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Grayson Ottoway captured the NZ Historic
Aircraft Trust's de Havilland 89B Dominie ZK-AKU at Tauranga today, the
8th of January 2013. Interestingly I was just reading a piece in Don
Stafford's Flying the Thermal Skies about this aircraft when
it was operated by Rotorua Aerial Charter on its Auckland-Rotorua service...
On 11 March (1968) the club's Dominie aircraft
while over WAihi and en route to Auckland was suddenly diverted to Mount
Maunganui. It was reported that weather conditions prevented the aircraft
carrying on but a passenger, Mr J Killick, said the pilot
diverted because he was concerned about the condition of a wing on
the aged plane. He claimed that the fabric was pulling away from the frame of
one wing. The aero club secretary, Mr Wright reiterated, however, that weather
conditions and not the condition of the wing had caused the change in plans. He
added that to ensure public confidence the aircraft was being insepcted by an
engineer at Mount Maunganui but as yet no report was available. Within a day or
two the report was made known and it revealed several cracked ribs on one wing
which probably caused a ballooning effect on the fabric. However, the skin of
fabric was not broken and repairs put the plane back in service almost at
once...
It was opportune that Ian Palmer was, at this time,
in the US sourcing an Aero Commander for the service. Don Stafford continues...
It was, oc course, essential that the Dominie be
replaced for it was an old machine that had long since been superseded for
passenger work. Apart from this the club was granted its oroginal
Rotorua-Auckland licence for a period of only one year because of the age of
the Dominie. With a newer aircraft the licence could be renewed (without a
public hearing) for a term of seven years. The Dominie was sold to Mr D W Gray
of Auckland, a real enthusiast who was to ensure that it still had a place in
the aviation world.
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