A trio of new ZK Grand Caravans

Noted at Mercer airfield this morning was the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan ZK-EXX which has been undergoing conversion for skydiving duties and now has a parachute door fitted on the port side.  This was originally a Cessna demonstrator aircraft which visited NZ in 2019 and then returned in late 2020 when purchased by Airlift NZ.   Ownership changed to related company, Orbit Helicopters, in December 2021.

On the Fieldair ramp at AKL International today was Merlin Labs Grand Caravan ZK-MLN.  This was originally sold new to Australia in 2006 and was ferried across to NZ in September 2021. 

 Unfortunately in the process of the ferry flight it suffered a lightning strike which necessitated significant repairs before it could fly again.

 

And yet another new Grand Caravan arrived at Auckland on 20 February on its delivery flight from the USA, being a brand new example N915HQ destined for Glenorchy Air.    Delivered all white it is currently at Wanaka being readied for service as ZK-PPR.   A video taken in Tahiti on its delivery flight can be found at :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSFEwYNErsM

Hastings overview.

 Des Smith was at Hastings today and here is a quick overview of the activity noted.

Above was have the Zlin Savage ZK-SCA c/n 0115 as still listed to Mark Fletcher of Maronan.

Above. Same again from slightly different angle shows rear end of an Vans RV-4. The Cessna A185F amphibian ZK-DWW c/n 18504372 of the Husheer Double Wiki Syndicate and the Tiger Moths ZK-BAH and ZK-AON.

The Wayne Pamment Nanchang CJ-6 ZK-CHG2 c/n 5052018 from Hamilton and the AAM NZ Ltd's Cessna 402B Utililiner ZK-SVQ c/n 402B0601 rests outside its hangar.

Then we see the Eurocopter AS 350 B2 ZK-HBQ5 c/n 4432 of Heliworx Aotearoa Ltd, the Gliding Hawkes Bay & Waipukurau Inc's Grob G103C Twin III ZK-GHB3 c/n 35017, the B Line Helicopters Hughes 269A ZK-HLQ2 c/n 115-0421 and a small portion of the Gliding Hawkes Bay & Waipukurau Inc's PZL PW-5 ZK-GYP c/n 17-05-016.

And back to the start with the Vans RV-4 looking like ZK-RVH c/n 3906.

Bearhawk Bravo

 "Bearhawk Bravo" also known as R & B Bearhawk ZK-NSB3 c/n 1578B was built from a fast build kit by Neville Bailey of Christchurch. Powered by a Lycoming IO-540 of 260hp it is Ashburton based.

It was captured yesterday at Mesopotamia Station by Aaron Murphy.

A couple of Black helicopters

Amongst a busy weekend of Auckland visitors to Pauanui airfield were a couple of privately owned black helicopters not noted here before.

These were the EC130T2 ZK-HAT3 which was imported new in late 2020.

And the AS350BA ZK-HBR2 which was originally imported from the US back in 1997 and latterly has carried "Inflite" and then "Heletranz" script.

 

Skywork's Squirrel Firefighting at North Shore Tonight 5-3-2022

On my way back home from North Shore tonight around 6.30 pm I came across the Warkworth based Skyworks AS 350 B3 Squirrel ZK-HWW2 damping down a scrub fire just North of Albany that had threatened several houses.  It was close to the East Coast Road which gave me a grandstand view of the operation:

I had not seen this type of firefighting equipment before.  The Squirrel sucked up a load of water from a bladder that was supplied by a fire truck, into the pod underneath using a fixed length of hose,

and then flew off to the nearby fire where it dropped its load onto the fire in a dump out of the pod.

A couple of AS355

A couple of 2020 AS355 imports that havent been blogged here before are 2 that are registered to Airlift NZ Ltd based at North Shore airfield.

They are F2 model ZK-HMQ5 which was imported from Germany.

And F1 model ZK-IJK2 which was imported from France and initially registered ZK-HFQ6.

 Both are currently listed for sale on Trade Me.

In a Hangar at Mata

As well as the 17 visiting aircraft attending the Northern Aviators Club flyin at Mata on Saturday 26 February, there were 4 locally based aircraft, being Leo Johns' Cherokee 180 ZK-DQX and in hangars were the Celier Xenon autogyro ZK-ZMY, the earlier model Savannah ZK-WTR and the interesting Horn TH1 ZK-TLH:

ZK-TLH is quite big for a Class 1 microlight.  owner Derek Taylor told me that he has been upgrading the undercarriage recently.  He flew it into Mata but it has not flown for a while.  It looked good.

 

A couple more helicopters

Noted today at a busy Mid West Helicopters main base at Whanganui was Bell 206B ZK-HTM which was originally imported new back in 1981 and acquired by Mid West in 2018.

And at Precision Helicopters main base at New Plymouth Airport was AS350B2 ZK-ILN2 which was imported from the US for the company in 2018.

Precision also has bases at Piopio with AS350B ZK-IDW2 and H369D ZK-IRA2,  Maxwell (South Taranaki) with Bell 206B ZK-IRC2 and at Hokitika AS350B ZK-HSE4.

 

Beaver ZK-FPZ at Motueka.

 A surprise at Motueka on the 27th February was the De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver Mk1 ZK-FPZ c/n  717 as listed with Venture Aviation Ltd of Taupo since late March of 1988.

And in a non all white scheme.

It carries Taupo Sport Skydivers script on its fin/rudder.

Well caught  by CMM  on the Nelson Aviation College tie downs

Below is a copy of an earlier post on ZK-FPZ.

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver Mk1 , c/n  717 , was built as an L-20A for the U.S. Army and had a build date of 01-11-1954. It was allocated the US military serial of 53-7909.

Following military service it entered the US Civil register as N6474 in about 1972 listed with the Texas State Technical Institute at Amarillo, Texas.

Some other operators that I know about were Joe Vaughn Spraying Inc of Kress, Texas; D Wright at Anchorage, Alaska from 09-02-1979; D Carrell in Alaska from 17-06-1980, with a change of registration to N93DC in August 1980 - still with D Carrell and trading as Alaska Travel Air.

It reverted back to N6474 in February of 1982 for Kennedy Air Services of Cordova, Alaska.

It was shipped to NZ and registered as ZK-FPZ to Motor Holdings (Aviation) Ltd of Ardmore on 16-02-1988 and assembled at Rotorua as a floatplane. First flight was from Lake Rotorua on 30-03-1988. It was registered to Float Air Picton (1984) Ltd on 29-04-1988.

Below : Two views of ZK-FPZ at Picton Harbour on 22-05-1989.

 On 22-03-1990 it was overturned by high winds and sank in Picton Harbour. Rebuilt by Arc Aviation (Keith Newton & Jack Lamb) at Taupo to fly again on 16-08-1991, as a land plane. It then served with Mid Island Aviation Ltd of Taupo from 16-08-1991 and then Tandem Corp and then to Venture Aviation Ltd from 31-03-1998.

ZK-FPZ at Taupo on 03-03-2008. (Sorry about that pink thing).

ZK-HJS in the Matukituki.

 The Hughes 369E ZK-HJS2 (c/n 0198E) was imported as JA9442 from Japan in late 1998 joining Canterbury Helicopters Ltd at Wanaka in April of 1999.

It joined Aspiring Helicopters Ltd on 01-06-2000 with a move over to Queenstown in October 2004 to Heli-Works Queenstown Helicopters.

 It returned to Aspiring Helicopters from January 2008.

It is seen below at its Matukituki Valley base on the 23rd thanks to Damon Edwards.