Matamata Aero Club Flyin 28-11-2020

It was a week ago and we have been quite busy on the blog recently, so here are a couple of photos from Jordan Elvy from Matamata back on 28/11/20:

Cessna T206H ZK-EAT3 (c/n T20609073) was re-registered as such to a Waiuku owner on 26/11/19, having previously been registered ZK-JWH.

And at the other end of the gruntiness scale is the Quad City Challenger II ZK-MHK which was registered to a Tauranga owner on 23/12/19.

Skydive Mt Cook

The Skydive Mt Cook operation was busy on Saturday morning at the Pukaki airfield using the former Skydive Fox Walter powered Fu24 ZK-DJE in a revised scheme.   Back up aircraft is Turbo Porter ZK-MCK still marked Skydive Franz.

 

Te Anau & Wanaka

At the Te Anau - Manapouri Airport the latest Cessna U206G floatplane for Wings & Water Te Anau, ZK-DRI2, was nearing completion.   This was imported from Australia and registered back on November 30.

The new aircraft's registration is derived from the existing Wings & Water Te Anau Cessna U206C floatplane, ZK-DRH,  seen here on Lake Te Anau.

Up at Wanaka one of Alpine Helicopters' fleet of AS350 not previously blogged is AS350B-2 ZK-HYW3,  previously being one of the many helicopters registered ZK-HOT with the company.  The Airport was otherwise quiet with skydiving aircraft and Air Milford's Caravans stored in various hangars.

 

A Couple of "Warbirds" that will be on Display at Ardmore on Sunday

The New Zealand Warbirds at Ardmore are having a Warbirds on Display open day at Ardmore on Sunday and it looks like there will be quite a few interesting aircraft on display.  Here are a couple of their new WW 1 replica aircraft:

The Siemens Schukert D IV replica ZK-SSW has recently test flown at Ardmore, piloted by Frank Parker.  It is powered by a Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine and was previously registered N1094G.

 

And the recently arrived Albatros DVa replica ZK-ARS2 will be on static display.  It is powered by a Ranger engine and was registered C-GIVT in Canada, but it has not flown.

The above photos are from the NZ Warbirds Facebook page.

Queenstown

An exception to an otherwise very quiet Queenstown Airport today was the entire Glenorchy Air fleet being outside their hangar.  Amongst these was the brand new Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX ZK-MMZ which was registered back in October 2020.

Also brand new is the Cessna T206H Stationair HD ZK-JTK which was registered in December 2019.

Several of the GA8 Airvan fleet have now been repainted in the new fleet colours, being ZK-LOR blogged before and ZK-JRR2 as below.  ZK-ZEA remains for now in its old colours

True South arnt currently operating and their Cessna 208B Grand Caravan ZK-SLA was parked up with the GA8 Airvan fleet.

Not previously blogged is Over the Top's MBB BK117B-2 ZK-ICY3 which has been owned since November 2017.

And acquired by Action Helicopters in October 2019 the AS355F-1 ZK-HML2 wears Heliworks titling.

 

A Belworthy Bonanza at Cust!

When I was in Christchurch I called Evan Belworthy about possibly meeting up on the Saturday and he told me that he was hosting the Young Eagles from Canterbury Aero Club to show them the Belworthy aircraft at his hangar at Cust.  So Blue Bus and I headed out there:

The Young Eagles and older Eagles were very impressed.

The whole Belworthy fleet was out in the sun starting with their own design Figaro ZK-PURr

Then Evan and Penny's trusty Pietenpol Aircamper ZK-PRB

Next in line was Jodel D9 ZK-CVN which Evan rebuilt after it was damaged.

And then Clutton Tabernor Fred ZK-FRD

Then there was Evan's family runabout the Belworthy Moa ZK-MQA 

And the aircraft that started it all - Alan's Woody Pusher ZK-DUA, now more than 45 years old.

And finally the newest aircraft in the Belworthy collection, the Gere Sport ZK-EFZ2.

Evan told me that he flies all the aircraft in the collection.  Very impressive!  

Bearhawk ZK-RJE

The R & B Bearhawk ZK-RJE2 (c/n 1534B) was listed to AVITEC Ltd of Nelson on 18-09-2020.

It first flew from Nelson on 26-11-2020.

It carried out its second flight today as captured here by Peter Campbell.

Thanks Peter.

Timaru & Oamaru

An early arrival at Timaru airport this morning was Cessna A185F VH-AIA which arrived into Christchurch back on November 13 and has yet to adopt a ZK registration.

Meantime the South Canterbury Aero Club have just acquired 2 Alpha R2160 aircraft from the Canterbury Aero Club, being ZK-VCA and VCF.    Tomahawk JHO has been retired from the fleet as a consequence.

Moving onto Oamaru where the New Zealand Airline Academy was very busy with virtually their entire fleet active today.   Recent arrivals which have been blogged before but now feature the company's logos are Tecnam P2006T  ZK-TMT  (registered March 2020),  and the 2 P2008JC ZK-TOT and TPT (both registered in June 2020)

Also a 2020 arrival is the very smart Hughes 369HS ZK-IOZ which was imported from the US and registered to an Oamaru private owner in August 2020.   It resides in the Heliventures NZ hangar.

 

More from the South Island

Continuing our travels south Kaikoura airfield was very busy with Whale Watching flights including the GA8 Airvan which was added to the Kaikoura Air/Kaikoura Aero Club fleet in May 2020.  This was formerly with Glenorchy Air.

Adjacent South Pacific Helicopters had their EC130B4 ZK-HBE4 outside,  this was imported from Nepal in 2018 and has been with the company since October 2019.

Further down the road at the airstrip owned by Cheviot Ag Air their Fletcher Fu24-954 ZK-EMY was caught just before it departed.  They have owned this since August 2008.   Also resident  in the hangars at the airfield were Cessna A188B AgWagon ZK-EJL, and 4 homebuilt aircraft which include Zenith CH200 ZK-FRV and the unique Webb Spyder Mono ZK-WEB.

Down at Christchurch International, Fairlie based Mackenzie Helicopters' Hughes 369E ZK-IOB was receiving attention.   They have owned this since February 2020,  it having been imported from the US in 2017.

And finally at Ashburton not blogged before is the Christchurch owned Cessna 172N Skyhawk II ZK-KVB,  which at one time was ZK-ERB.,

 

Gere Sport ZK-EFZ/2

I was very fortunate last Saturday to be able to meet up with Blue Bus and do an extended pie run (actually make that a lovely BBQ lunch - thanks Penny) that extended out past Rangiora, where we came across this gem that I had not seen before:

Gere Sport ZK-EFZ2 was built by Alan Belworthy no doubt with the assistance of Evan.

Evan told me he has flown it around 30 hours to date.  You can find more details on the Gere Sport HERE