Omaka. All yellow

Omaka on 27 and 28th May.

Three different lightings.

ZK-CHL Cessna 185C c/n 185-0757 was with Central Aviation of Roxburgh for a few months before going to NZ Tourist Air Travel/Mount Cook & Southern Lakes/Mt Cook group.

Current owner Guy Laver has had it since November of 2004.

It has been blogged previously here :- 

https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2016/01/cessna-185c-zk-chl.html

Cessna A185F ZK-DLY  c/n 18502284 started with Wanganui Aero Work in January of 1973.

Since March 2001 it has been listed with Bill Lamb.

Mentioned previously here :-

https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2011/01/another-masterton-batch.html

ZK-SME2 is a Cessna 185A c/n 185-0438 which spent its first fourteen years in the States before crossing to Canada. It was listed in NZ on 21-08-2006 with the SME Syndicate, then did a couple of years with Nokomai Helicopters until joining Scott Madsen/Madsen Marine at Blenheim in mid 2017.

Omaka

A quick look at four more Cessna 180's as noted at Omaka

Cessna 180 ZK-AMK2 c/n 32470 came from the UK with is owner Ken McKinnon and became ZK-KMK on 15-04-2008.

It was sold to Matahui Airlines Ltd from 15-12-2014.

Keith re-registered it to ZK-AMK on 05-11-2019.

Its earlier days were spent in Norway and Sweden.

 ZK-BDB c/n 30462 was an agricultural aircraft from 1953 until 1966.

following a rebuild it was re-registered as ZK-CWL on 05-02-1968

Some seventeen operators later it was registered back to its original ZK-BDB on 04-02-2003 and was taken up by current owners David Phillips of Clevedon Aviation Ltd from 16-05-2007.

Some more of its history can be seen here :-

https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2009/09/cessna-180-zk-bdb.html

ZK-BDD is c/n 30463R was an ag and deer recovery aircraft from late 1953 through until early 1968.

It has been with the Prouting's since mid 1981.

 

Cessna 180 ZK-BFT c/n 30961 has an interesting past.

See :-  https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2022/02/cessna-180-zk-bft-zk-czw-zk-bft-zk-fdp.html

As you will read it as been with Captain Frank at Meringa Farms Ltd of Piriaka.

Omaka selection.

 Cessna 180 Businessliner ZK-BJX c/n 31417 from Palms on George Ltd is an ex dung duster from the mid 1950's.

You wouldn't think so now by looking at it..

Cessna 180's are for pussy cats.

But REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT.

Neil Young and Dee Bond also had the Company's Cessna A185F Skywagon ZK-MCR c/n 18504429 in the line up.

Well known as an ex Mount Cook ski plane.

Dee and Neil also have the Cessna 185D ZK-CKO and the A185E ZK-DAH in their fleet.

Convair ZK-CIB retires to Wanaka

 The Air Chathams General Dynamics Allison Convair 440/580 ZK-CIB3 c/n 327A carried out its final Chatham Islands to Wellington and Auckland flight on 15-09-2021 by which time it had accumulated 58,769.7 airframe hours over 56,284 cycles.

It the did a final revenue run from Auckland to Invercargill and back to Auckland on 17-09-2021.

21-05-2022 was its final flight on delivery from Auckland to the National Transport and Toy Museum nest to the Wanaka Airport.

Marty Muller was on hand to record its arrival

A final fly past above.

Final approach.

The last stop and the final atmospheric wave for ZK-CIB.

We have mentioned ZK-CIB3 several time on this blog previously,  See

https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/search?q=ZK-CIB

Then drill your way down to learn more on this Convair (and the two earlier ZK-CIB's)

Also have a look at the Museum's facebook page for more coverage.

https://www.facebook.com/wanakamuseum

Yes indeed - you should have been there. Omaka Cessna 180 70th Anniversary gathering.

Eighty four Cessna 180/185 aircraft attended the Weekend fly-in at Omaka to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first flight of the prototype Cessna 180 N41697 c/n 604 on 26th May 1952. 

The photograph below was taken by Agairnz on Sunday afternoon which shows ZK-CBS at the bottom of the shot  taxiyng out for its demonstration.

There are only 83 180/185's in this line up as ZK-CBF attended on the Saturday only.

Off the top of my head I cannot tell you which Cessna 180 first flew in NZ but ZK-BDB, ZK-BDC, ZK-BDD, ZK-BDE, ZK-BDF and ZK-BDU were all registered here on the 11-08-1953.

Of this batch ZK-BDB c/n 30462, ZK-BDD c/n 30463 and ZK-BDE c/n 30459 are still current.

