Operating from the Pauanui airfield today was Skywork Helicopters' AS350B3 ZK-HWW doing sling loads of building supplies offshore to Slipper Island. This was imported by the company in November 2017 from the USA.
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Pauanui
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Queenstown in the Sun Today 14-9-2019
We flew home to a grey Auckland from sunny Queenstown today. Queenstown is a pain to get good photos of helicopters and aircraft, but here is the obligatory shot of three of The Helicopter Line's Squirrels with a backdrop of the Remarkables.
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They are ZK-IBV, ZK-HAE3 and ZK-IDB3. Out of shot was ZK-ICX. All have been posted on the blog previously
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Air New Zealand Queenstown Shots
There are actually quite good locations for photographing aircraft approaching from both ends of the main Queenstown runway 05/23.
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The previous day I photo'd ZK-OJB approaching Runway 23 from the Kawarau Gorge end. I reckon this is the oldest A 320 in the Air New Zealand fleet, so it must be going to be retired soon with the new A 320/321 NEOs arriving.
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And turning North with the top of the lake down there - you can see it better if you click to enlarge.
Airbus A 320 ZK-OXB approaches 05 over Frankton Arm.
And over the fence.
Our aircraft to Auckland was ZK-OXH.
Taxying out under the Remarkables...
Queenstown photo'd from the climb out...
Looking up Lake Wakatipu...
A very spectacular departure.
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Ardmore
A visit to Ardmore today offered a number of aircraft of interest including the Northland Coast Guard Air Patrol's Cessna 182P ZK-CGD, which they have owned since 2008
And newly imported from Australia in August the Eurocopter EC120B Colibri ZK-HXC, which is registered to an Ashburton owner.
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Rangiora Back on 7-9-2019 (1)
I was very pleased to be able to visit Rangiora airfield with Blue Bus on Saturday 7 September. He has already posted about a couple of big tyred aircraft that were there (Savannah S ZK-SRT and Zenith CH701 ZK-DUX2). I guess that the other aircraft out that day were not new to him, but there were several that were interesting to me. It seems as though Rangiora aircraft tend to grow bigger wheels and here are 4 of them:
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and the Zenair CH701 ZK-JRT.
An original model Savannah - ZK-DJB2.
the newer Savannah S ZK-MYN with pink adornments,
the Best Off Skyranger Swift ZK-JAY3.
You can see them with smaller wheels by searching the regos in the search box at the top left of the blog header page.
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Rangiora Back on 7-9-2019 (2)
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Rangiora Back on 7-9-2019 (3)
Several hangars were open at Rangiora when we visited and there were several sport aircraft of interest to me:
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Terry Salmon's lovely Corby Starlet ZK-EEZ was looking very tidy. I didn't realise until later that it now has a fully cowled VW engine (whereas it previously had its VW cylinders out in the breeze). You can see its history at: https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2012/09/corby-titivation.html
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Terry also told us about Turbulent ZK-WPT in the adjacent hangar, and as I hadn't seen this aircraft before he kindly opened the hangar up for us. It was recently purchased by a new Christchurch owner but it has a few matters that need sorting out before it can fly again. It flew from Greymouth to Rangiora in 2014 but I understand it has not flown since. This aircraft was finished by Alan Brizell of Westport and he posted about it on the blog HERE
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Then in the back of the hangar our next Karatoo is coming along nicely.
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Pauanui
An interesting visitor to Pauanui today was the 1965 model Cessna 185D ZK-CKT just off a complete refurbishment and repaint by Wrightair at Tauranga.
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Chipmunk ZK-JIT
This aircraft was delivered to the RAF on 16-05-1952 as WK627 and as of April this year was still painted in its original RAF colour scheme.Here is a link to a photograph of her as WK627. WK627 linkIt is known to have served with the Northumbrian University Air Squadron in the early 70's until it was struck off charge at No 5 Maintenance Unit at Kemble on 5 December 1974Its UK registration was cancelled on 21-04-1975 and it was registered as ZS-JIT to Ralph Saxe of Springs, South Africa on 08-01-1976. It was last flown in South Africa on 8 June 1986.It was shipped to New Zealand in 1995 but its South African registration was not cancelled until 07-12-2000. Finally it was registered to Ralph as ZK-JIT on 29 May 2001 under Chipleigh Trust of Palmerston North. It first flew here on 22 June 2002 at Palmerston North.
