Honey Bebe Delivery Flight South (1)

As some blog readers may know, I have been trying unsuccessfully to sell my Jodel D9 Bebe  ZK-KMM "Honey Bebe" for more than a year.  Maybe this was because she is hand started (prop swung) and doesn't have brakes, but that is as I built her 43 years ago and she turned out to be really lovely to fly.  So as I had decided to finish my pilot-in-command flying career what to do with her?  I investigated donating her to a museum but that didn't seem hopeful for various reasons.  Then I talked to Russell Brodie who told me that they would be delighted to have her and fly her at Rangitata Island where the sport of flying is very strong.  So that is what I decided to do.

That bought up the question of how to get her from Warkworth to South Canterbury and the obvious answer was to fly her down there.  She was ready to go with a fresh oil change and and what I needed was a favourable weather window.  And that is what I saw on the weather forecast on Monday 29 June - a very strong high was going to be parked over the country for 4 or 5 days so I quickly decided to head off the next day.  I packed a change of clothes and a warm jersey and gloves and some basic tools as well as a 5 litre fuel container and funnel for refueling when I had to use Mogas.  I had pre-planned the flight in my head and also carried an AOPA map book of the country as well as notes for the aerodromes I would land at, and these enabled me to set off with no electronic aids and navigate by dead reckoning following coasts, rivers and roads (IFC and IFR).

So I set off from Kaipara Flats airfield at 11.00 am on Tuesday 30 June bound for Te Kowhai and Stratford under blue skies and with light winds:

Flying down the beach off Woodhill Forest after crossing the Kaipara Harbour - on my way!

Past Piha and Lion Rock.

And on across the Manukau Heads under 1500 feet.

Then cut across to the Glenbrook Steel Mill which is a good landmark, with a slight wind on the nose.

Then the I Follow Rivers bit down the Waikato River.

And when you get to Huntly change to Black Sands frequency for Te Kowhai.

Brien O'Brien and Steve Woodhead flew down to Te Kowhai to see me off and here I am ready to start the next leg of my journey.  Thanks guys.

Take off from Te Kowhai.  Thanks to Steve Woodhead for the photos.

I flew South of Mt Pirongia and out to the West Coast at the Kawhia Harbour.  That is the Aotea Harbour and Mount Karioi in the distance.

Over the Southern part of the Kawhia Harbour.  The small settlement in the middle of the photo is Te Waitere I think.  A very remote village.

The West Coast black sands coastline is pretty rugged.

More cliffs with more black sands as we head South.

Then Mokau off the wing which is a good landmark.

Getting there now, about to fly past the spectacular White Cliffs just South of Tongaporutu.

Finally I cut inland after the White Cliffs to stay clear of the New Plymouth control zone and aim for Mount Taranaki.  Keep this up with New Plymouth out to starboard for reference until you cross State Highway 3 then turn left and follow the highway to Stratford.  

My flight times were 1 hour 35 minutes to Te Kowhai and 1 hour 45 minutes to Stratford.  The sun was getting a bit low when I arrived to be met by Wayne Richmond who had overhauled my VW motor all those years ago.  Thanks for your help Wayne.  After topping up with Avgas we put Honey Bebe away in Wayne's hangar which was great because there was quite a frost overnight (Stratford is nearly 1,000 feet above sea level) and there still wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Ashburton fling wings on Friday.

 There were two helicopters out during my fleeting visit.

The Hughes 369D ZK-HDE3 c/n 610992D was conveniently pushed out of its hangar just as I was strolling from the Aero Club.

This rather interesting D model began life in the US in June of 1981 and became N5016G followed by N317BM in about August of 2006. 

It hit the NZ register on 09-09-2011 for just seven days as ZK-HBZ3 with Oceania Aviation Ltd of Ardmore, only to be re-registered as ZK-HDE3 on the 15th, still with Oceania, until being listed to Heli-Flightworks Ltd of Ashburton on 04-04-2012. 

