Something I missed

I took advantage of Barrier Air's $89 fare sale today to fly out to Great Barrier Island and was wondering where their first Cessna Grand Caravan, ZK-SDB, was. I was surprised to find operating between Queenstown and Milford Sound.

On the 18th of February ZK-SDB operated GB747 from Auckland to Claris before ferrying to Tauranga as GB910 and on to Queenstown as GB901. On the 20th it did some crew familiarisation flights before entering service with Truth South and flying a Queenstown-Milford Sound return flight as ZK-SDB on the 21of February 2025. It seems ZK-SDB has been leased to True South for the winter.

Wearing True South titles, Cessna 208B Grand Caravan ZK-SDB at Milford Sound on 13 March 2025

Airlift (NZ) and its Air Service to Paraparaumu

Airlift (NZ) Ltd was the “flying-side” of Lynn (Mac) MacGregor’s Aircraft Engineering Co of NZ Ltd. MacGregor was the managing director of both companies. Airlift (NZ) was primarily involved in aerial topdressing but in 1955, with a topdressing base in Masterton, it was contracted by the Wairarapa and Ruahine Aero Club to provide aircraft and flying services. The Club had been in recess since March 1951 due to financial constraints.

In June 1955 Paul Beauchamp Legg, who had just gained his Commercial Pilots Licence, was employed by Mac MacGregor to be the instructor and pilot for the Wairarapa and Ruahine Aero Club operation and as well as to do some topdressing as an employee of Airlift (NZ). His first lesson as instructor was on the 8th of July 1955 from Masterton. Over the next few years he was to fly long hours in pilot training, aerial photography and air charter and ambulance flights, as well as aerial topdressing.

Further expansion came in early July 1956 when Airlift (NZ) took over Tom Withey’s, Air Contracts, Percival Proctor, ZK-AQJ, charter licence, photographer and photographic equipment. Paul Beauchamp Legg wrote, In addition to the aerial survey work, the Proctor was used for charter flights and a few of the club members checked out in this roomy four seater.

Airlift (NZ)'s Percival P44 Proctor V, ZK-AQJ, at Masterton

The following month, on the 1st of August 1956, De Havilland DH90 Dragonfly ZK-AFB (c/n 7560) was registered to Aircraft Engineering Co of NZ Ltd. The aircraft was to wear Airlift (N.Z.) Ltd Masterton titles and was used by Airlift (NZ) for air ambulance, air-charter and air-taxi, aerial photography work out of Masterton. Paul Beauchamp Legg recounts, I was employed as a topdressing pilot and part-time instructor but I became so busy instructing that I was very much full time with ultimately a Proctor, Piper 90, three or four Tigers, the Dragonfly and some private aircraft. Training, charter, ambulance, photography, experimental and anything else interesting that was offering in those heady "give it a go" days. 

A classic Bruce Gavin photo - Airlift (NZ)'s De Havilland Dragonfly and the Nelson Aero Club's De Havilland Dragon.

In August 1957 work started on the reconstruction of Wellington’s Rongotai Aerodrome. The closure of the Wellington airport required Wairarapa residents connecting with NAC flights to make a very long road and/or rail journey to Paraparaumu.

In his book, My Masterton Flying Years – the Memories of a Flying Instructor, Paul Beauchamp Legg, recounts Two NAC men came with Athol Fairbrother from Masterton to inspect the Dragonfly. They were very keen for us to start a regular service between Masterton and Paraparaumu. I wanted Mac to be in on the discussions but he was too busy to meet with us, so it was left to me to make all the arrangements. After much negotiating and canvassing I started a twice-weekly air service from Masterton to Paraparaumu and back. The flight time was around 25 minutes.

