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Sunday at Ardmore

November 25, 2017, 8:34 pm
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Magnaman got off a few shots today (Sunday 26-11-2017) at Ardmore.
 Cessna 172E ZK-FNT (c/n 51399) was a product of 1964 and passed quickly through the Malaysian register for delivery to Hong Kong in January of 1965.
It went to Australia in mid 1977 for overhaul before becoming VH-AFW on 10-11-1978 with Pays Air Service at Scone, NSW.
 In mid 1979 it migrated over to Miss M Bailey at Norfolk Island until being withdrawn and cancelled on 14-09-1983.
Next we see it pop up in NZ as ZK-FNT from 16-04-1987 with Ross Jowitt of Auckland.
The Mile high Club of Auckland listed it from 01-05-2002 followed by Murray Hargreaves of Maungaturoto from 31-10-2003.
It hasn't changed much over the years - below we see it at Wanaka on 14-04-2006.
Current owner Nick Gibb of Papakura took it on from 16-06-2016.
Above we have the Ryan ST-3KR ZK-RYN (c/n 2062) of the New Zealand Warbirds Association Incorporated.
 Seen Here just a few weeks ago.
 This was imported by Les Marshall in early 1995. 
It was built for the USAAC and given the military identity of 41-20854. 
By late 1964 it was on the US civil register as NC579S.
Mooney M20C Mark 21 ZK-CPF (c/n M20C-3240) has been mentioned previously HERE
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Dargaville Aero Club for Lunch Yesterday 25-11-2017

November 26, 2017, 1:16 am
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I was fortunate to catch a ride up North with The Hairy Mole Rat so of course we headed to Dargaville for lunch.  It was a light wind day under "anticyclonic gloom" but the visibility was OK so we expected to see a few visiting aircraft.

Ultravia Pelican PL ZK-PPL just about got away from us.  It has been registered to a Whangaparaoa address since 9/6/15.

Dyn Aero ULC ZK-ORR has been registered to a Hamilton address since 4/11/16.

The two new Magni M 24 Orion gyrocopters were on the field - ZK-RGO of Peter Randall

 and ZK-MGI of John Weissing.

A few of the visitors (a few had left by this time).

Just Aircraft Super STOL ZK-ZOE was over from Whangarei.

And in the last of this quartet of new local aircraft, Alan Cameron was out flying in his new TechPro Merlin 100 UL ZK-MEF.

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Gyrocopter Flight in ZK-MGI at Dargaville 25-11-2017

November 26, 2017, 11:39 pm
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As I have previously posted, there were two new Magni M24 Orion gyrocopters at Dargaville last Saturday for lunch.  John  Wiessing mentioned he was going to fly a few circuits in his and would I like to come? - Sure I would!


So after taxying to the end of the strip we lined up into the light wind, did our checks and pre-rotated the rotor up to around 250 rpm using the pre-rotator cable, then opened the throttle of the Rotax 914.  As we accelerated the rotor speed increased to around 350 rpm whereupon we popped off the ground and John held it level until the airspeed increased to 55 knots (best climb speed) and then we climbed out more steeply than I was used to in the Aero Club Storch with 2 up.  During the rest of the flight the rotor takes care of itself.

John told me that one of the benefits of gyrocopters was that you don't get bumped around by turbulence like you do in a fixed wing aircraft.  This is due to the much higher wing loading on the "wing" (rotor) and as you can appreciate the rotor has much less chord than a fixed wing, and it cuts through the air at a much higher speed.  It was a smooth ride.

 The circuit can be flown quite a bit tighter than in a fixed wing aircraft.

But the big difference for the fixed wing pilot is the approach, where John demonstrated a steep approach where you seem to be dropping like a stone!  In fact the two photos on approach were taken 11 seconds apart, the first from around 800 feet and the second from around 150 feet!  However, you can fly a more normal approach at 55 knots which felt more familiar.

The actual touch down is very slow, but I am sure that John made it look easier than it was.  In fact John said that the most difficult part of the flight is the take off.

