of 1520 it first flew as F-WWYJ on 03-03-2014 and was delivered to China Eastern Airlines on 24-04-2014.

ZK-LFW/2 - the Latest Life Flight Beech King Air

Tim Gorman photo'd Life Flight's latest Beech B 200C King Air ZK-LFW2 (c/n BL-156) at Palmerston North a few days ago:

ZK-LFW2 is ex VH-VAH and was registered in September 2024 and is Life Flight's fifth King Air, the others being ZK-LFA, LFI and LFL all based at Wellington, and ZK-LFT based at Hamilton.

And the first ZK-LFW was Life Flight's BAE Jetstream 32 which was ferried to the Bahamas in February 2024 to become C6-LNG.

Thanks for the photo Tim.

More MUR

Following on from my recent postings on the SIAI Marchetti SF 260C ZK-MUR, Peter Lewis has sent an undated photo of it taken from the port side at Christchurch.  Curiously it has "water" and "bedroom" painted on the side - can anyone shed any light on this?  Thanks for the photo Peter.

And I found another photo of it, taken by the late Bob Kerr at Wellington on 30/10/86.

Does anyone out there know how badly damaged it was in the Greenland forced landing?  Was it written off or possibly rebuilt in the US? 

Question Time ! Correctly answered. NAVAL N3N.

WE HAVE AN ANSWER

See below the three Question Time photos for more details.

************************.

 Question time. Two additional photographic clues.

About three years ago I snapped these photos in 'someone's back yard'.

Any thoughts on what aircraft type we are looking at ?

***********************************************************************************

ANSWER

We are looking at a Naval N3N. 'Yellow Peril'

MARCUS was the first with the correct answer.

We had a previous 'Question Time' post on these 

see HERE

For more info on the Naval N3 see Here

We have at least two airframes in country - down South.

Restoration of the example above is making slow progress.

Same Same but Different

Wayne Grant was on site at Ardmore recently to capture David Wilkinson undertaking the first flight of the Taylor Coot ZK-JST in a very long time: 

.At Ardmore on 10/5/25.

And here is one I prepared earlier!  At Pikes Pont on 29/10/05.

Zlin Trener Master ZK-CJY returns.

The factory new Walter M-137A powered Moravan Zlin 526F Trener Master ZK-CJY c/n 1091 was registered in NZ on 13-09-1970 to David G and R H Owen of Christchurch.

The photo above was taken at Christchurch Airport on 13-11-1970. No apologies for the crappy photo.

It carried 'Mary Quant' advertising for some years.

Above - as noted at Christchurch in early 1974.

As seen at Christchurch in July 1983 by CMM.

Two views of it at Christchurch International about to be stowed in a container for its move to Australia on 08-05-1992.

Below we have the undercarriage and wing attachment points.

It NZ registration was cancelled on 25-06-1992 - as being shipped to Australia for David Owen of  Tewantin in Queensland - becoming VH-ZLN on 30-09-1992.

It had a bit of an event at Gympie on 24-11-2003.

It was returned to New Zealand arriving in July 2020.  

Above we see VH-ZLN at Ardmore in August of 2020 - thanks to Keith Morris.

Its canopy and upper fuselage have been removed.

Its 'hard to read' Australian registration is visible on its fuselage side and also on the wings in the background.

This Australian registration was cancelled on 27-11-2023.

It was restored at Aero Tech and rejoined the NZ register on 19-11-2024 - back to its original registration of ZK-CJY, listed to the CJY Syndicate of Papakura.

It has made progress towards flying again and is seen in the photo below by Keith Morris at Ardmore in April this year.

Wayne Grant's photo below shows the Zlin now wearing its full ZK-CJY registration again - doing an engine run at Ardmore on the 19th of June.

A Bit More on Our SF 260

Following on from my post on our SF 260C ZK-MUR yesterday, John Wagtendonk has come up with an interesting photo of it as N72FD:

This photo was taken at Masterton on 9/3/86 which if you have a look at my previous post must mean that it arrived in New Zealand in this plain scheme and had the green and brown camouflage painted on here (possibly in Christchurch as in Bob Kerr's photo taken just 16 days later.  Anyone got any better ideas?

Thanks for the photo John.

We once had a SIAI Marchetti SF 260 in New Zealand

Did you know that we once had a SIAI Marchetti SF 260 registered in New Zealand?  I didn't until I recently came across a photo of it while looking at stuff from the PDL International Air Race that was run from London to Christchurch in 1987.  The aircraft was a SF 260C registered as ZK-MUR.

The aircraft was designed in the early 1960s by Stelio Frati for Aviamilano and it was his first all metal design.  Stelio Frati also designed the classic Falco and the SF 260 shares some of the lines of the Falco as well as the same wing and some structures.  It was designed to be an aerobatic sport aircraft but was also pitched at the military It was very successful in its military guise as a trainer or light attack aircraft, and in fact it served in a remarkable 33 Air Forces around the world.  Of the around 1,000 aircraft produced the big majority went to military customers.  The aircraft was developed a lot during its life and in 1980 a turbo prop version was developed using an Alison 250 engine

The SF 260 had a length of 7.10 metres (23 feet 4 inches), a wingspan of 8.35 metres (27 feet 5 inches) over its tip tanks.  Its empty weight was around 755 Kg (1,664 pounds and it had a MAUW of 1.200 Kg (2,646 pounds).  With an IO 540 engine its maximum speed was 180 knots (333 km/hr) with a stall speed of 68 knots (126 km/hr).

The soon to be ZK-MUR arrived in Wellington from Brisbane on 28/1/86 as N72FD and it flew here as such for 5 months.  It is photo'd above as such at Christchurch on 25/3/86.