It returned to Oceania from mid-May of 2018 and then on to Hokitika Helicopter Services Ltd from 27-08-2018. From October 2021 it was in the care of Hoki Heli Hire Ltd of Hokitika.

It then went to Mount Hut Aviation near Methven for a major conversion to become a Hughes 369 Super D model and was listed to its current operator Alister Yeoman of Ashburton.

SEE HERE for some details on this Super D conversion.
Thanks to Alister for photo permission.

Popping up from behind another hangar was the Hughes 269B ZK-HOR2 c/n 840132.

Cast your mind back to August of 1965 - because this was when this Hughes 269B N9408F first appeared on the US register.

After at least five operators in the USA it came to NZ and became ZK-HTU from 29-03-1985 and initially operated out of Hanmer.

Four more operators followed until it had an incident in the Tararua Ranges on 27-02-1994.

Following repairs it returned to the register as ZK-HOR2 on 19-12-1995. 

After five more operators it joined current owner Alex Forsyth of Ashburton on 10-09-2023.

A fleeting visitation to Ashburton on Friday the 3rd

 A quick visit to Ashburton on Friday for a pick up found the following three aircraft out getting some fresh air.

Above we have the Tecnam P92 Echo MkII ZK-EAD3 c/n 1658 which was new to Gyrate NZ (2017) Ltd of Mount Maunganui on 14-10-2021. It arrived in Ashburton from Tauranga, via Dannevirke on May 28th.

Below is the Tecnam P92 Echo MkII ZK-RJR c/n 1642 which has been with the NZ agent Jetboat.Com Ltd of Gore as a demonstrator since initially registered on 25-06-2021.
It was delivered to Ashburton via Oamaru on April the 23rd.

Both have now been taken on by Top Gun Aviation Ltd of Ashburton and are on line with the Mid Canterbury Aero Club.

Not very often noted outside was Kevin Langford's Yakovlev Yak - 55 ZK-JPO c/n 880609.

All three have been previously mentioned in these pages.

Thursday at Rangiora.

 And still they come.

Another of the Oamaru based New Zealand Airline Academy's Tecnams about to depart Rangiora following maintenance with Griff of Clearprop Ltd.( See HERE )

ZK-NYU is c/n 1422 and joined the Academy in February this year.

Below we have a desperation long range shot of the Michael Godfrey Kitplanes Of Africa Explorer  ZK-MSC c/n 159-01-12.

This was I believe its first flight from Rangiora following its arrival from up north and after completion of the new owners tweaking to suit his needs.

Falcon 7X N997X into Christchurch on Friday the 3rd

 Cruising into Christchurch on Friday was the Dassault Falcon 7X N997X c/n 144 as captured here by Tony McFarlin.

A product of 2011 and initially registered with the French test registration of F-WWVY before taking up F-GYBJ from 16-03-2012. In early November of 2012 it joined Jet Asia Ltd as B-8206 and then became N656FN from early February of 2018. It was re-registered to N997X in June of 2022.

Bell LongRanger ZK-IWI at Nelson

Noted at Nelson on Wednesday was the Bell 206L-1 LongRanger ZK-IWI4 c/n 45213.

This LongRanger started as N2750R before delivery to Canada to become C-GLNC in about March of 1980. In early November of 1988 it became N91ZT followed by VH-JOW with Sunshine Coast Helicopter Rescue Service at Maroochydore, Queensland from 19-06-1989. It was then operated by Commercial Helicopters Pty Ltd of Mudgee, NSW from December 2009 until becoming ZK-IWI4 with Coast To Coast Helicopters Tasman Ltd of Upper Moutere last month.

Another Bill Mannix photo.

Textron 182T Skylane ZK-VEV at Christchurch.

 Arriving in Christchurch from Oamaru today was the Textron 182T Skylane ZK-VEV c/n 18283307 as listed to Withoutalid Ltd of Oamaru. 