The earliest production Cessna 180 in NZ is ZK-WGT with c/n 30012 which was registered here on 05-01-2007;  with ZK-BKG c/n 30376 the next numerically; which joined our register on 05-10-1955. 

New Sling TSi ZK-SLN at Feilding

Mike Blyth of Sling Aircraft Ltd in South Africa (then called the Airplane Factory) began development of the Sling 2 kit aircraft in South Africa in 2006 and its first flight was in November 2008.  A full testing programme was completed during 2009.  James Blyth and his partner in Sling Aircraft, James Pitman then set out on a 40 day Westerly circumnavigation of the world in the second prototype, which included attending Oshkosh 2009.  We have had only one Sling 2 aircraft registered here, ZK-SLG which was registered on 29/10/14.  You can see details of this aircraft HERE

The Sling 2 proved to be very popular so Mike Blyth and James Pitman and their team at Sling Aircraft moved on to develop a the 4 seater Sling 4 model which was further refined into the Sling TSi with a 141 HP Rotax 915 iS engine, and our first example of this aircraft has now been completed here.

The Sling TSi is 7.17 metres long (23 feet 6 inches).  Its wingspan is 9.5 metres (31 feet 3 inches) and its wing area is 134 square feet.  Its empty weight is around 490 Kg (1,080 pounds) and MAUW is 950 Kg (2,094 Pounds), and on its Rotax 915 iS the cruise speed is around 148 knots.  The stall speed is quoted as 48 knots.  It is a very good performer.

ZK-SLN (c/n 199SK) was registered on 23/3/22 to B L Pearpoint (one of the agents for Sling Aircraft New Zealand), and the photo is from their Facebook page, taken at Feilding on 31/5/22.  I think the Sling will live up to its name of Nemo!

We will see more of these aircraft in New Zealand, and possibly quite quickly.  There are several kits under construction including a Quick Build kit.  From what I have seen the kits can go together pretty quickly, helped by the fact that the rivets are aircraft grade pop rivets.  And I am also aware of a South African built example that is being imported. 

Qatar Emiri Air Force C 17 at Ohakea

Although it is painted in Qatar Airways livery, this Boeing C 17 Globemaster III A7-MAB is actually operated by the Qatar Emiri Air Force, and it is one of a fleet of 8, with the other 7 being painted in standard military grey. 

It flew into Ohakea yesterday and was photo'd there by Tim Gorman - thanks for the use of the photo Tim.  It may not be a civil aircraft but I thought it was worth a post because it looks so spectacular.

Kawasaki BK117B-2 ZK-HDK (6)

Overflying Pauanui today was the BK117B-2 ZK-HDK6 which was imported by Airwork (NZ) Ltd from PNG back in 2020 and has now completed its refurbishment programme.   It arrived in an orange and white scheme but has retained the orange only the fins.

In a previous life it was ZK-HLU2 from 1995 to 2002 also with Airwork,  apart from 2 years with Helicopters Otago between 1999 and 2001.

 

ICP Savannah S ZK-MRJ at Waihi Beach

I had not seen a photo of this Savannah previously, after it had been built by its original Wanganui owner, but recently it has had a change of ownership and is now based at the Waihi Beach airstrip and where it was photo'd recently by John Anderson:

ZK-MRJ (c/n 18-02-54-0591) was first registered to Mr J Plimmer of Wanganui on 18/8/20.  On 11/5/22 ownership changed to R P Swanney of Waihi Beach and it is photo'd in the hangar there.

Thanks for the photo John

Omaka Cessna 180/185 Fly In

A selection of the attendees at the excellent NZ Cessna 180/185 Club fly-in at Omaka this weekend are as follows,  starting with the A185F ZK-CDM2 which was imported from Vanuatu in 2019.  Initially all white it has now been painted in a smart new scheme and has been with its current Blenheim owner since earlier this year.

The 2nd usage of the registation ZK-DPF on a Cessna 185, the current example is an A185E model imported from the US in 2018 by its Christchurch owner, being registered after refurbishment in 2021. 

One of 3 Cessna 180's imported from Uruguay back in 2006 180C ZK-KRD has taken longer to get back in the air, being registered to its Otorohanga owner in 2021.   The other  ex Uruguay 180's are ZK-MDL and ZK-WGT.

The former Mt Cook skiplane A185F ZK-MCR was originally imported new in 1985 and has been completely refurbished for its current Mercer based owner.

And a 180 that despite being around since 1959 has somehow missed being blogged here is ZK-BMS which was ex USA used import and has been with its current Queenstown owner since 2000.