Sunday 31 March 2013

Even more Omaka ppics

 Fresh of a major rebuild is this Beech C17B Staggerwing VH-UXP (c/n 108). Registered in Australia as far back as 2-02-1937, kit served with the RAAF during WW11 as A-39-3 before returning to civilian life. It is listed to Cameron Hawley and has spent some time at Mandeville under rebuild with finishing being carried out at Wanaka (as seen below at Wanaka on 18-02-2013).

 Piper PA-18 ZK-BOY (c/n 18-6172) waiting to play.

Now why would you want to jump out of a perfectly flyable DC-3 ?
The RNZAF team did a pretty good job in the strong winds of Friday.

Woodbourne Saturday

Bargeldo1 has sent me these long lens pics taken at Woodbourne late on Saturday.
 Above is the Vincent Aviation BAe146-200 ZK-ECO (c/n E2130).

                           Below is the Soviet Star Aero L-29 Delphin ZK-VAU (c/n 094019).

Omaka Misc.

 The Spa Valley Trust had their Cessna O-1G ZK-FYA (c/n 22737).
I assume they are "Willie Pete" rockets underwing.
It served with the SVnAF during that crazy Asian war.
 
 ZK-OST is the Peter Karl Avid Heavy Hauler UL and carries the c/n 1543E.
 
The Titan T51 ZK-WSV, with its abbreviated c/n of 95 sat in the visitors park for several days. It is Peter Walton's from Manuakau. As you can see below - it carries the "Miss B'havin" name and this scantily clad damsel.

More from Omaka

Four more pics from Omaka - taken yesterday 30-03-2013.
 The Trevor Collins Helio H250 Courier ZK-TCE (c/n 2503) is listed for sale. $170,000 and it's yours.
This is what NZ Aviation News Magazine said about it at the time it was registered in NZ in August 2004
"TCE is an H-250 six seat model,(initially known as the H-250 11 Cabalerra- but soon just called the Courier 11) which was based on the H-295 but with a lengthened fuselage. It was built in 1964 by the Helio Aircraft Corporation of Pittsburg, Kansas and registered as N5446E. It is thought to have served on US Government CIA activities in South America. It soon turned up as T-110 in the Bophutaswana Air Force (seriously). When Bophutaswana was integrated into South Africa the aircraft transferred to the South African civil register as ZS-ELJ from about 1966. It was listed to Orsmond Aerial Spray (Pty) Ltd, Bethlehem on 22-02-1977. About this time it was stripped and stored pending refurbishment. This never took place. The aircraft was spotted by the present owners son, who works for Orsmond Aviation SA out of Bethlehem, and was soon purchased by Trevor Collins and shipped back to Omaka for a full rebuild. The Avco Lycoming O-540 A1A5 engine was zero houred by Aeromotive South and the Hartzell propeller by Safe Air of Blenheim. The aircraft has an all moving tailplane and the port side cockpit door opens in the normal fashion, but the rear side door open upwards and with no door post between, gives a substantial opening. The ZS registration was cancelled on 02-04-2003. "

This one doesn't need much explanation. The Corsair, two P40's and the Mustang.

Piper J3C-65 ZK-AIR (c/n 9024) with Stan Smith in its original Piper L4 mode.
Lovely.
 
A new Tiger Moth for my photo collection !    ZK-SSA is c/n 111 and joined our register on 30-04-2012.

Once again I use an extract from the NZ Aviation News Magazines for some details on this Tiger Moth.
"Frank Frost of Nelson has listed this “new” Tiger ZK-SSA under the Special Category-Limited section of CAA Rule 21.203 (a) (5). I must confess to knowing very little about the previous owners of this aircraft. It was one of over 1070 Tigers built by De Havilland Australia during World War 11 and allocated the RAAF serial of A17-114. It later joined their civil register initially as VH-XGZ and later as VH-SSA and was used by Super Spread for a time. I believe it has come together at JEM Aviation at Omaka. Frank has previously operated the Yak 52 ZK-LAM between 1996 and 2006."

Saturday 30 March 2013

Baron N254F lost at sea.

It is my sad duty to report that the Raytheon (Beech) G58 Baron N254F (c/n TH-2169) was lost at sea near Gannet Island today.
It is listed to Kiwi Lion LLC of Seattle, USA and has been based in NZ since its arrival on 27-10-2009.
Photo taken at Christchurch on 06-02-2013 by Bargeldo1.

OH ! Maka warbirds.

A few quick shots of some of the warbirds noted at Omaka yesterday (Friday 3-03-2013).
They don't need much of an introduction.

Mustang ZK-TAF marked as "Elly May".