Built at Independence, Kansas, USA, registered as N366KT to Textron Aviation Inc, and certified on 28-01-2025 with its first flight on 28-05-2025. Title moved to Southwind Global Aviation Inc of Moundridge, Kansas from 02-07-2025.
Its US registration was cancelled on 12-08-2025 for it to become ZK-VEV from 14-08-2025 following assembly and certification at AVTEK Timaru. Its first flight there was on 01-10-2025.

Two Rangiora visitors today 30-06-2026

 These two itinerants were noted at Rangiora this day - Tuesday the 30th.

"Black 83" is the Yakovlev Yak-52 ZK-ADM2 c/n 833601.

It came in from Ashburton, did some local flying, and returned to Ashburton today.

This aircraft was sourced from Italy having previously served with DOSSAF as RA-3490K. 

It arrived by sea in March 2017 and became ZK-ADM2 on the 6th listed to the ZK-ADM Syndicate.

ZK-LAJ2 c/n 40DS003 is a Shandong Bin Ao Aircraft Industries Co Ltd's DA40D Diamond Star - a turbo-diesel powered version.

See HERE for more on the Chinese manufacturing of the Diamond Aircraft.

It was first noted with Beidahuang General Aviation Co in China registered as B-9369. It was delivered to Fieldair at Palmerston North for its NZ certification, and first flew here on 14-05-2024 for delivery to Nelson as ZK-LAJ2 for New Zealand Aviation Academy Ltd.

It passed through from, and returned to Nelson.

Cessna 172N ZK-EOK

Visiting Pauanui airfield today was the Cessna 172N ZK-EOK which has somehow eluded blog coverage in its 47 years of flying in NZ.   Imported new in 1979 it had a succession of flight training roles in Oamaru, Motueka and Auckland before being acquired by its current Pukekohe owner in 2008.

 

King AIr NZ2350 moving on out at Christchurch.

Yesterday afternoon I captured the R.N.Z.A.F Beechcraft Super King Air B350i NZ2350 C/n FL-897 taxiing out to depart northward.

This was initially built as N897HP with the Beechcraft, corporation for delivery to the Philippines to become RP-C1834 in March of 2014.

On 23-02-2018 it was delivered to Hawker Pacific Pty Ltd in Syndney, Australia and became VH-ZPF2.

Following pre-delivery work for the RNZAF it was ferried from Sydney to Ohakea on 19-11-2018 to be cancelled from the Australian civil aircraft register on 29-11-2018 to enter service with 42 Squadron as NZ2350.

Wellington from Allister of zkarj.co.nz #2

 