Thanks very much for the flight John.  I think I was spoiled by my first gyrocopter flight being in a very comfortable side by side enclosed cockpit model which gives great visibility.

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Giant Scale Models at Dargaville 25-11-2017

November 27, 2017, 2:11 pm
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Some of our sport aircraft are quite small (think Spacek Minisport with a wingspan of under 20 feet), and then coming up the other way are giant scale radio controlled models with wingspans of over 10 feet.  I guess the cross-over point is the Bally Bomber?

I was intersted to see a couple of these big models at Dargaville last Saturday.  They were pretty impressive and came with their own purpose built trailers.

Republic P 47D Thunderbolt "Tarheel Hal" is a model of the aircraft that is owned by the Lone Star Flight Museum of Houston, TX.

And Westland Lysander Mk 3A "529" is in the pre-war colours of the RCAF.  (a similar aircraft coded "416" flies with Vintage Wings of Canada).  It has a wingspan of 10 feet 6 inches and is powered by a 3 cylinder radial engine of 61cc displacement.

Once all the full size aircraft activity had closed down for the day it took off and flew very well.

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Whangarei 26-11-2017

November 28, 2017, 3:43 pm
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After a long lunch at Dargaville we drove over to Whangarei.  The Whangarei Flying Club was very welcoming with coffee and biscuits and laid back discussion about aircraft and flying.  It is a great place to visit.  Thanks Rusty and Penny.

The next morning (Sunday) there was a committee meeting and most of the aircraft in the hangar were pushed out which was great for photography.  There are quite a few sport aircraft at Whangarei and that I had not seen before, several of which have not been posted on this blog previously:

 Mel Jones's Sisler Gygnet ZK-CYG is for sale - have a look at Trade Me aircraft listings for details.

Andrew McNeal's Avid Flyer Mk IV ZK-DDB2 is now flying again.

ELA Aviacion ELA-07R ZK-VBA w(c/n 04040403712) was having some maintenance work done.  It has been registered to a Maungaturoto owner since 8/9/17   It is ex G-CEEA and has been registered in New Zealand since 29/11/10.

Murray Parkinson's nice Corby Starlet ZK-LDI is undergoing its test flying schedule.

Locally based Dreamcraft Aviation Ltd's Tecnam P2002 Sierra ZK-TST (c/n 008) was busy flying.  It has been around since 28/11/03.

Another Tecnam was P 92 Echo ZK-THA (c.n 785) which now wears a slightly different but very plain colour scheme.  It is registered to a Kaikohe owner and has also been around since 2003 - it was first registered on 19/9/03.

Vans RV 6A ZK-TRV was up from North Shore and stayed only briefly.  It was coming home in a way as it was originally constructed in Whangarei.


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Northland

November 29, 2017, 7:23 pm
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Continuing our travels around Northland a visit to Kaitaia Airport revealed the Kaitaia Aero Club's Cessna A150L ZK-BAD back from an early morning training flight,  this hasnt appeared on this Blog before.   The Club also operates Tecnam P92JS-UL ZK-TJS,  and privately owned aircraft based on the airfield include PA28-180 ZK-RJD and Jabiru ZK-CHW.

Down at Kerikeri the Northland Coastguard Air Patrol operate a Cessna 182P, appropriately registered ZK-CGD.

A new Tecnam P2008 is ZK-RJN which joined our register in July,  replacing the owner's previous P2008 ZK-MBN.

Skydive Bay of Islands operate PAC 750XL ZK-TTL from the Airport still with Taupo Tandem Skydiving titling.







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A Bit of a Repaint for Mooney ZK-CKF

November 29, 2017, 8:07 pm
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I last photo'd Don McMillan's Mooney M 20C Mk21 ZK-CKF at Dargaville on 16/4/16 and Blue Bus did a very thorough post on it on 23/4/16.  You can find his post HERE

As seen at Whangarei last Sunday 26/11/17.  It still looks the same but the registration has been repainted, (which it needed).

