Pelorus Air's Airvan ZK-PEL on Approach to Port Gore

 When I was looking back over some previous posts about Pelorus Air to do a bit of research on their "new" C 172 taildragger ZK-MGR, I found a post I had done using photos from their Facebook page of each of their fleet on approach to landing at Port Gore in the Marlborough Sounds,  (This post is HERE),

I found a matching photo of the latest aircraft in their fleet, their Gippsland GA 8 Airvan ZK-PEL also photo'd on approach to Port Gore.  It is very scenic and should inspire us of better flying days to come.

Cessna 172 ZK-MGR is now a Taildragger

Pelorus Air have operated their 1955 model straight tail Cessna 172 ZK-MGR since it was first registered here in 5/11/14.  However in previous posts (for example HERE), it has been configured as a tri-gear model.

However Tim Gorman recently photo'd it at Wellington as a taildragger.  Maybe a taildragger is a bit easier to land on some of the remote airstrips that Pelorus Air operate from.

Thanks for the photo Tim.

Question Time = Super Cub ZK-BNW skiplane

 Anonymous was the only responder to this QT.

It is indeed a Fluidyne tail wheel ski - in this case for the Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub ZK-BNW.

It was also an upside down photo. Shame on me.

Your reward 'Anonymous' is not financial but just a common old chocolate fish.

But to receive same you will need to advise me your snail mail address.

Above is the tail wheel ski and below the mainwheel ski.

Below - skis being fitted.

The Piper PA-18-150 ZK-BNW2 c/n 18-4644/2 was built in very late 1955 and listed with the Piper test registration of N10F.

I next noted in Canada as CF-IJK with Teal Air Ltd of Winnipeg from 31-03-1957.

In December 1969 it had an incident which required a new fuselage for the rebuild - so the c/n was changed from the original 18-4644 to the non standard 18-4644/2.

It was listed to Gordon Hay of Vickers Heights, Ontario from 02-06-1975 and the registration format changed to C-FIJK 

Gerry Marcil of Lewisporte, New Foundland listed it from 09-11-2016.

It was seasonally fitted with either wheels, Edo 200 floats or Schneider 4000 (wheel penetrating) skis.

Its Canadian registration was cancelled on 07-12-2020 with around 3900 airframe hours.

C-FIJK in its winter playground above.

Its NZ certification was carried out by Drake Aviation at Barradale with its CofA being granted on 13-08-2021 and first flight being on 15-09-2021

Nearing NZ certification at Drake Aviation on 27-06-2021.

Short final into Rangiora on 18-12-2021.

Bantam B 22S ZK-TOI at Foxpine

Jordan Elvy and Simon Hills popped up to Foxpine yesterday (to catch the Bellanca Super Viking ZK-VIX that was visiting) and they were also rewarded with the locally based Bantam ZK-TOI outside its hangar:

ZK-TOI (c/n 02-201) has been owned by a Palmerston North owner since 26/8/05 but is not often seen outside.

It features its c/n on the rudder as well as a neat FoxPine AirPark logo on the fin.

And the Bellanca Super Viking ZK-VIX was there.  It has been owned by a Napier owner since 8/4/23.

Thanks for the photos Jordan.

Brett Emeny RIP

We have received the sad news that a stalwart of the New Zealand aviation community, Brett Emeny has died following complications after heart surgery at Waikato hospital.

I was privileged to have Brett show us around his and others interesting aircraft at New Plymouth on 25 March with a group from the North Shore Aero Club.  He was incredibly generous with his time as he told us about the Vampire, Trojans and Yak 52s in Peter Vause's hangar.  The above photo of Brett with his Vampire is by Markus Kavermann, taken during our visit.

Then we carried on to Brett's own hangar where he proudly told us about the Catalina that he and others spent many thousands of hours maintaining to an excellent standard.  You could tell how proud Brett was of the aircraft, and after telling us all about it he invited us to crawl all over the inside of the interesting old amphibian while he sat comfortably in the pilot's seat and told us about his adventures flying it all around New Zealand.

Then in the afternoon Brett led the New Plymouth wing of the Yak 52 aerobatic team in a polished routine.  He most recently flew with the whole 9 member team at Classic Fighters 2023, where he also flew a display with Peter Vause in their pair of Trojans.

Over many years Brett has owned many many aircraft, either under the name of his helicopter spraying company Fine Particle Application Ltd, or personally.  These have included a Hughes 300, AS 350 Squirrels, Bell Jet Rangers, a Sikorsky S 55 and a Bell Garlick UH 1B, and most recently an Agusta A 109 helicopter(s).

When I was at New Plymouth Brett showed us pretty much all his aircraft including his two Yak 52s ZK-YAK2 and YKA, his DH 115 Vampire T 55 ZK-RVM,  and his North American Trojan T 28C ZK-JGS.  In his hangar were his Stemme S 10 motorglider ZK-GDC2,   his Auster J 5A Autocrat ZK-BDW, his Cessna 320E Skynight ZK-EGN2 and his Piper Commanche ZK-CYT.

Brett will be sorely missed by everyone in the New Zealand aviation community and our condolences go out to his family.  RIP Brett.

Wanaka Museum by CMM

 With thanks to Jason Rhodes, CMM spent considerable time checking out the National Transport & Toy Museum next to the Wanaka Airport.

Here are just two of the many aircraft on site.

Above we have the Douglas DC-3C ZK-JGB2 c/n 4363 of Airscapade Affairs Ltd.

It is currently stored here.

It has been mentioned several times before Here.

Delivered into Wanaka Airport on 21-05-2022 was the General Dynamics Allison Convair 440/580 ZK-CIB2 c/n 327A ex Air Chathams Ltd.

New Airbus helicopters

Airbus Helicopters NZ have so far this year imported 3 new AS350B3 and 2 new EC130T2 helicopters.

Amongst the latter group is our latest Aston Martin ACH130 luxury version being ZK-IPO2 for Auckland based Classic Aviation NZ, seen here at Ardmore today.    The company's previous EC130T2 ZK-IPO was reregistered ZK-IPP back in February 2023 to allow the reuse of IPO.

Two of the new AS350B3s are for Queenstown based Glacier Southern Lakes Helicopters as ZK-IHO and IKW.    IHO is depicted here at Queenstown Airport courtesy of the company's Facebook page.

 

Question Time

 

Question time.

What is this item used for ?

And can you suggest an aircraft type and perhaps a registration for a NZ example ?     

Classic Fighters 2023 - the V2 Finale

Classic Fighters continued their tradition of  ground theatre in 2023 with the piece-de-resistance being a full size German V 2 rocket that was towed out and raised to the vertical using hydraulics I understand:

The V 2 being towed along the crowd line.  It was an externally pretty accurate replica I reckon.

And in position to launch with a Polikarpov Po-2 sneaking around.

Then on the Sunday it was blown up during the massed airfield attack at the end of the airshow.  Thanks to Brian Greenwood for this photo.

ZK-ZME progress

 This Rotax 912ULS powered Zenair CH701STOL was built in the US by John Swanson of Wetmore, Michigan and listed as N69701 with the c/n of 7-5852 on 18-09-2008.
It was damaged in a landing accident with just three hours airtime and eventually sold . 
It was purchased by Max Earnshaw of Christchurch and its US registration was cancelled on 31-08-2021.
Damage was rectified and it was listed in NZ as ZK-ZME to Max on 21-10-2021.

 It is now coming back together nicely with its 26 inch wheels and today was the first engine runs since its accident some fifteen years ago.

Above Max Earnshaw is about to turn the key for the first time, with Stu Bufton keeping an eye on things.

    Short video clip below.