This is the second part of the two blog posts from Allister's own site at zkarj.co.nz Begin Again By Allister of zkarj.co.nz on 27th June, 2026 There is not much to include in this post in the way of photos, after the previous catch-up. But there is a most definite line in the sand between that post and this.  I still remember the day, in the middle of December, 1986, when I was standing in a camera shop in Lucky Plaza, on Singapore’s Orchard Road. It was there that my brother bought his Nikon DSLR and, in so doing, thrust his Cosina CS-1 at me and said something like “There you go.” It was my first SLR camera. From memory, it had a 70-210mm Tokina lens. Importantly, the CS-1 used the Pentax K-mount system for lens mounting. A dozen years later, I made it into Pentax proper with an MZ-50, along with Sigma 28-80mm and 100-300mm lenses. In 2005, I got my first DSLR, a Pentax *ist DS. Then followed more Pentax bodies — K10D, K-5, KP, and finally K-3 III. The lenses changed, too. The Sigma 100-300mm was replaced with a Pentax 55-300mm ED, then 55-300mm WR, then 55-300 PLM. Quite recently, I added a Pentax 150-450mm. I’ve had a motley collection of shorter lenses, too (from Dad’s old M 28mm to the latest 16-50mm PLM) but the longer lenses are the ones that pertain to this site. In June of 2026, very nearly 40 years since I inherited the CS-1, I bought a new body that was not Pentax. In order to fund this, I sold the K-3 III, 16-50mm PLM, and 150-450mm, but I still have (and will keep) the KP and 55-300mm PLM (a configuration that is responsible for a lot of my aviation photo portfolio). The replacement gear (so far… I have no illusions of it stopping here) is as follows: Canon R5 Mk II Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM Canon RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM For the moment, I intend that the KP and 55-300mm PLM will still serve aviation duties — the reason for the change is, in fact, my bird photography. But having just today bought the 200-800mm, I thought I might try it out at the airport. I picked an… interesting… day to try it. After a day of weather disruptions, there were still diversions going on today (27-06-2026). I had heard five flights attempt approaches before I actually saw one try to land. But some got in and several got out. It was clear the pilots were working very hard and had plenty of decisions to make on whether to proceed. Even a Sounds Air Cessna Caravan was quite circumspect with a takeoff. It turns out, as I expected, that 200mm is a bit much for standing close to the runway. From the spot at Wexford Road, I could comfortably fill the frame with a Caravan awaiting entry to the runway! The bigger challenge today was holding the camera still in the wind. Both the camera and the lens have stabilisation, but even they cannot cope if I can’t even keep the aircraft in the frame! And so to the handful of photos I did well enough with to publish. Case in point… this was cropped from a shot at 242mm. I only zoomed in because it looked daft with just the wingtips out of frame. I then cropped further for better composition. The subject is Beechcraft Super King Air B200, ZK-RSQ(2) of the New Zealand Air Ambulance Service. This next shot, of Air New Zealand Airbus A320, ZK-OXC, was taken at 800mm and is about a 60% crop of the original. However, the aircraft was approximately 1km away! Hence the amount of moisture between me and it. And an 87% crop at 200mm as it got much closer. Right… I’ll spare you all the technical details for the rest. I just thought it was interesting to consider the new geometry I’m dealing with. It turns out this was the first time I had seen ZK-LFW, one of Life Flight Trusts, Beechcraft Super King Air B200s. Finally, Air New Zealand Bombardier Q300, ZK-NEO, shows a bit of the ‘lumpy’ final approach. The Q300s were not having a good time of it getting in today. Of those 5 missed approaches I mentioned at the beginning, 4 were Q300s.

Wellington from Alister of zkarj.co.nz #1

 Here we have the first of two posts from Allister working Wellington Airport from a different perspective.

Into Winter from Allister of zkarj.co.nz

 

Allister on 27th June, 2026

I thought it had been a while since I posted, but I see it was only in May. Go me! This post does a little bit of a catch-up, but not quite up to today. (See the following post for the reason). Below Carefully concealing its registration behind a winch, BK117B-2 ZK-HES4 does a short hover-taxi before departing. From memory, it had come down from Taranaki to Wellington Hospital before positioning to the airport, presumably for fuel. See HERE for a previous posting on ZK-HES4. I hadn’t seen the Cessna 525B CitationJet CJ3 ZK-RJZ for a while. The registration refers to the owners — Robert Jones Holdings Ltd. The founder, Bob Jones, passed away about a year ago. It is currently operated by Wellington Jet Charter Trust. This cute little Grumman American AA-1B Trainer, ZK-DKX, was a rarity. I’ve seen the closely related Traveller before, but not this model. It has been registered to Gallett Properties Ltd of Nelson since August of 2005. I got probably my best study yet of Wellington’s new Life Flight Trust rescue helicopter, Airbus Helicopters H145 D3 (basically the descendant of the BK117 line), ZK-IXS3. See HERE for a previous mention of ZK-IXS3. I’ve seen Wellington Aero Club’s Piper PA-38 Tomahawk, ZK-WAC3, often enough but this was a perfectly timed shot. And finally for this post, I got another chance to see QantasLink’s green-liveried Airbus A220-371 c/n 55253, VH-X4A. I was close to the runway with a long lens, so went for this tight shot.