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Black Clouds for Sunair

November 29, 2017, 11:28 pm
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As well chronicled on our sister blog 3rd Level New Zealand, Sunair Aviation Ltd of Tauranga have been grounded since 8 September.  You can read about it HERE

 A sad result of this can be seen at the Sunair Terminal at Whangarei Airport with one of their Aztecs sitting forlornly outside.

And their Cessna 172H ZK-DHN with the grass growing under its wheels.


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Ag Aircraft at Dargaville 25-11-2017

November 30, 2017, 2:30 am
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Later in the afternoon last Saturday at Dargaville a turbine Fletcher appeared downwind.  I thought it would be ZK-JLU which had been the resident Fletcher when I was last there.

Actually it turned out to be ZK-CBA.

Thanks to Delticman, its history is as follows:

ZK-CBA  (c/n 81) was built up by TEAL at Mechanics Bay in during 1962 and was first flown from Hobsonville . It was later delivered to Hamilton for Robertson Air Service Ltd as fleet number 10 and was fitted with a Continental 0-470N of 260 HP. Major airframe mods came when Robertson Air Service converted it to a FU-24-950M which also included a large cargo door in July 1979. It joined the Super Air fleet and it's next major modification was the fitting of a Walter M601D in 1999. Yet another conversion and stretch for the PT6A-34AG in October 2011.

And down at the Super Air tie down area was another PT6A equipped FU-24-950M, ZK-JQB (c/n 156).  Delticman advises that it was one of the dismantled FU-24-950's that Super Air purchased from Fieldair Engineering. It was rebuilt as a stretched PT-6A-34AG version and first flown in April 2010.

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Gyrocopter Invasion

December 1, 2017, 6:15 pm
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A flotilla of 6 Gyrocopters from Tauranga visited Pauanui today for lunch enjoying the great summer weather on the Coromandel.

These comprised 3 Autogyro MT03's,  ZK-MOR,  ZK-RJW and ZK-TCG ;  a Magni Gyro M24C ZK-PLW  ;  DeltaTrikes J-RO ZK-RAC  and an Autogyro Calidus ZK-DCF.





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Pauanui

December 2, 2017, 5:52 pm
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As well as the Gyrocopters covered in the previous Blog the airfield at Pauanui had a steady stream of visitors over the weekend,  the star being the recently restored Rutan VariEze ZK-NCD making its first visit from Tauranga.

Amongst the Cessna visitors was 182R ZK-CAH down from Auckland and a trio of 172s including two 2017 imports from Australia,  ZK-CAA from Auckland and ZK-OEM from Matamata.   The third one was L3 owned 172S ZK-FCR,  which hasnt appeared on this Blog before.






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Westport pickings.

December 3, 2017, 12:02 pm
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Bluebus is on the prowl and popped into Westport Airfield yesterday afternoon (03-12-2017)
At the terminal building was the Pilatus PC-12/45 ZK-PLV (c/n 400). 
This was the 300th PC-12 built and was rolled out as HB-FQR3 by Pilatus Flugzeugwerke Ag at Stans in Switzerland and registered to them on 23-04-2001. 
It became VH-VWO on 01-11-2001 with the RFDS Western Operation at Jandakot, West Australia.
(RFDS being the old Royal Flying Doctor Service).
It flew into Auckland from Sydney in full Sounds Air colours on 20-11-2016 and became ZK-PLV on 18-02-2017.
It was the fifth PC-12 for Sounds Air Travel and Tourism Ltd.
Some more pics of her can be seen on our Third Level Airline blog  HERE.
In another cornier of the airfield you will find Brizz working away on one of his projects.
Alas he has leaned over to the very dark side and spends more time on his car restoration projects - as can be seen by the Spitfire parked beyond his Challenger ZK-LIW - alas it is a Triumph Spitfire but a tidy item all the same.
Quad City Challenger II ZK-LIW is c/n CH2-0490-0527/MAANZ451and first showed itself on our register on 22-08-1990 with Charlie Two Syndicate (Lilian I Wilson and B J Curtiss) of Christchurch until sold to Mike Kindon of Rangiora from 25-12-1996. Next in line was A and C King of Christchurch from 11-03-1998 until it returned to Mike Kindon on 30-04-1999.
 Mike's property at Fernside was named 'Slingsby' a well known aeronautical name from the past.
I think the next owners were Brian Coad and Brian Munns of Glentui from 29-06-2001 followed by Alfred Holland (Holland Suzuki) of Christchurch in 2002 and Richard Moore from 22-08-2005.
Mike Kindon became the owner for the third time when he relisted it from 28-09-2015 and had it with him at Alexandra until selling it to make way for other projects on 14-07-2017 to Allan Brizzell of Westport.
Allan has since added a reshaped nose cone and replaced the pull start with an electric unit.
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A couple from Lord Nelson at Nelson.

