Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - A Call For Information About Microlight/Ultralight Flying During the Period 1978 to 1981

Following Pete James' Easy Riser heroics in 1977/78 and Richard Brett's twin pusher biplane there must have been other want to be microlight/ultralight flyers in New Zealand.  The hang gliding scene was quite strong from the late 1960s and the New Zealand Hang Gliding Association was formed in 1974 and some of these people would have been candidates.  

I don't know what types these earliest powered microlights would have been but they could have included the Australian built Skycraft Scout which was introduced in Sydney from 1976, or from the US the ultralights that would have been available included the Kasperwing (introduced from 1976), the Chiota Weedhopper and the Pterodactyl Fledgeling  (both introduced from 1977), the Goldwing (from 1979) and the Mitchell Wing (from 1980).

We can infer that there must have been some microlights here because the the Civil Aviation Division of the Ministry of Transport didn't want to know about them, but did introduce a rule that if a flying machine was less than 150 Kg empty, a would be microlight pilot only needed to apply for a Student Pilots License (a paper form only) and then go flying with no rules about instruction and also not have to register his flying machine!  This was the situation in New Zealand between 1978 and late 1981 when the Microlight Aircraft Association of New Zealand (MAANZ) was formed.

So my question to readers of this blog is:  What can you tell me about microlight flying in New Zealand between 1978 and 1981?  You can send your answers as Comments to this post, or by email to the blog boss, Dave Paull paulldj@xtra.co.nz  You can keep any comments as Anonymous if you want but if you have any information I would love to talk further about it.  Over to you!

Could we have had an unregistered Chiota Weedhopper in New Zealand? (Photo of a US machine).