And another Kiwi helicopter offshore

Robinson R22 Beta ZK-IAH which was imported used from Japan back in 2002 has actually been operating in Vanuatu for some years now owned by former Auckland Doctor,  Derek Allen.  Going under the name 'TroppoDoc' he uses the R22 to fly out to remote clinics in the Vanuatu island group,  while otherwise being a hospital based surgeon, obstetrician and pediatrician.

If anyone has a better photo of IAH available for publication on this Blog please let us know.

 

Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300 ZK-OKQ Returns to the Skies

It has been reported in the National press that Air New Zealand will return their Boeing 777-300ER ZK-OKQ to flying duties with a probable test flight today, 8/2/22.  The big Boeing will initially be used for freight runs between Auckland and Sydney, and Auckland and Los Angeles.  Here are a few photos of it to remind ourselves what we have been missing:

Arriving at Auckland on 27/12/15 in its original black and white scheme.

Lifting off from Christchurch on 6/4/20, just a couple of months before it was put into long term storage at Auckland.

In storage at Air New Zealand's Auckland Maintenance Base on 27/5/21.

And lift off today from Auckland International (Photo via Grayson Ottaway)

Couple of other Kiwi helicopters offshore for the summer

As well as the Sikorsky mentioned in the blog below a couple of other NZ helicopters are working offshore this summer being 2 of Wanaka based Heli Support NZ's AS350B2.   They are operating with sister company Heli Support International supporting the German and Italian Scientific Research Programmes in Antarctica.

They are ZK-HWG2 which was originally imported back in 2006 from Australia as ZK-IBO, then ZK-IHW in 2007 and HWG in 2010.  It was acquired by Heli Support in 2018.

And ZK-HNF4 which was imported from Australia in 1992 as ZK-IWJ, then ZK-HMM3 in 2001 and ZK-HNF in 2020 when acquired by Heli Support.

 

Sikorsky EH-60A ZK-HKU

Whakatane based Kahu NZ's Sikorsky EH-60A ZK-HKU is currently in Western Australia for the bush fire season being operated by Camden, NSW based United Aero Helicopters on behalf of the WA Department of Fire & Emergency Services.

It is flying as "Black Hawk 679" together with another UH-60A N260UH as "Black Hawk 678".   The latter is owned by Texas based Pickering Aviation.

 

ZK-HUN out and about.

 The seldom seen Mil Mi-34C 'Hermit' ZK-HUN5 c/n 9783034102005 was noted at Heli Maintenance Ltd at Christchurch International Airport on Tuesday the first of the month.

As you can see it is still in its ex Nigerian Air Force markings of NAF 557.It was one of six imported by Lindsay Williamson and  joined our register on 01-12-2014 as ZK-HUN5.

There is currently another example, ex NAF 553, being worked on towards NZ certification at Heli Maintenance.

Couple of Agplanes at Hamilton

A brief visit to Hamilton Airport this morning found the Falco 3000XL ZK-KEO still wearing Andy Stevenson Aviation script despite its sale to Murray Hargreaves Ltd,  Maungaturoto back in November 2021.

And the Super Air turbine Fu24-950 ZK-DZO has had a revision to its tail logo.

 

A Couple of Auckland Helicopters

Noted at North Shore airfield today was the Guimbal Cabri G2 ZK-ICN2 on a training flight with Orbit Helicopters Ltd.   This was imported from the UK in August 2021 and joins the 2 Robinson R22s also operated by the company for pilot training.

Over at Heliflite Ardmore was Robinson R44 Clipper ZK-IJA which is registered to a Queenstown owner.   Built in 2010 it was imported from the US in 2011.

 

A Couple of Air to Airs

Last Sunday 30/1/22 Brien O'Brien enquired if I would be interested in flying down with him to take some photos of a farm near Te Aroha.  Of course I would so we took off from Kaipara Flats around 3.30pm in Brien's Texan ZK-TXN2 and headed South over the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames where the clouds disappeared which made for great conditions for air to ground photography.  The air was was really smooth.  Before we left we chatted with Rob Waters about the possibility of doing some air to air shots of his Tecnam Golf ZK-NOL on our way back to Kaipara Flats.

So on our way back we rendesvous'd over Rakino Island and tracked together past Tiri Tiri Matangi Island and on towards the Mahurangi, and I took some shots of Rob and Nong in the Tecnam.  The lighting was quite good with a fairly low sun:

Rob and Nong in ZK-NOL

But what I didn't realise was that Nong was also videoing us and her screenshots from the video came out pretty well considering she was shooting into the sun.  So here we are in ZK-TXN2 over the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.

It was a "I was looking back to see if you were looking back at me" moment!  (That reminds me of a song!).

CMM dumps at Motueka

 CMM was at Motueka on Monday the 31st.

Edwin Nieman's Harman Rocket II ZK-RMD2 c/n HR2-187-08 was up from Dunedin.

This first flew on 13-05-2008.

Another 'out of towner' was the Wellington Aero Club's Cessna 172N ZK-EKE c/n 69940.

And the local Inflite Skiplanes Ltd's Pacific Aerospace 750XL ZK-DVE2 c/n 159 was listed with them in February last year after its return from PNG where it had operated as P2-BWF. 

It had initially flown as ZK-KAX back in September 2009.

The signage beside the jump door  (below) is duplicated on the

And a view from the jump door looking forward.

Morane-Saulnier MS885 Super Rallye ZK-CDF

Visiting Pauanui on Auckland Anniversary Monday was our sole current example of the MS885 Super Rallye ZK-CDF.   This was originally registered back in December 1962 and is powered by a 145hp Continental as opposed to the100hp Continental MS880B version of which 5 are still current in NZ. Morane Saulnier built 1100 MS880Bs and 212 MS885s.

ZK-CDF is registered to a Te Awamutu owner but resides at Taupo Airport.