Friday 29 March 2013

Jurca MJ 5 Siroccos of New Zealand

Frenchman Marcel Jurca designed his MJ 5 Sirocco for homebuilding in the early 1960's and the prototype first flew on 25/7/62.  It is an all wood design with a cantilever low wing and 2 tandem seats.  It can be built with fixed or retractable undercarriage, and with either a low or high tail.  The name Sirocco is that of a hot wind that blows from the Sahara Desert across Southern Europe.

Its length is 6.20 metres (20 feet 5 inches), wingspan is 7.34 metres (24 feet 3 inches) and the wing area is 10 square metres (108 square feet).  Its empty weight is 430 Kg (947 pounds) and MAUW in New Zealand was 750 Kg (1,650 pounds).  With an o-200 motor top speed was 320 km/hr (200 mph) and it had quite a high stall speed of 105 km/hr (65 mph).

The Sirocco was the next type of 2 seater homebuilt aircarft to be registered in New Zealand (after the Volmer Sportsman, and also as Jodel D 11's and Minicabs were being registered as well).  We have had 5 Siroccos completed in New Zealand, as follows:

Our first Sirocco was Ron Keyte's ZK-DAF (c/n AACA/18) which was completed by Ron at Ohakea where he was an Air Force chaplain.  It was first registered on 9/1/75 and first flew on 5/1/76.  It was originally powered by a 180 HP Franklin motor but this was later replaced with a Lycoming O-320 motor.  It is photo'd above at the 1976 AACA flyin at Kaikohe.  It can be seen that it had a fixed undercarriage and the high tail.



It is photo'd here in colour by Don Noble, at the 1977 AACA flyin at Masterton on 22/1/77.

Tragically ZK-DAF broke up in mid air near Masterton on 11/3/78, killing both Ron Keyte and his passenger Manfred Schaeffer (see post on Taylor Monoplane ZK-EDZ).  The accident report found that the aircraft suffered flutter which led to aileron failure.



Our second Sirocco was ZK-ECW (c/nAACA/313/1) which was built in a very short time by Neville Stronach of Monowai, Southland.  It was first registered in 17/2/75 but it was our first Sirocco to fly, on 25/5/75.  It had an O-235 motor and had the lower tail.  It is photo'd above by Don Noble at Manapouri, on 27/10/76.

And here it is photo'd again at Manapouri by Don Noble, on 27/10/76,where it can be seen that it had a fixed undercarriage.  It was sold to GJ Hillary of Queenstown on 27/2/87.  It was damaged in a garage collapse in the early 1990's, following which it was partially repaired and stored.  It was then sold to KH Kramer of Frankton on 11/7/94, and to MB Ormond of Arrowtown on 1/12/96.  Finally it was sold to JR Davies of Auckland on 31/5/11 and it is currently still registered but stored in Auckland.  Does anyone know if it flew again after the garage collapse in Queenstown in the early 1990's?

Our third Sirocco was ZK-EDQ (c/n AACA/141/1) which was built by Rex Kramer of Hope, near Nelson, and was first registered on 14/1/76.  Its first flight was on 7/2 76.  It was originally allocated the registration ZK-DTR but this was not taken up.  It had an O-320 motor and was named "Reta too" after Rex's wife.  I do not have a record of who took the above photo, or where it was taken, but it can be seen that it had a retractable undercarriage.  I think this was the first New Zealand landplane homebuilt aircraft to have a retractable undercarriage (although after Volmer Sportsman ZK-EDB which was an amphibian)

.

The above colour photo of ZK-EDQ was taken by Don Noble at Nelson on 28/1 78.  ZK-EDQ was damaged on take-off from Hope on 19/12/76.  I understand that it did some glider towing from Nelson during Rex Kramer's ownership.  It was bought by Airwork (NZ) Ltd of Christchurch on 13/11/81 as part of a deal which saw Rex Kramer purchase Chrokee 235 ZK-CEH.  It was dismantled and it was cancelled on 21/4/83.

Our fourth Sirocco ZK-FNQ came along quite a bit later.  ZK-FNQ (c/n AACA/601) was built by Wylie Evans of Harwarden over a 10 year period, and was first registrered on13/3/87.  It first flew on 5/7/91 when it was the 71st Sirocco to fly worldwide.  It had a retractable undercarriage and the tall tail.  It is photo'd above at the 1992 AACA flyin at Tauranga.  Wylie Evans flew ZK-FNQ extensively and then sold it to PH Meredith of Christchurch on 1/8/07.

Philip Meredith completed extensive refurbishmen the of the aircraft including a new sideways opening (RV) canopy and re-profiling the tailplane leading edge.  he also repainted it in this attarctive red and silver colour scheme as photo'd by Blue Bus at Rangioa on 13/6/09.  It was test flow in its new configuration by Evan belworthy on 25/7/09.  It is still current.

