RNZAF B.757 carrying out approach training.

Yesterday  24th September on a breezy but sunny day at Tauranga,RNZAF Boeing 757 NZ7572 carried out a single wheels down approached into RW 25 R before  departing back to Whenuapai.

pictures courtesy of "Hairy Mole Rat"

First ever visit of Tecnam Astore to Tauranga

Noted on the 23rd September was the newly imported Tecnam Astore ZK-AST from Ardmore.
Operated by Tecnam Australasia Limited it was parked outside Solo-wings  Maintenance hangar before departed back to Ardmore in the afternoon.

ZK-AST Tecnam Astore c/n 015

A couple more pixs from Kerikeri

Tucked away in the back of the hangar at Kerikeri was this unseen Jurca  MJ.5 Sirocco ZK-PTR which apparently has not flown for many years after removing the covers for me to photograph.It is painted in WWII Far-East paint scheme on an overall silver finish .

ZK-PTR MJ 5 Sirocco c/n AACA/148/1

Parked up in Kerikeri was this FU24 Fletcher ZK-DZM operated by Super Air which has you can see has been well secured due to the recent high winds at the top of North Island in New Zealand

Tiger Moth at Kerikeri

I had an opportunity on Tuesday 16th September to visit Kerikeri Airport in Northlands and went to help clean and carry out minor servicing on my friends DH82A TigerMoth in the hangar adjacent to the Skydivers HQ.

ZK-BEW was originally bought from Hastings/Pa Bridge and was kept up in at a farm strip near Waimate North until mid last year before acquiring hangar space at Kerikeri from where it now resides.

ZK-BEW- DH82A Tiger Moth  c/n 84771 is owned and operated by Irish Air Transport Company Bay of Islands.

The owner seen here giving the Tiger Moth some TLC before wrapping her back up to avoid bird dropping staining the Paintwork.

DC-3 in MacDonalds Taupo food Store.

After visiting Taupo  airfield,a chance to see the seaplane parked up on the largest lake in New Zealand when to my surprise ,I witnessed this in Taupo Town Center !!!!!!!!!!

I do-not have any info on this DC-3 but can any person  confirm that is this Dakota heading off to Classic Flyers in Tauranga!!!!! and ID this aircraft. Thankly the information was passed to me.

The plane, former ZK-CAW a Douglas DC3 aircraft, was built in 1943 and was one of three used by South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand from 1961 to 1966. In 1971 it was renamed Whio and used by Fieldair Holdings as a top-dressing plane, before being decommissioned in 1984.

After retiring from the skies the plane was placed in storage, having flown 56,282 hours during its working life.

Picture of inside the DC-3

Tokoroa Airfield visited

Dropping into Tokoroa Airfield from Taupo on Sunday was met with a dead airfield with 7 hangars all locked up and no-one to ask for information when....A nice CTLS owner from Holland was just opening up his hangar and after a pleasant conversation ,was pleased to allow me to view his hangar and its residents inside.

Flight Designs CTLS ZK-FDB was owned by a very pleasant Dutch owner who allowed permission to take these pictures.

RAF 2000GTX Gyro-copter ZK-RBK

RotorFlight  Dominator ZK-RAI going through some minor Maintenance

The owner was telling me that there are over 12 aircraft hidden in the hangars so another mission is required to view them in the future.

Visit to Taupo Airfield

Today Sunday 14th September alongside "Hairy Mole Rat",I traveled up to visit Taupo,Taupo gliding airfield and Tokoroa on a pleasant Spring day , checking out the locals at each airfield.Starting with Taupo.

Upon arriving we just caught Cessna 650 N163JM taking off and heading for Auckland before departing our shores for Gold Coast (YBCG) in OZ.

Taupo skydivers were operating their Pacific 750XL ZK-SDT on otherwise a very quite airfield which nothing else moving.

Other locals noted were

Cessna U206G ZK-EFI seen drying out in the hangar

Sorry looking Cessna U206F ZK-DXC waiting repairs

Commenwealth CA-25 ZK-WJL painted in a former Australian Air Force scheme as A85-404

Former Bay of Islands Parachute Clubs Cessna U206F ZK-SKZ looking secured in Taupo. 

GAF Nomad ZK-SNZ operated by Tandem Skydiving (2012) still sitting there forlorn.

New addition to Sunair

After months of sitting outside Sunair,s hangar at Tauranga since late last year ,former Aztec T3-64Z has at last been re-registered on the NZ civil register as ZK-WDP. Sunair has the most operated Aztec fleet in New Zealand with over 10 currently flying carrying out charter work as well as passenger services to various small airfields in the north island.

The MRC blog covered it nicely at http://www.mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/

Its previous Registration T3-64Z

Visitors noted in August

Departing back to Whitianga was Cessna 172 C ZK-CCF after attention with Flightcare

PA31 Navajo Cheiftan ZK-LWN visiting from Napier and operated by Skyline Aviation 

Canterbury Aero Club  had a mini aeroclub fly-in over the early august weekend with 3 club aircraft arriving.PA28 Cherokee 140 ZK-DUP above was joined by PA28-R Arrow ZK-DUY and Alpha R2160 ZK-VCF below.All arrived from Christchurch International Airport on the South Island of NZ.

Hughes 369 ZK-IMG of Horizon Drilling Limited from Auckland.

Tecnam Golf P96 ZK-RNJ dropped into Classic Flyers from Ardmore.

Also visiting Classic Flyers was Vans RV-6 ZK-LVA from Hamilton.

ZK-WEH  PA28-161 Warrior was parked up behind the former MASH helicopter hangar and was carrying out a couple of local flights around the Bay.This Aircraft is owned by the RNZAF Base Auckland Aviation Sports Club at RNZAF base at Whenuapai north west of Auckland Int Airport.

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.