A couple of new Squirrels

Noted at Queenstown Airport this morning was the latest AS350 added to the Heliworx fleet being a brand new example 350B3 ZK-IHW3.   This was imported back in August 2024 and assembled at Queenstown.

And the latest addition to the Alpine Helicopters' fleet AS350B3 ZK-IJW2.    This was originally imported from Chile back in late 2013 as ZK-ITM being reregistered IJW in September 2024.  Note the registration is displayed just as "JW" unlike others in the ZK-I..  series which have the full registration painted on.

 

Helicopters at Mt Cook

A visit to a busy Mt Cook Airport today found a number of changes in the based helicopters starting with the latest BK117 added to the Southern Lakes Helicopters fleet,  Kawasaki BK117C-1 ZK-IYY2.  This was imported from the US by International Heliproperties in March 2024 as ZK-HJT4 but quickly changed to IYY2 two months later.   It replaced the earlier Southern Lakes 117C-1 IYY1 which had an accident in Fiordland in September 2023.

Added to the Inflite fleet in September 2024 was AS350B2 ZK-IEB which was originally imported from the US in early 2022.   It now carries the company's titling.

And repainted in the Southern Lakes Helicopters company fleet colours is AS350B3 ZK-IDE which was originally imported new in 2008 as ZK-IDF3,  becoming IDE in 2010.

A Couple of Helicopters from the Feilding Open Day

The open day at Feilding Aerodrome last Saturday 26 April seemed to be quite successful with around 20 visiting aircraft from the Central region (including the Electra 10A already covered) - no aircraft from further North as the weather was cruddy there.  There was also an RNZAF presence with a Texan II and an Agusta 109 helicopter.

In addition there were a couple of interesting light 2 seat helicopters on show that are locally based:

Guimbal Cabri G2 ZK-ILH (c/n 1371) is a brand new import for Energy Developments Ltd of Palmerston North.

And the homebuilt Rotorway A600 Talon ZK-IJJ has recently been purchased by Brad Pearpoint of Feilding.

AS350B2 ZK-IYW

A visit to the MacKenzie Helicopters base near Lake Tekapo today found their AS350B2 ZK-IYW in residence.   This was originally imported from Japan back in 1991 as ZK-HZM and spent many years flying in the Taupo and Gisborne areas before acquisition by Mackenzie Helicopters in August 2023 and reregistration as ZK-IYW.

 

Elegant Electra 10A ZK-AFD/2 at Feilding Open Day

After sadly having its public introduction stymied by the cancellation of Classic Fighters 2025, Rob Mackley's stunning restoration of his Lockheed Electra 10A ZK-AFD2 made a public appearance at the Feilding Aerodrome Open Day last Saturday 26/4/25.  Jordan Elvy and Tim Gorman were there: 

A couple of long shots showing her elegant lines in the air.

On approach,

to a wheeler on the grass.  

The starboard side is painted in Linea Aerea Nacional colours to recognise its Chilean heritage, but not with a registration so maybe its is a half of a registered colour scheme?  You can see more detail on the aircraft HERE 

 

CFM Shadow Series B-D ZK-TTE.

The CFM Shadow Series B-D ZK-TTE c/n 065/MAANZ/420 was built by Murray Hagen of Te Anau and was registered to D R Gous of Tuatapere on 04-04-1989. It is powered with a Rotax 532 and has the faired wing struts. It was sold on to Graeme Peek of Tuatapere, later at Te Anau, from May 1990.

Its next move was up to Graeme Duske of Mt Maunganui from November 2009, and then to a private owner at Takaka from August 2019.

The Shadow wing was derived from the Volmer Jensen VJ-23 rigid wing hang glider and the 9 horse powered motorised VJ-23E and the VJ-24. One of these was demonstrated at the 1980 Farnborough Air Show.

The wing was originally designed by Irv Culver (of Lockhead Skunk Works fame) and adapted for the Shadow by David Cook. It has a drooped leading-edge which derives most of its lift from the first 25% of the chord - with the wing aft straight lining to the trailing edge. It also has no dihedral.

This wing has no defined stall speed and the UK CAA, after flight tests, allowed the term 'stall resistant' to be used by the Company.