December 7, 2017, 11:11 am
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Lord Nelson captured these two at Nelson on December the 6th.
Robinson R44 Raven II ZK-HCO3 (c/n 10242) which was taken up by Reid Helicopters Nelson Ltd on 15-05-2017.
Previously mentioned  Here.
 
Pelorus Air Ltd's latest Cessna 182T Skylane (c/n 18282307) ZK-JLR2 was registered as recently as 23-08-2017.
Below is what NZ Aviation News Magazine said about it at the time.
'A Cessna 182T Skylane addition is that of ZK-JLR2 for Pelorus Air of Blenheim. Initially allocated N9311L on the Cessna production line is was delivered via Weaver Aero International Inc of Moundridge Kansas to Airflite Pty Ltd at Perth in West Australia with whom it became VH-ULW2on 11-01-2012. It was transferred to Simon Heuzenroeder of Nichols Point Victoria on 18-10-2013 and re-registered a VH-HZE3 the same day. Another re-registration - to VH-JSQ3 took effect on 17-06-2015 - and an ownership change to Peter Christophersen of Geelong was listed on 22-07-2015. 
It was ferried from Moorabbin to Lismore and Port Macquarie on 08-08-2017, then to Lord Howe Island on the 9th, Norfolk Island on the 10thand then to Auckland and Paraparaumu on the 11-08-2017. 
It takes up marks used previously by a Piper PA-34-220 T Seneca now in Brazil'.
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Sea Hawk at Kaipara Flats

December 7, 2017, 6:11 pm
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Our one and only Aero Gare Sea Hawk ZK-SEA (c/n AACA/175/2 or is it 192 as per the CAA website?) has been inactive in the back of a hangar at Kaipara Flats for some time.

It has been owned by K J Mills of Warkworth since 18/9/15.

And Kaipara Flats will be busy this Saturday with the Northern Microlight Group flyin and BBQ to be held there.
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Karamea

December 8, 2017, 1:15 am
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The 'Bluebus' trundled up to Karamea from Westport on the 6th.
 At an unfortunate delay along the way we found the MBB BK117 B-2 ZK-HGU (c/n 7229) going about it business on the highway.
Below it is clearing the bushes and power lines and heading for Nelson.
 From the shade of a tree near the Karamea aerodrome I snapped the EWW Partnership's  Aerospool Dynamic WT9 ZK-EWW (DY057/2004) on short final.
 Parked in an open  hangar is the David Boehm Locke Hi-Max Minitwin ZK-JEB (c/n DBL-3) of Jack Simpson.
 I seem to have the infinite capacity of catching the back end of receding helicopters. 
Here is the Bell 206L-1 LongRanger ZK-HKE (c/n 45094) of Helicopter Charter Karamea (2006) Ltd.
It still carries a small Canadian flag on its fin.
 Another shot from taken from the shade of a tree caught this Piper PA-22-150 taildragger ZK-SJG (c/n 22-3292) locally based with S R and J Galway.
 A regular visitor from Takaka is the Piper PA-32R-301 ZK-ZIG (c/n 32R-80113045) of Golden Bay Air Ltd.
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Northland Microlight Club BBQ at Kaipara Flats Today 9-12-2017

December 8, 2017, 11:33 pm
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As we are now resident at Warkworth I was very pleased to drive the 10 minutes out to Kaipara Flats airfield where the Northland Microlight Club was holding a pre-Christmas BBQ hosted by Tim Harrison in his spotless hangar.  Around 20 aircraft were on the field including some of the locally based aircraft that were out in the sun.  It was a great day and the BBQ lunch was great too.