And two shots taken at Masterton on 26 Jan 2003.
Tragically, Ralph Saxe was killed in the crash of his Yak 52TW ZK-YTW at Timona Park, Feilding on 23 January 2012.![]()
Photo above at Ardmore on 8 August 2012 by Keith Morris.It was noted for sale in the rain at Dennis Thompson International Ltd at Ardmore on 8 August 2012 for $99,950 and 6780 airframe hours.It was sold to CTE Tooling Pty Ltd of Berkeley Vale NSW on 15 August 2018 and appears to be based at Wedderburn south of Sydney - still as ZK-JIT.
Two shots as seen on 27 April 2019 at Wedderburn, New South Wales by David Eyre.
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Rangiora Back on 7-9-2019 (4)
The weather at Rangiora on 7 September was nice with a light wind pretty much straight down Runway 25. This was after several days of really grotty cold weather with low cloud and strong winds. I guess because of this there were a lot of sport aircraft movements, and I thought that the number would be more than I have seen on a regular day at any other airfield across New Zealand. Here are some of them: (and there were others)
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While the Cub inspired Zlin Aviation Savage ZK-KSC was also out for a while.
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Timaru owned Tecnam P2002 Sierra ZK-MVS was doing circuits.
As was the recently registered Savannah S ZK-SRT2
and our earliest registered Savannah ZK-DJB2.
Our latest Zenair CH 701 ZK-DUX2 made a test flight.
The Fern Air Syndicate's 90 HP Piper Cub ZK-CXC was very active.
Then later on Paul Godfrey lifted off in his nice Kitfox IV ZK-JFA.
A great day! - thanks Blue Bus.
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Oceania Helicopters Pukekohe Ltd
A visit to Oceania Helicopters Pukekohe Ltd base in Drury today revealed their Bell 206L-3 LongRanger sprayer ZK-ILR outside. This was imported from Japan in 2010 and has been with the company since then.
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Masterton
A small but interesting group of aircraft attended the Wairarapa Aero Club's 90th aniversary gathering today including the Socata TB10 ZK-JIG which has been around since being imported from Australia in 2004, but not appeared on this blog. It is registered to a Masterton owner.
Registered to an Upper Hutt owner is the 1982 model Piper PA44-180T Seminole ZK-MBO
Also from Upper Hutt is the P&M Aviation QuikR ZK-NDS
Not yet entered on the active CAA register is ICP Savannah ZK-SVA, which lives in the SVAS hangar at Masterton
And in New Zealand since 2013 as N400TL Just Aircraft SuperSTOL ZK-TUX entered the NZ register in April this year, registered to a Carterton owner.
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Dargaville on 21-9-2019
A really nice weather day bought lots of visitors to share in the famous Dargaville Saturday lunch - thanks to all the volunteers who do the cooking.
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The Parakai based Tecnam P 92 Echo Super ZK-CDL2 has been repainted in this tidy scheme.
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Nice reflections in the Northern Wairoa River beside the airfield.
Three gyros came from Whangarei:
Rusty and Penny Russell in their Autogyro MT 03 Eagle ZK-RBG.
Nigel Howcroft in his Magni M 24 ZK-MWR.
And Baz Norgrove flew over in the newly Northland registered Celier Xenon ZK-ZMY.
Steve Wood bases his Rainbow Aircraft Cheetah ZK-KDM at Dargaville
and he headed off for a local flight.
Then Jim Schmidt arrived in Stan and Gilly Smith's Piper J3-65 Cub ZK-AIR.
A great day!
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Paraparaumu
A visit to Paraparaumu Airport yesterday afternoon revealed a hive of activity, mainly around the Kapiti Districts Aero Club, including the Club's R22 ZK-HNS
Kapiti Heliworx R44 ZK-IDO was being readied for a local flight
And down from Whanganui the NZICPA Cessna 152 ZK-TOC which was reregistered from ZK-NPD in May 2019
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Charlie's AOPA strip fly in.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association (AOPA) has regular fly ins around the Country.
This weekend Charlie Draper's farm strip near Darfield was the base for 'back country' strip visits
Click on this AOPA link for further information about this group
Saturday morning saw a gathering of fifty aircraft with 48 taking part in the strip visits.