The fascinating story of Volmer Jensen can be seen HERE

And more on Irv Culver can be found with a Google search.

Two more from Takaka

                                     Two more Takaka locals were captures on 12-04-2025.   The Zenair CH701 STOL ZK-STE was imported from the US by Stephen Preest of Waipara in early        2019. It was passed to Deane Philip of Rangiora in June of 2022 - who reworked it to flying status. 
                                          It was on sold to Warren Matthews in March 2023.                                                                                         ZK-STE has been mentioned previously HERE

The Zenith CH601-XL ZK-TKA2 c/n 6-9788 has been with the Golden Bay Flying Club Inc of Takaka since its was first registered on 12-01-2006.

Anzac Day 2025

 

A magnificent photo by Warwick Hamilton, of Harvard 91 taking off into the dawn at Tauranga this morning for a flypast over the Anzac Day dawn service.

Rescue helicopter livery change.

 The two Airbus MBB-BK117 D-2's (H145's) of Search And Rescue Services Ltd, ZK-IXD and ZK-IXO have undergone a change of sponsors and colour schemes in the last month or so.

Both now wear 'Aerocool Developments" insignia.

Check out their background HERE

Above is the Tauranga based ZK-IXD c/n 20271 which joined Search And Rescue Services Ltd in November of 2011 having previously been ZK-IDH with Helicopters Otago Ltd at Taieri where it was in a basically all black scheme with a large red 'RESCUE' on its lower fuselage and a thin white heartbeat trace.

It had initially flow under the German test registration of D-HADM12 in early 2019.

ZK-IXO c/n 20277 initially flew as D-HADP10 before becoming JA131D in September of 2019.

It became ZK-IXO with Search And Rescue Services Ltd on 11-01-2022 and has been wearing the well known WESPAC Scheme until now. It is Hamilton based.

Southern Belle in the South

One of the flight demonstrations at the Canterbury Recreational Aircraft Club open day at Rangiora back on the 12th of April was Ivan Campbell flying his Suzuki powered  Titan Mustang ZK-MJD2.  Brian Greenwood photo'd this series of Ivan taking off in Southern Belle:

You can see the history of this aircraft HERE

Tecnam heaven at Oamaru.

 Aaron Murphy called into Oamaru back on the 12th and captured five recent Tecnams additions to the New Zealand Airline Academy's fleet..

Tecnam P2008 JC ZK-NYH c/n 1332 joined the NZ civil aircraft register on 28-11-2024.

Tecnam P2008 JC ZK-NYI is c/n 1333 - also registered on the 28th of November.

Tecnam P2008 JC ZK-NYJ c/n 1334 was listed on 26-11-2024.

Tecnam P2008 JC ZK-NYK c/n 1335 was also listed on 26-11-24.

Tecnam P2008 JC ZK-NYM c/n 1337 was listed on 20-03-2025.

In Memorium for Classic Fighters 2025

 

Our commiserations to all those who had put so much effort into Classic Fighters 2025, such as the 3 Pitts Specials aerobatic team, only to be thwarted by the fickle weather.  Roll on Classic Fighters 2026!

Tokoroa on 11-4-2025 (2)

Well it was not Peter Beck's actual L-39 Albatros but a really large scale model jet.  What we had stumbled upon was the monthly flyin of the New Zealand Jet Modellers Association (https://www.nzjma.com/):

The L-39 was bigger than one third scale and was built by Colin Austen of Whangaparaoa from a kit.  Its all up weight is around 70 kg.

There were also some other spectacular models including the first turbo prop model that I have seen:

This is a model of a Royal Saudi Air Force Pilatus PC 21 which is owned by Paul Connor of Warkworth.

Pretty impressive!

And it even has smoke!

Then there was this model of a Blue Angels jet which I think is not of a particular jet that was flown by the Blue Angels team.  It was flown by Brian Groves of Wellington.

In talking to some of the modellers they said that Tokoroa was a great place to fly jets as it is central and not very busy, has a sealed runway and is not surrounded by much development.  These model jets fly really fast and could do a lot of damage if (perish the thought), they ever crash.