As a result Airlift (NZ) started a twice-weekly air service between Masterton and Paraparaumu to link up with NAC’s main trunk services. On the 3rd of December 1957 Paul Beauchamp Legg flew the first Masterton-Paraparaumu service in the Dragonfly ZK-AFB. The first passengers were Mr K H Ferguson, a purser on the Lyttelton to Wellington ferry  Hinemoa who was travelling to Christchurch and Mr Robert Saggers and Miss Doreen Taplin, representatives of a travel agency. Flights were offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The first passengers for the first flight on 3 December 1957. From left, Mr K H Ferguson, Mr Robert Saggers, Miss Doreen Taplin and pilot Paul Beauchamp Legg. Photo : Wairarapa Times Age, 4 December 1957

 

Continuing his account Paul writes, Flying that service was quite an event, well supported by the business community who, by Christmas 1957, were starting to offer loads that were too big to fit into the Dragonfly. From the beginning we held our own financially and with bookings ahead, the service looked to make a reasonable profit.

Three Paul Beauchamp Legg photos of DH Dragonfly ZK-AFB with Airlift (NZ) titles

If there was very little freight or just one passenger who was agreeable and nothing to come back I sometimes used a Tiger Moth or our new 90hp Piper Cub BQZ.

Piper PA18 Cub ZK-BQZ which was occasionally used by Airlift (NZ) on its Masterton-Paraparaumu service. Photo : Don Noble

Bruce Gavin prepared some notes from a letter Paul Legg wrote to him about the service.,, The service was also flown using a 90hp Piper PA18 Cub two seat trainer on occasion when there was only one passenger. Paul reports "hovering" for about twenty minutes over a farmers cow shed during a thunder storm. He could see straight below, but not ahead. Winds for a short while would have reached the Piper's cruising speed of around eighty miles per hour. Once the storm had passed, Paul and his passenger carried on over the ranges west of Pahiatua to Paraparaumu.

In My Masterton Flying Years – the Memories of a Flying Instructor, Paul writes extensively on the challenges of flying over the Ruahine ranges between Masterton and Paraparaumu and the winds and turbulence that were going to be the downfall of the service. (Paul records the following incident as occurring on December 14th 1958) but as he was already in Hokitika at that time and I believe it should read as I have reproduced it as January 14th). On January 14th 1958 I managed to fly above the turbulence with two passengers Paraparaumu. While waiting there I took five passengers for a joyride around Kapiti Island, then, as there was neither freight nor anyone wanting to go back to Masterton I took off empty and climbed in the clear directly towards Masterton. Because I was going downwind I had the speed reduced to ease the severity of the turbulence.

"Thank God I'm through that lot," I said to myself, relaxing as the air smoothed.

Without any warning there was a terrific thump. It felt as if I'd been hit on the head with a hammer, a large hammer. Fortunately I did not have any freight on board and apart from cushions on the empty passenger seats being tossed around, all seemed well. I landed back at Masterton and as I was getting out I discovered that the middle seat was loose.

Inspection showed that the spar had been split. Next day Bruce Reeves, who had joined us from Air Contracts as an engineer, found the main spar split in two places.

The day was not finished for me. There was dual to do, books to enter, (2 for every aircraft, my own logbooks, the flying sheets and the fuel sheets to balance as well as the money. That particular day I finished a photographic job in the darkroom at a quarter to two in the morning. For that day I had done 19 hours. My phone rang at 6.a.m. next morning! I am amazed now at the hours I worked to keep the outfit going.

With the Dragonfly out of the air and the service now becoming established, Mac said that he would allow me to hire another aeroplane, "so long as it does not run at a loss." As I already had bookings to make the service pay well, I arranged with Wally Harding to hire his Fox Moth but Mac would not pay the insurance. Mac and I had an argument during which I pointed out that in the three years I had been with him I had never had a holiday and with the Dragonfly out of the air and no other aeroplane to do the service, I was going to take my family for a week to the seaside. Mac called me a bloody something. I may have reciprocated. I hoped to meet Claude Stephenson on our way to or from our holiday and hopefully he would sort Mac and me out, but I missed him. When I returned to Masterton John Pearce said Mac was prepared to accept my resignation. Whether he fired me or I resigned I do not know. I think I resigned. From Masterton Paul and his family moved to Hokitika where he was employed by West Coast Airways.