All 48 streamed out within a few minutes so all my take off shots were taken from the same sport.
There were four Cubs on site.
Above we have ZK-BKN c/n 18-4754 from the BKN Syndicate of Blenheim.
Fred Bull's 90hp Cub ZK-BKX c/n 18-4684 departed in a brisk manner.
And Mike Oakley blats out in his Super Cruiser ZK-BNJ c/n 18-5063.
The 4th Cub was ZK-BNX.
There was a good selection of Cessna 185's with A185F ZK-DSO c/n 18502282 heading out.
This tidy looking Cessna 172G ZK-COL c/n 17254468 has been listed with Ian Sinclair since mid-2017.
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Charlie's AOPA strip fly in #2
More from Charlie Draper's AOPA fly in/out from his Darfield strip.
From up Otorohanga way came the Cessna 182P ZK-EJO c/n 18261063 of Bruce Johnston.
New to the register in mid-July - ex USA - was the Guimbal Cabri G2 ZK-HWJ4 c/n 1124 of Sunset Aviation Ltd.
Nokomai Ltd's Cessna T206H Stationair TC ZK-NOK2 .c/n T206098524 sounding sweet.
Air Rangitata's Cessna 172K ZK-PAM c/n 17258484 was up from down Arundel way.
And from Timaru came Sid McAuley's Cessna 182T ZK-SID2 c/n 18281825.
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AOPA visit Mesopotamia
Matt Hayes was at Mesopotamia Station yesterday and caught these visitors - part of Charlie's AOPA flyin/out to the back country strips.
Magic country.
No apologies for shots of aircraft seen in the earlier post.
Cessna 182P ZK-EJO. It came in from the UK in late 1976.
Cessna 172M ZK-FGV of 1975 vintage, arriving in NZ in 1984 from the US of A.
Cessna T206H ZK-NOK2 was a factory new delivery flown in by Rob Leach, reaching Auckland on 6 June 2005 to replace the earlier Cessna U206G which was re-listed to ZK-NOC in March of 2005.
ZK-SID2 is Cessna 182T model first listed in NZ as ZK-KBL2 in October of 2006.
Sid purchased it in August of 2015 and re-registered it as ZK-SID2 on 2 December of 2015 - replacing the earlier Cessna 172S ZK-SID which was re-registered to ZK-PRK.
The 1953 model Cessna 180 ZK-WGT c/n 30012 of George and Wendy Thompson of Otorohanga.
This was the 12th production Cessna 180 - making it the oldest in NZ.
It didn't join our register until January 2007.
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AOPA from another lens.
Tony McFarlin visited Charlie's strip somewhat later than Bluebus and offers these pics.
The David Blair and Rex Moore Partnership's Rans S-7S Courier ZK-CAB3 c/n 0707475 was up from Taieri.
Alpi Aviation Pioneer 300 ZK-RJV c/n 296 is Wanaka based these days with Geoff Rogers.
Peter McKellow's Warszawa-Okecie PZL Koliber-150 ZK-RTB is c/n 03930056 is from the Greta Valley and uses the initials of its first NZ owner Ross T Blackmore as its registration
Murphy Elite ZK-WRM c/n 578E gets its registration letters from Will and Rob's Murphy - the male portion of the Maxwell Morris Syndicate
Charlie Draper's strip as seen by a 'higher being' with just over half of the AOPA visitors on site.
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Maungaturoto on 21-9-2019
At Murray Hargeaves strip just North of Maungaturoto on Saturday afternoon, the blast from the past 400 HP Fletcher FU 24-950 ZK-EGK was parked outside:
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As you can see it is still painted up in its full Wanganui Aero Work colours and is named "Mangawhero" (click to enlarge). Ownership changed to M Hargreaves Ltd on 17/8/18.
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Waipukurau
A visit to Waipukurau airfield today revealed a reasonable amount of activity for a Monday including the rarely seen Champion 7GCBC ZK-CRT which is registered to a Napier owner, and was imported way back in 1967
Visiting from Wanganui was the nose wheel Maule MXT7-180 ZK-JQY, imported in 2007
Repainted in a smart new scheme Rans S6S Coyote ZK-KIX, registered to a Dannevirke owner
And the unique Sea & Sky Cygnet ZK-PWG which the new owner has had for 4 months and advised that he has thoroughly his flying adventures with it so far
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