And our last Sirocco was ZK-PTR (c/n AACA/148/1), which was started by Steve Rankin of Whangarei ( and for which he had the registration ZK-DJT reserved).  However, he never got to complete the aircraft and it was finished by Lindsay Wheeler of Kerikeri who first registered the aqircraft on 20/12/99.  Apparently the PTR stands for 3 Peters who helped finish the aircraft.  It is painted in a pseudo-RNZAF colour scheme as NZ 5404.

The above 2 photos show Lindsay Wheeler running ZK-PTR up at Kerikeri on 10/6/07.  The photos were supplied by Bruce Clarke, and it can be seen the ZK-PTR has a retractable undercarriage.  ZK-PTR has not flown much.  It was sold to MG Farrand of Warkworth on 19/8/09, but it was still stored in a hangar at Kerikeri when I last saw it in November 2012.

Thursday 28 March 2013

Air Safari 2013 # 2

Some more photos from Nick Furmage at Hastings Bridge Pa yesterday (27-03-2013).
The Cessna 172S ZK-KAZ (c/n 10406) is from the Kapiti Aero Club (Inc) at Paraparaumu.

ZK-KDW (c/n 598) is a Tecnam P2008 and is listed with K I and D P Walker of Pukeatua.

A line up of Dynamic ZK-MLC, 172 ZK-CEO, AA5A ZK-DLL, Cessna 172 ZK-WKU and Piper Twin Comanche ZK-NTV.
From across the ditch came the Cessna R172K Hawk VH-LSH (c/n R172K-2995). A 1979 model first listed in Oz on 07-12-1989 and transferred to its current owner, Peter Martin of Lismore NSW, on 07-01-2006. This Hawk departed Lismore on 17-03-2013 for Lord Howe Island and Keri Keri on 17-03-2013 and moved down to Masterton on the 18th. Thanks to :- http://galonghaulnews.blogspot.co.nz/

Aerospool Dynamic WT9 , fixed gear version, ZK-MLC (c/n DY145/2006) is from up Cambridge way.

Piper PA-30-160 Twin Comanche ZK-NTV (c/n 30-923) is the Murray Pope machine.
Tecnam P92 Echo Super ZK-PFL (c/n 1109) is from the Piako Flyers Ltd of Matamata.

Carters Aviation of Tauranga arrived with their Piper PA28R-200 Arrow ZK-RTE (c/n 28R-35725.
Cessna 172N ZK-TJL (c/n 69575) is from Gaming Inc Ltd of Te Papa.
From Koru Aviation of Waikanae came the Cessna A150L aerobat ZK-TWT (c/n A1500369).
This has previously served as ZK-YFA.

Vans RV-6 ZK-VRV (c/n 24692) is from Peter Merwood of Porirua.
ZK-WHZ (c/n 061) is the Tecnam P2008 from Waikato Aero Club (Inc).
ZK-WKU is from the North Shore Aero Club and is a Cessna 172P (c/n 74094).
Cessna 182Q ZK-WSJ (c/n 65785) is listed with Richard and Denise Tait from the Ashburton area.
Ian Sowman's Zodiac CH601 ZK-ZOD (c/n 6-3665) is a Napier local. Ian did an interview about the Safari on the National Radio yesterday.

Air Safari 2013 #1

The Air Safari for 2013 is due to finish today (Thursday 28-03-2013) at Motueka just prior to the weekends aviation activities at Omaka.
Nick Furmage was on site at Hastings yesterday and captured these long shots  of some of the entrants.
Cessna 172S ZK-CEO (c/n 9762) of the Wellington Aero Club.

Airtrainer CT4E NZ1997 (c/n 212) of the RNZAF. This was first registered as ZK-PTM before delivery to the RNZAF.

GA AA5A ZK-DLL (c/n 0409) of Margaret Wright from Johnsonville.

The Canterbury Aero Club's Piper PA-28R ZK-DUY (c/n 28R-7535019).

Cessna 172N ZK-ERW (c/n 66628) from the Central Otago Flying Club (Inc).
Cessna 172P ZK-ETU (c/n 74929) is from the Nelson Aero Club.

Europa Classic ZK-TIM (c/n 292) is Tim Wards Rangiora based example.

Cessna 182Q ZK-JOY (c/n 61577) is from Skytrack Aviation of Tauranga.
ZK-JGP is a Cessna 172M with the c/n of 66423 and is from the Waikato Aero Club (Inc) of Hamilton.

Maule M-5-235C ZK-JQI (c/n 7004C) is listed with Phillipa Hally from out west of Christchurch.


Cessna 172S ZK-JRA (c/n 9767) id from the Auckland Aero Club (Inc).