In a final postscript Paul writes of the service, We went regularly on certain days when we had passengers or freight. Had Mac allowed me to continue the service would have been very profitable. So ended Masterton’s first air service.

In July 1960 Airlift (N.Z.) Ltd was placed into receivership.

 

Registered to Airlift (NZ) Ltd

Auster B.8 Agricola        

ZK-BMJ (c/n B.102)        09/04/1958 12/05/1960 
ZK-BMK (c/n B.103)        00/05/1957 11/05/1957  Destroyed Masterton

Cessna 180

ZK-BGO (c/n 31183)       05/04/1955 21/04/1960 

De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth      

ZK-AIT (c/n DHNZ64)      01/10/1954 00/00/1961  Withdrawn from use
ZK-ASY (c/n DHNZ130)  13/11/1953 13/03/1954  Crashed Matau, North Taranaki
ZK-BEY (c/n 84663)        05/05/1954 00/00/1965  Withdrawn from use
ZK-BFC (c/n 82301)        21/07/1954 03/05/1955  Crashed Toko, South Taranaki
ZK-BGV (c/n 85450)        17/12/1954 11/08/1957  Destroyed Masterton
ZK-BNA (c/n DHNZ169)  13/06/1956 22/05/1957 

Percival Proctor 5

ZK-AQJ (c/n Ae.50)         31/07/1956 24/03/1960 

 

Registered to Aircraft Engineering Co of NZ Ltd

Auster J/5F Aiglet Trainer

ZK-ATP (c/n 2650)          24/07/1950 26/06/1953

De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth      

ZK-BMY (c/n DHNZ101)  22/12/1955 09/09/1961
ZK-BNB (DHNZ171)       22/12/1955 14/02/1958 
ZK-BRH (c/n DHNZ120)  26/09/1956 09/10/1957  Destroyed Masterton
- Wairarapa & Ruahine Aero Club, Masterton...operator
ZK-BRL (c/n DHNZ123)  22/05/1957 06/09/1961  

De Havilland DH.90 Dragonfly

ZK-AFB (c/n 7560)          01/08/1956 17/08/1960

Piper PA-18-95 Super Cub

ZK-BQZ (c/n 18-5978)     26/03/1958 05/11/1959 

Piper PA-18A-150 Super Cub

ZK-BPE (c/n 18-6191)     19/12/1958 09/08/1960 
ZK-BPF (c/n 18-6192)     19/02/1958 15/03/1961 

Two Sovereigns

Skyline Aviation's Cessna 680 Sovereign at Auckland on 3 March 2025

Air Ops Jet's Cessna 680 Sovereign at Auckland on 3 March 2025

 

Sunday avo at North Shore

Operating Island Aviation's afternoon service from Great Barrier Island to North Shore on 2 March 2025 were BN Islander ZK-SFK...

and Cessna 172 ZK-RNX

Also captured on the same day were Piper Cherokee 140 ZK-DIW

Yakovlev Yak-52 ZK-DSJ

Cessna 172 ZK-EFA

Bell Longranger ZK-IND

Piper Warrior ZK-MBK

Cessna 182 ZK-NPC

Maule ZK-RLT

Skydive Auckland's Pacific Aerospace 750XL ZK-SDF

Robin R2120 ZK-TZG

and JMB Aircraft VL-3TE-915 ZK-VLT

Fleet Addition

Air Napier has added Gippsland GA8 Airvan ZK-YUG to its fleet. 

It was first used on Air Napier's courier service on the 5th of February 2025 flying the morning service from Napier to Gisborne and the return late afternoon service. It operated the medical flight from Napier to Wairoa for the first time on the 3rd of March 2025.

