Tauranga and onto Taupo

A visit to Tauranga Airport this morning while en route Taupo found the GA8 Airvan VH-PGU3 parked up.   Originally built in 2009 it was in service with the Mission Aviation Fellowship in Papua New Guinea until mid 2021 when it returned to Australia.  It arrived in NZ after a trans Tasman flight on 5 November and is registered to Wellington property developer Eyal Aharoni.

Up from Whakatane for attention was Bolkow Bo208C Junior ZK-CJH.   Originally imported in 1966 it has been with its current owner since 2018.

Down at Taupo Lakeview Helicopters added Bell 206B ZK-IBU2 to their spraying fleet in October 2021.  This was imported from Taiwan by Brian Comerford earlier in 2021.

Locally owned by Deano's Earthmoving & Logging is Schweizer 269C ZK-HIC4 which was originally imported from Japan in 2001 and has been with its current owner since 2018.

 

ZK-HNX and ZK-HXX at Motueka today.

 Lord Nelson captured these two helicopters at Argus Aviation at Motueka today.

ZK-HXX3 c/n 30-0675D of Helicopter Charter Karamea 2006 Ltd has been around in NZ since 1984.

Drill your way through the following link for more on ZK-HXX

https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/search?q=zk-hxx

Aerospatiale AS 350 B2 ZK-HNX4 c/n 2240 was re-registered from ZK-HQQ on 28th May this year for Helicopter Charter Nelson Ltd of Richmond.

Check here f or more info https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/search?q=zk-hqq

Pauanui

Some settled weather on the Coromandel brought some visitors to Pauanui airfield including first time blogged Cessna 182T Skylane ZK-CBC3.   Originally imported near new in 2006 it was registered ZK-KBL2,  moving onto ZK-SID2 in late 2015 and then upon sale to a Whitianga Partnership in May 2021 to ZK-CBC.

Paying a fleeting visit was Cessna R172K Hawk XP II ZK-SMP which was originally imported new back in 1984.  Despite being still registered to a Christchurch owner it appears to now be Tauranga based.

 

Air Tractor 502XP ZK-SXC at Feilding Yesterday 6-11-2021

Simon Hills was on the spot at at Feilding yesterday to catch the latest Super Air Air Tractor ZK-SXC out on a shakedown flight:

ZK-SXC (c/n 502A-3136) is a 502 XP model that was registered in New Zealand on 1/10/21.  It was previously N136MG.

Thanks very much for the photos Simon.

Austers at West Melton's 50th Anniversary

A slightly delayed 50th Anniversary of the West Melton Airfield was held today.

Aaron Murphy has kindly provided the following Auster images.

The Charlie Draper Auster J1B Aiglet ZK-AYU (c/n 2730).

This has been on the register since May of 1952.

The Vincent Family Auster Syndicates Auster 5C ZK-AZF (c/n 1272) was the Vickers Armstrong staff aircraft in the UK from 1945.

It reached NZ in late 1951.

The Greg MacDonald Auster 5D ZK-BGU (c/n 1757)  an ex RAF example was registered in NZ in April 1955.

My week of it.

At GCH Aviation Ltd at Christchurch International Airport the Kawasaki BK117 B-2 ZK-HGW3  c/n 1050 was parked out on its dolly.

    

On the other side of the field at Christchurch Helicopters 2001 Ltd the Aerospatiale AS 350 B2 

         ZK-HNC3 c/n 1322 now has the green strip between the white and black.  

         

Also at Christchurch Helicopters 2001 Ltd was the MD 500N NOTAR ZK-III3 c/n LN040 wearing small Waipara Hills Helicopters titles and some interesting graphics.

Next door at Heli Maintenance Ltd was the P and E Ltd's Bell 206B JetRanger III ZK-IMB3 c/n 2660.

Grumman G164A Agcat ZK-CAT

The subject of the Question Time is the Grumman G164A Agcat ZK-CAT2 (c/n 1418).

This aircraft is of 1975 vintage and was operated in the Mississippi and Arizona region of the US in the agricultural role as N8581H before joining the NZ register on 22-07-1996.

It was initially operated in the Rotorua region.

Its main base for some years now is Pukaki/Twizel.

Spotted above at Timaru on 09-01-2012.

About to roll at Twizel on 15-02-2013.

Refueling at Pukaki on 15-02-2017.

On a sedate climb out of Pukaki the other absolutely lovely day.
Twizel Township in the upper left.

Nosing towards the Lake Pukaki outlet with Mount Cook/Aoraki behind the left bracing wire.

Lovely flight thanks Chris.

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

And lets not forget the original ZK-CAT.

Cessna 185 ZK-CAT1 was c/n 185-0209 and served with Aircraft Holdings and Wanganui Aero Work Ltd with Richmond Harding from late 1961 until going to the Whakatane District Flying School in 1974.

Question time - additional clue.

    November question time clue # 2

November Question Time clue # 1

 What aircraft type do we have here ?

If you know the type then you will be able to tell me the registration from the colour !

8 comments to date.

              bobgod31 October 2021 at 14:42

1. Pitts--model 12 zk-pts---or S2 zk-pfa

   Reply
2. 
   Dave Paull31 October 2021 at 16:11

   Gidday there bobgod. Sorry but nowhere near the chocolate fish.

   ReplyDelete
3. 
   Paul1 November 2021 at 07:17

   Gypsy Moth ADT

   Reply
4. 
   Unknown1 November 2021 at 07:53

   Stearman RRR - Brett

   Reply
5. 
   Brett C1 November 2021 at 13:42

   Spearman ZK-RRR

   Reply
6. 
   Dave Paull1 November 2021 at 16:45

   Sorry but you are all erroneous. That Spearman sounds interesting tho.

   ReplyDelete
7. 
   bobgod2 November 2021 at 15:21

   how about Waco--WTW ?--(i know its a biplne!!!)

   Reply
8. 
   Dave Paull2 November 2021 at 17:15

   Nah - Sorry Bob.
   
   I'm thinking I will have to add another clue !

   ReplyDelete

More helicopters from the Bay of Plenty

Travels in the Eastern Bay of Plenty today offered a couple of Robinson helicopters that havent appeared on this blog before being R44 ZK-HSY2 busy spraying gorse near Waiotahe.   This is registered to Kent Helihire based at Te Pahu near Hamilton,  who operate as Heli Ag Waikato.

This was imported new in 2014 and acquired by the company in 2018.

And up the road at Pikowai R22 Beta II ZK-HWY2 was parked on the lawn.  This was imported new in 2004 for Copperfields Nurseries of Tauranga.

 

Helicopters in the Bay of Plenty

A visit today to the main Heli Resources base in Murupara was rewarded with the Bell UH-1H sprayer ZK-HZX3 outside receiving attention.   This was originally imported from the US back in 2003.

The company's 3 other UH-1s, ZK-HJX4,HSP2 & HSX2 are currently all stored or on major rebuild as is Bell 206L-4 ZK-HRX4.    When the UH-1s were all originally imported from the US an additional 12 or so airframes were also imported and these have been used over the years as a source of parts for the 4 registered machines.

Further east at Heli Resources other Murupara base in Golf Rd the Bell 206L-4 ZK-HHX4 was outside, this being imported from the US in 2018.

Hangared at the same location was AS350B3 ZK-IBW which was imported new in 2011 and has been with Heli Resources since 2014.

Over at Ngongotaha at Heli Hire's base their latest fleet addition,  Hughes 369FF ZK-IWR2 was outside.   This was imported from Colombia earlier in 2021.