It was registered as ZK-MUR (c/n 729) on 5/6/86 to Murray Richmond of Featherston.  It is photo'd above, also at Christchurch on 27/3/87 at the air show in association with the finish of the PDL International Air Race.  It wasn't in New Zealand for very long as on 29/9/88 it was flown from Auckland to Brisbane (and I guess on to England) as on 15/10/88 it flew from Prestwick in Scotland to Reykjavick at the start of an Atlantic crossing on delivery to the USA.  On 17/10/88 it was flying across Greenland when it suffered an engine failure 3 miles from Narsarsuak and force landed (was it written off?).  Its New Zealand registration was cancelled on 20/2/89.

JMB is now VLE!

The demonstrator JMB VL3 of JMB Ltd in Amberly, ZK-JMB2 has recently been re-registered as ZK-VLE.

ZK-JMB2 has recently had VL3 titles added as in the above photo taken at the recent CRAC open day at Rangiora, which could almost pass for its new rego (well they do it for number plates!).

Sling 4 TSi ZK-MKV/2 to Oz

 

I took this photo of Andrew Dix's Sling 4 TSi ZK-MKV2 at Kaipara Flats airfield on Saturday 7 June 2025.  A short time later Andrew arrived with lots of stuff which he proceeded to load into the Sling in preparation for flying it to Australia.  Andrew's Sling is fitted with long range ferry tanks that he told me gave him a range of 11 hours! 

Later in the day he took off for Kerikeri where he had booked customs for Monday morning, and on Monday 9 June he flew from Kerikeri to Norfolk Island.  Then after what I assume was weather delays, he flew yesterday 17 June from Norfolk to Coolangatta on the Gold Coast.

Andrew will register his Sling in Australia so it will be cancelled from our register in due course.  And he asked me not to do this post until he had arrived in Oz.  Congratulations Andrew on a pretty impressive accomplishment.  

A New International Service from Hamilton

We should record that international flights have resumed from Hamilton Airport after a gap of almost 13 years:

The inaugural Jetstar service to Sydney on Monday 16 June was operated by Jetstar's Airbus A 320 VH-XSJ

ZK-LFA between the inclemency at Wellington

The Beechcraft B200C King Air ZK-LFA c/n BB-1787 as operated by Life Flight at wet Wellington yesterday.

I had the dubious honour of passing through Wellington Yesterday, 11-06-2025.
This was the only worthwhile photo I took during a brief break in the inclement weather.
Originally N44857 with Raytheon Aircraft Co followed by a brief spell listed with HPP Aviation Services Inc of Sun Valley, California. It was modified with a large cargo door, two stretchers and three seats and went to Australia and became VH-MSH3 on 22-10-2002.with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. 
It arrived at Palmerston North on 21-07-2022 for NZ certification, registered as ZK-LFA to Air Freight Ltd on 29-07-2022, for operations with Life Flight out of Wellington.

Emirates NBA rep A6-EOD in town

 Tony McFarlin was on site at Christchurch International Airport on Tuesday the 10th to capture the Emirates Airbus A380-861 A6-EOD.

With the c/n of 168 it was test flown as F-WWSY on 16-07-2014 and was delivered to Emirates as 

A6-EOD on 10-12-2014.

As you can see it is in a special colour scheme advising us that Emirates are the "Official Airline Partner of the NBA". This was applied in October last year.

Previously A6-EOD has been marked up as "Real Madrid C.F" between March and June 2017; then as "Expo 2020" between November 2018 and August 2021; followed by "Journey of the Future" from November of 2022 until July of 2023.

Auster J1B Aiglet ZK-AWY

 In the 1950's the New Zealand agents for Auster Aircraft was British Aircraft Ltd of Wellington who imported at least sixteen Auster aircraft.

One of these was the Auster J1B Aiglet c/n 2668 which became ZK-AWY on 01-06-1951 before being issued with a CofA on 19-05-1951 and placed briefly to J P Hunt of Wanaka and then on to Southern Scenic Air Services Ltd of Queenstown from 23-01-1952.

Above is a photo of ZK-AWY at Glenorchy in May of 1953, taken by Jacke Browne.

Obviously, no hopper at this stage.

It had a heavy landing at Mount Nicholas Station on 25-02-1955 and was freighted back to Frankton Airfield on the MV Moana for repairs.

ZK-AWY aboard the MV Moana standing off near Frankton late February 1955.

It had another incident at Bell Hill Station, Canterbury, on 05-12-1958.

From early July of 1959 Southern Aviation Ltd of Gore had the use of it until it was returned to Southern Scenic Air Service Ltd from 07-03-1960.

The next lucky owner was J F Sutherland of Greenstone, up the western side of Lake Wakatipu from November of 1960.

Ray Goulden of Christchurch had it for a while in about the mid 1960's followed by B W J Squire of Timaru from early May of 1967.

And the unlucky final owner was John Young of Wanaka from mid September of 1967.

On 10-11-1967 it was parked near the Southland Aero Club buildings at Invercargill when it was dramatically overturned by the wind.

Three views of the Auster in the upright position.

Nothing that a good cut and polish wouldn't fix.

John went on to operate at least another eleven aircraft up until 2004.

A couple of helicopters at Ardmore

A brief visit to Ardmore today found the new Guimbal G2 Cabri ZK-HPT4 outside.  This was imported by the agent, Pacific Aircraft Services, in January 2025 and sold to its Auckland owner in April 2025. 

 And over at HeliSika Agriculture the newly acquired AS350B3 ZK-HIN5 has now acquired the company's titling.