The aircraft is operating with the callsign NAPIER 8.

Gippsland GA8 Airvan ZK-YUG taken at Wellington on 21 October 2023 by T Gorman

Fleet Reduction follows Route Reduction

Sounds Air is looking to sell an aeroplane after giving up on Government assistance. The regional airline said it had been asked to apply for various government funds but were then declined, resulting in it dropping its Wellington-Taupō and Wellington-Westport services at the end of last year. Chief executive Andrew Crawford told Stuff Travel it was a tough time. “We're looking at selling an aeroplane and we're consolidating on the routes we've got and trying to offer more capacity and do it well. “We're happy with selling one at the moment because we've got rid of two routes so that freed up some aircraft capacity. “But once they're gone, they're gone. It's hard to get them back in again.” Sounds Air, which flies to and from Wellington 85 times a week, was seeing the impact of lessening business and government travel from the capital. “It's a challenging industry for everyone, but it's not just aviation. A lot of businesses in New Zealand are suffering, suffering hard, but [in] aviation we only deal with monopolies: airport companies, fuel companies, parts suppliers so it's very, very difficult to go out and negotiate cheaper prices. “The Civil Aviation Authority has just put their passenger service levy up 115%. Where are we going to get that money?” He said everything they buy is bought in US dollars, making business “diabolically expensive”. Crawford said there are “green shoots, but they’re very small.” “It is very, very difficult when you're flying nine and 12-seat aircraft around to make any money and when you've got all these pressures on the side that you have no control over it's even more difficult.” He said he was encouraged to apply for the Regional Infrastructure Fund and the Provincial Growth Fund by the Labour and National governments. “I mean, you can't get more regional infrastructure than a regional airline, but we were told that we didn't meet the criteria. “We didn't go to them and they came to us and said, you guys ... are right in the wheelhouse for the support but, by the time it comes to approval, you just get nothing. It's extremely frustrating,” Crawford said. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment told Stuff Travel that Sounds Air’s application was not eligible because it was for debt refinancing rather the delivery of hard infrastructure projects, as per the eligibility criteria of the fund. Crawford said Sounds Air had offered numerous low-cost solutions to improve the state of regional air services but it “falls on deaf ears.” “We don't know why. Anyway, we've given up. I'm not dealing with the government any more. We'll just do our own thing.” Despite reducing its routes from nine to seven, Crawford said it had increased its capacity by 14% on last year. Unlike Air New Zealand, which was seeing a softening demand and in turn cut capacity on routes, Crawford said demand on Sounds Air’s routes was “quite strong.” “A lot of people are flying and they're paying a lot of money to do it, which is in some ways embarrassing, but it's largely been brought about by supply chain issues which have continued since Covid. “We've had planes grounded just like Air New Zealand has. “It's a nightmare for any airline to have aircraft on the ground and we've had the same problem in the last year with parts supplies, inventory you cannot get.” 

The full article can be found here : https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/360596265/weve-given-sounds-air-looks-sell-plane-after-suggestions-fall-deaf-ears

New Arrival #2

Arriving into Auckland this morning was Texel Air's latest addition to its fleet, Boeing 737-86N(BCF)  2-BPDA.

The Boeing 737-8U3 entered life as a leased airliner in 2010 being registered to the Indonesian international carrier Garuda Indonesia as PK-GFE on the 20th of August 2010. After being withdrawn from use on the 27th of April 2021, in June 2021 it was recorded being placed on the Isle of Man register as M-ABOL and placed in storage in Tainan in Taiwan. In October 2021 it went to Jinan in China for conversion to a freighter aircraft. Following its conversion it was flown to Kuala Lumpur,  Malaysia using Guernsey-registered ferry registraton 2-BPDA and was registered to World Cargo Airlines of Malaysia as 9M-WCI on 26 July 2022. 