The second post will cover Allister's photographic efforts at Wellington Airport.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Skycraft Scouts (2) - ZK-EWL to ZK-EZN

Starting on all our registered Skycraft Scouts in alphabetical registration order: 

ZK-EWL (c/n MAANZ/025)

Registered 19 Mar 1982 to Wayne B. Affleck, Kawerau (who was one of the North Island distributors), then 28 Jun 1982 J. Dohnt & M. C. Salt, Te Puke, then 5 Jul 1985 N. Baymires, Te Puke, then 15 Jun 1990 F. Robinson, Drury (18HP 1-cyl Fuji Robin 330 engine).  Cancelled 29 Aug 1994 withdrawn from use.

ZK-EWM (c/n MAANZ/026)  Registered 19 Mar 1982 to Wayne B. Affleck, Kawerau, then 8 Nov 82 Affleck Aviation, Auckland, then 28 Jul 1983 Aitken Farms, Te Kuiti, then 5 Aug 1983 G. J. & J. L. Aitken, Te Kuiti.  Cancelled 28 Jul 1994 as withdrawn from use.

ZK-EXI (c/n MAANZ/162)  Registered 19 Oct 1982 to B. C. Williams, Mount Maunganui.  Cancelled 19 Jun 1997 as withdrawn from use.   

ZK-EXN (c/n MAANZ/161)  Registered 26 Oct 1982 to Paul M. Duncan, Timaru, then 15 May 1984 J. G. Hutt, Fairlie.  Cancelled 24 Feb 1992 as withdrawn from use. Stored at Rangitata Island.  

ZK-EXQ (c/n MAANZ/157)

Registered 28 Oct 1982 to E. H. Coates, Ngatapa, Gisborne, then 21 Feb 1985 C. J. P. Vissers, Auckland Cancelled 27 Aug 1997 as registration revoked.  Stored at Rangitata Island.  

ZK-EXV (c/n MAANZ/048)  Registered 8 Apr 1982 to D. S. MacKenzie, Christchurch, then 13 Jul 1982 K. E. Dash, Kumara, then 31 Aug 1983 D. Y. Roberts, Hokitika, then 17 Jun 1992 R. J. L. Bradey, Kumara.  Cancelled 27 Aug 1997 Registration revoked.

ZK-EYJ (c/n MAANZ/052)  Registered 25 May 1982 to D. D. Tabor, Gore.  Cancelled 27 Aug 1997 registration revoked.

ZK-EYK (c/n MAANZ/049)

Registered 25 May 1982 to Struan R. Brodie, Rangitata Island, then 20 Mar 1984 D. M. A. & M. S. McMillan, Temuka, then 29 Jan 1988 H. W. Bradley, Ashburton. Spark plug lead came off in flight and pilot force landed due to power loss near Bunnythorpe 1 Jan 1990.  Pilot hand prop started engine but slipped and prop hit his ankle.  then 5 Oct 1996 D. M. A. McMillan, Temuka.  Cancelled 26 Sep 2000 as withdrawn from use.  Re-registered  7 Apr 2003 to Russell K. Brodie, Rangitata Island.  Cancelled 2 Oct 2008 as withdrawn from use.  

It is now stored at the Brodie's nascent microlight museum at Rangitata Island.

ZK-EYO (c/n MAANZ/068)

Registered 9 Jun 1982 to E. L. Clode, Orepuki, Riverton.  Cancelled 11 Mar 1992 as withdrawn from use.  Re-registered 27 Jan 1998 to Marel H. J. Maria, Waitakere Exported to ?  Cancelled 15 Jul 1999.

ZK-EYR (c/n MAANZ/066)  Registered 9 Jun 1982 to D. M. McElrea, Heriot.  Cancelled 18 Aug 1995 as withdrawn from use.

ZK-EYT (c/n MAANZ/055)  Registered 9 Jun 1982 to R. C. Nordstrand, New Plymouth  Cancelled 18 Jun 1998 Registration revoked.  

ZK-EZN (c/n MAANZ/085)  Registered 4 Aug 1982 to R. Mark Farrant, Rotorua, then 7 May 1990 R. Heslop, Waihi Beach.   Cancelled 24 Feb 1992 as withdrawn from use.  Re-registered 11 Jul 1995 B. J. Neville, Taupo.  Cancelled 17 Aug 2000 as withdrawn from use.