VH-BUR Carries out NDB/RNAV Calibration.

Yesterday,Tauranga had a NDB/RNAV Calibration by the Australian registered PA42-Cheyenne IV c/n 42-5527019 VH-BUR which had arrived recently into NZ and dropped into Auckland on the 19th from Lord Howe Island before operating around the country.

Arriving from Hamilton to carry out similar NDB/RNAV tasks ,it then departed for Rotorua  and finally finishing up at Palmerston North via Gisbourne  and Napier.

Pictures courtesy of "Hairy Rat Mole"

Grumman Avenger arrives at Classic Flyers

Last Thursday,Classic Flyers received a former WW2  ex RNZAF Grumman Avenger NZ2505 for a long term restoration project.

The Avenger NZ2505 has been on long term loan to GAPS and society members have been working on preventing further deterioration of the plane while their resources have been tied up by the construction of a permanent display hall. With the construction of the facility nearing completion it will now be possible to restore the plane to airworthy condition.However due to lack of volunteers at Gisbourne,the aircraft was transported to Tauranga to be brought back to life once again.

Seen here outside the Classic Flyers Hangar for all to see.

NZ2505 was the first RNZAF Avenger to arrive at the air force’s base in Gisborne in 1943, where it operated as part of the RNZAF 30 squadron’s training wing while crews prepared for operations in the Pacific.The plane was surplussed by the RNZAF and sold to Waitomo Aviation in 1959 and went to a playground at Opunake Beach in 1964. It departed in 1972 to the Silverstream Transport Museum before being purchased by the RNZAF Museum in Wigram in 1987, who "robbed" it as a source of parts for their restoration of NZ2504. The Museum shipped the plane to GAPS in October of 1999 and sat there for many years before arriving here at Tauranga.

Newly registered Cessna 182 T to NZ. ZK-ZZR

Noted at Tauranga outside Flightcare  on the 20th August was a brand new Cessna T182T Skylane TC  ZK-ZZR (c/n T18209013) which was  ex N9020Q. 
It has  been registered to Izard Pacific Aviation of Taupo on 5th August  and had its first test flight 

yesterday.

Picture courtesy of " Hairy Mole Rat"

New T-51B Titan Mustang under construction

Whilst wandering around Matamata airfield last Sunday ,I came across a open hangar and to my surprise inside was a newly under- constructed T-51 .Kiwi Mustangs Ltd operate in one of the hangars away from the operating runway and after asking permission to enter the hangar ,I met the owner of Kiwi Mustang Ltd Mike Crene who spoke about the build and was saying he is planning to have it near completion in the first quarter of 2015.I will keep an eye on Mike.s progress on the build and he did say that he may have it refinished in a WWII  colour scheme on completion.Mike has other examples of his Mustang builds in New Zealand which are flying including an example that was sold in Canada.

A view of the latest Titan Mustang with Mike Crene seen at the background.

I would like to thank Mike for allowing me to enter his workshop and place the pictures onto my blog site.

Some visitors to Matamata.

A raid of nearby Tauranga residents dropped in on a sunny but cool day into Matamata

A visit to Matamata Airfield

On a visit today to this pleasant little airfield at Matamata on the 10th August,I came across a collection of gliders ,home builds and local resident aircraft and a warm welcome from the locals who operate there  were very wiling for me to wander around their hangars and take pictures.

Here are some pictures of resident aircraft

AESL Airtourer T3A ZK-DNFof the based flying school Middle Earth.(Considering that Hobbiton is down the road)

PA28-cherokee ZK-DFB

Locally built Titan Mustang T51  ZK-SMF owned by Matamata Aviation Ltd

Alpi  Aviation Pioneer 300 ZK-PKS 

Recent imported NZ resident Slepcev  Storch UL ZK-STO just landed after giving a little display over the airfield showing off its superb STOL capability to all of us.

Tecnam P92 Echo Super ZK-PFL operated by the local Piakio Flyers group.

A colourfull Kitfox IV Speedster ZK-JRK

Privately owned Impulse 100 TD ZK-MPL

PA28-140 ZK-EFP of the Middle Earth Flying school

Air Chathams DC-3 at Auckland.

On a recent visit to Auckland Airport in late July ,I managed to take a picture from the visitors car park of the of Air Chathams DC-3-S1C3G  parked up in  an area where all visiting Biz jets parkup .

Air Chathams DC-3  ZK-AWP  c/n 33135

The DC-3 has been operating in Tonga for a number of years on the Tongan register as A3-AWP with Peau Vava'u and Chathams Pacific 

First visit of new PC-12 to Tauranga

Arriving this afternoon on the 2nd August from Feilding was the  latest aircraft added to the NZ register. Pilatus PC-12/47E ZK-TFL operated by Instra Aviation from Wellsford .Previously the aircraft was registered as VH-YOJ and was seen regularly in New Zealand. See MRC Aviation blog site for more info on its visits .

PC-12 /47E ZK-TFL  c/n 1122.

Captured parked up adjacent between the control tower and Fire Station

After spending a couple of hours at Tauranga it departed around 15.00 bound for Ardmore (NZAR).The aircraft will be based at  Springhill private airstrip near Wellsford in Northlands so another welcomed PC-12 to our NZ shores.