Placed again in storage in November 2024 it flew yesterday, 28 February 2025, again using its Guernsey-registered ferry registration 2-BPDA. The Boeing flew from Jakarta to Denpasar and then on to Auckland arriving this morning. After clearing customs and refuelling it continued to Hamilton. It seems as if it is to be registered as ZK-TXF and given the colour scheme seems likely to see service in New Zealand. 

Texel Air's latest addition, Boeing 737-800F, 2-BPDA, departing Auckland for Hamilton on 1 March 2025 

New Arrival #1

Thanks to Terry from TNH Aviation Photography for sending through some pics of Diamond DA-42NG VH-YDZ arriving at Nelson direct from Sydney yesterday, 28 February 2025, before flying on to Whanganui.

I was also interested in the background aircraft...  in the first photo. Golden Bay Air's Gippsland GA8 Airvan is seen operating a Takaka-Nelson-Takaka service. In the third photo Air Chathams' Rockwell Turbo Commander 690A ZK-PVB is seen. Much to my disappointment it doesn't operate scheduled services and is currently used for aerial mapping work and the airline's corporate work.

Originair commences Taupō Service

 

Originair commenced its new Wellington-Taupō service today with the inaugural flights, OGN732 from Welllington and the return OGN733 being operated in British Aerospace Jetstream 32 ZK-JSJ under the command of Captain Damien King and First Officer Jason Salo.

The service will operate thrice weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Masterton - It looks like they are serious

This on the Air Chathams' Facebook page today....

Air Chathams are excited to showcase our SAAB 340 aircraft with our aviation team, at the Hood Aerodrome Open Day on Sunday, 2nd March 2025. Come along to this great community day and get an up-close look at our aircraft and learn more about the services Air Chathams offer around New Zealand and the South Pacific.

We look forward to meeting you all!

 

Helicopter Help...

A request from Mike Richardson who is doing an article for SPaNZ on some Wellington-based helicopters from the late 1980s.

ZK-HMG's initial stint on the register looked like this.

             07/11/1979   Dalhoff & King Aviation Ltd, Auckland

                     28/02/1980     Mountain Helicopters Ltd, Greymouth

                     30/11/1981     Marlborough Helicopters Ltd, Greymouth

                     21/10/1982     West Coast Helicopters Ltd, Greymouth

                     23/09/1985     West Coast Helicopters (Hokitika) Ltd, Hokitika

                     22/11/1985     Heli-Corp (NZ) Ltd, Greymouth

                     02/03/1989     Registration cancelled

Heli-Corp went belly up in April 1988 and it seems it was leased to someone...

Mike writes, ZK-HMG is proving difficult to get data on just wondering if you might know anything about it. It was with a Wellington based owner although I don't think he had it for more than 2 years or so. I have an idea he was connected to the fishing industry.

Any ideas who might have been using it at Wellington? If you could email me at westland831@gmail.com it would be much appreciated...

ZK-HMG at Greymouth on 10 May 1985

ZK-HMG at Wellington on 23 October 1987. Photo Mike Richardson

Kerikeri on Waitangi Day

After the Waitangi Day celebrations on 6 February 2025 I had a couple of hours to wait for my flight back to Auckland...

Air New Zealand Bombardier Q300 ZK-NFB was departing for Auckland as I arrived

Shortly after Tasman Aviation's Beechcraft King Air B350 departed

Arriving from Auckland was Air New Zealand Bombardier Q300 ZK-NFA

TL Ultralight TL-3000 Sirius ZL-SRZ was in for a fuel stop

Pacific Aerospace 750XL is now devoid of titles and went to the pumps after a skydiving mission

Salt Air's Gippsland GA8 Airvan returned from a Cape Reinga run

My ride back to Auckland, Barrier Air's Cessna 208 Grand Caravan ZK-SDC

Taking forever to start and depart was the Royal New Zealand Navy's Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite NZ3617... the last two photos taken from the Caravan