Tokoroa on 11-4-2025

As we drove down to Taupo last Friday, it would have been remiss not to call into Tokoroa airfield which is only a short drive off SH 1.  It is often pretty quiet with all the hangars locked up.

So I did not expect to see Peter Beck's Aero L-39 Albatros there!

A Grand Entrance to the V8 Supercars

Although this is a blog on New Zealand aircraft, we occasionally stray into other forms of local aviation and this is just such a case:

Every day at the V8 Supercars at Taupo parachutists dropped in in a patriotic manner followed by the singing of the Australian and New Zealand national anthems before the main race starts.  I managed this photo on the Saturday - that is a HUGE flag! 

Tiger Moth ZK-BAA captured in flight.

 The De Havilland DH82A ZK-BAA c/n 84893 was photographed by Aaron Murphy on 12-04-2025.

The photos above and below, piloted by Amanda, were taken north bound in the Lindis Pass area.

The photo below is in the region north of Tekapo.

A Couple of Helicopters at the Aussie V8 Supercars

We arrived at Taupo late in the very late afternoon on 11/4/25 and checked out the carparking for the Taupo circuit.  This was free on the runway of the Centennial Park airfield which was closed for the weekend - the airfield is right alongside the motor racing circuit.  I had thought that there might be a few helicopters that had flown in for the racing, but there were only a couple:

In the very late afternoon the golden sun was sparkling off the Airbus AS350 BA Squirrel ZK-HBR2.  This is an old friend as it was the helicopter that we flew down in from the Tasman Glacier in back in September 2019 when in was in Inflite ownership with their titles.  It has been owned by RD Manufacturing Ltd of Takanini since 21/2/22.

Then on Sunday 13/4/25 the Bell 206L-1 Long Ranger ZK-IRL2 flew in for the races.  This has been owned by Heletrips Ltd of Auckland since first being imported in December 2007.

EC130B4 ZK-HAP 4

Noted at Ardmore today was EC130B4 ZK-HAP4 which was registered to an Auckland private owner back in February 2025.   It was imported from Dubai where it was operated by Falcon Aviation.

 

Takaka on Saturday

 A visit to Takaka on Saturday proved to be well worth the trip over the 'Hill".

The Cessna 172L ZK.DAZ c/n 17259907 has been listed with the ZK-DAZ Partnership of Takaka since 11-11-2021.

For some previous history See HERE

One surprise was to see the JMB Aircraft VL-3TE-915 LSA ZK-ECO2 c/n VL-3-527 as listed with a a Lyttelton owner.

And the Murphy Renegade ZK-JZC c/n 0099 has been with the Te Ara Investments of Takaka since  04-08-2023.

More Renegade info can be found HERE

Zlin Trener Master at Ardmore on 11-4-2025

I am back home after a great trip down to Taupo over the weekend to watch the Aussie V8 Supercars, with of course a few diversions to aerodromes along the way.  Ardmore seems pretty quiet these days, at least during weekdays, but I did manage to photograph one interesting sport aircraft:

Zlin Z526F Trener Master c/n 1091 was previously registered ZK-CJY back on 19/3/70 to DG and RH Owen of Christchurch before being cancelled on 25/6/92 as being shipped to Australia with its owner, becoming VH-ZLN for David G Owen of Tewantin in Queensland on 30/9/92.

It was returned to New Zealand arriving in July 2020 and we reported on it HERE.  It has made progress towards flying again as can be seen in the above photo.  I understand it will again be registered ZK-CJY for an Auckland owner. 

At Motueka late this afternoon.

 In the late afternoon sun at Motueka I snapped these three ho hum photos.

The Cessna 172M ZK-DXJ c/n 17265810 just arrived in from Greymouth.

It has been with the DXJ Syndicate since May of 2010.

A difficult one to photograph at the best of time.

On the tie downs outside the Aero Club was the Cessna TU206A ZK-JPC c/n U206-0511 of Rural Air Work of Otane who also operate the Cresco's ZK-SUZ and ZK-TPW, plus the FU-24-954 ZK-CRY2.

Moving out from the Aero Club on a training flight was the Just Aircraft SuperSTOL ZK-SNP c/n JA615-01-21 which has been with the SNP Syndicate of Motueka since 05-03-2024.

All three have been mentioned previously on these pages.