 Kaipara Flats airfield from the air...

 taken from Rusty Russell's MTO Eagle gyrocioter ZK-KIW2.

Some of the early arrivals:  Harvey Lockie in his Dyn Aero MCR-01 Club ZK-WIK from Parakai.

and Peter Karl flew his Dyn Aero MCR-ULC ZK-ORR from Hamilton.

Showing the different wings of the 2 Dyn Aeros.

Paul Hopper flew his Climate Climate ZK-EZY2 from North Shore.

and Warren Butler flew his A 32 Foxbat ZK-WCB (his initials) up from Mercer.

while Steve Williams came the other way, from Dargaville in his A 22 Foxbat ZK-CKL2

Mike Hopper flew his Fly Synthesis Texan 600 ZK-TXS2 from Whangarei.

and Aerodrome IT Systems Tecnam P 92 Echo Super ZK-CDL2 arrived from Parakai.  It has Fly Parakai on the rudder and is fitted with a ballistic recovery parachute.

I will post more later, next time I feel like a McDonalds Coke float!

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Pauanui

December 9, 2017, 7:37 pm
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A hot dry week at Pauanui brought a stream of interesting visitors to Pauanui including a number of aircraft from the Hamilton based L3 training fleet,  below is Diamond DA20 ZK-CSA.


Visiting on Sunday was Cessna 172M ZK-EFA which is based at the Coromandel airfield, and hasnt featured on this blog before


A bit different, and also new to the blog, was Solo Wings Aquila ZK-KBV which flew in on Monday and was registered to an Auckland owner in February this year.


Amongst the Saturday visitors was Thorp S18T ZK-MBY from Auckland in its new refreshed paint scheme.


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Departures from Kaipara Flats 9-12-2017

December 9, 2017, 11:14 pm
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After a leisurely BBQ lunch, most of the visiting aircraft headed off home,except for the 2 gyros which flew to Dargaville as Father Christmas was arriving there.

Rusty Russell and Penny in MT 03 Eagle ZK-KIW2.

John Wiessing in Magni M 24 ZK-MGI.

TL-3000 Sirius demonstrator ZK-SRZ headed off to North Shore.

Tecnam P 96 Golf ZK-JAN3 headed off to Waihi Beach.

A couple headed back to Ardmore:  Vans RV 7 ZK-LVA...

and Glastar ZK-PGP.

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Diamond Twin Star ZK-EAN

December 10, 2017, 1:11 am
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A "new" twin has joined the Ardmore Flying School flightline in the form of Diamond DA42 Twin Star ZK-EAN4. This example has lived at Ardmore since importation in May 2015 when it arrived as N422DK and became ZK-DAX with Eagle Flight Training, however ownership changed to one of Eagle's owners in October this year and it was re-registered ZK-EAN on 08 December. 
This is the fourth use of ZK-EAN. The first was on a CT4 in 1975 for its delivery flight to the Royal Australian Air Force, then a Piper Tomahawk operated by the Ardmore Flying School from 1990 until 1999 and its third use was on the side of a Beech 1900D from September 2002 until October 2016. 
The registration EAN is personalised for the flying school's principal owner, Liz Needham. 

Ardmore 10 December 2017 
Ardmore 30 May 2015. 

Ardmore 31 March 2016.


On the subject of Eagle Flight Training, they have moved their base of operations to Gisborne with the gaggle of DA20 and single DA40 now resident at the East Coast airport while DA42 ZK-ZYX has changed ownership to Eagle Flight Training but still seems to spend much of its time at Ardmore. 
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Pauanui

December 10, 2017, 8:52 pm
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A couple of interesting Monday visitors to Pauanui comprised the latest Ardmore Flying School diesel Cessna 172R conversion ZK-LAT, the photo showing to good effect its new 3 bladed prop


And visiting from North Auckland was the impressive 1981 model Turbo Saratoga ZK-VQM


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