Welcome to the blog which will be updated regularly with the latest news from the airlines of the former Yugoslavia. This year is important for most carriers in the region. One of the biggest news items will be the sale of Serbia’s national airline Jat Airways (if it does eventually occur this year). This year has already seen the arrival of a new aircraft for Croatia Airlines and with a changing fleet it will be interesting to see how and where the aircraft are deployed. Montenegro Airlines is also announcing big changes in conjuction with the government and soon we can expect new aircraft to arrive for the airline. Overall it will be an interesting year.

Skyline Aviation's King Air 200 ZK-PLK is ready for air ambulance operations following its refit at Hamilton. As N188TC, it arrived into Hamilton at the end of March and subsequently flew as ZK-PLK to Hastings on 28May. Today, 30May, it flew to Auckland, Hamilton and back to Hastings on a flag waving exercise.

Wayne Grant captured the aircraft during its time in Auckland. Note the small "Skyline Aviation" titles on the rear, lower fuselage.

Noted at Hamilton on 7 May was Alpha R2160 ZK-SXY/3 c/n 160A-0017.

Shot at Ardmore on 27 May was SA 315B Lama ZK-IRA, formerly operated by Gisborne Helicopters. It is about to be exported again.

At Heliflite, the R44's were again prolific, including this new machine ZK-ISA. Also present were ZK-IWH and IXP.

Up at North Shore was taildragger A152 ZK-MDO c/n A1520974, first registered on 28 January this year to MDR Aviation.
And finally, our sole EC145 ZK-IGT at North Shore c/n 9110. It betrays it's origins by being officially described as a BK117 C-2.

On line with the Canterbury Aero Club since 15-05-2008 is the Piper PA-28-181 Archer III , c/n 28-43638 . I finally managed to capture it today.

As N1005J it ferried into NZ from Santa Monica, Hilo, Christmas Island, Pago Pago and into Auckland on 17-04-2008. It arrived at the Club on the 18th and was whisked into the engineering hangar. See previous postings on 20-04-08 and 06-05-08.

Robinson R22 Beta ZK-HCZ/3 , c/n 3522 , was registered to Heli Concepts on 12-03-2004.

They ceased operations some months ago and this helicopter went back to Skysales Aviation.

It was re-registered as ZK-ICZ on 22-02-2008 still listed with Heli Concepts.
Photo below, taken today, shows Alistair Mclean pushing it back into the hangar.

The recently arrived MD520N NOTAR N9096R , c/n LN106 , became ZK-HCZ/5 on 08-05-2008 with Skysales and is for a local Christchurch owner.

All three photos taken at Skysales Aviation's Christchurch base.

It is interesting to look the parameters of different airfoils. One notable thing is that the glide ratio of the given airfoil is in relation to the Cl at cruise condition, and the wing loading has a direct effect to the cruise Cl of the airfoil, the higher the wing loading (the smaller the wing area in relation to weight), the higher is the cruise Cl. With some aifoils, this relation is stronger than with others, since the low drag laminar bucket is at some specific Cl, and it is not always in a favorable position for use in a light aircraft, it may be quite often designed for airliners which have very high wing loadings (and very high stall speed as a result as well, unreasonably high for a personal aircraft, which makes surviving a crash unlikely (which would be unacceptable for a personal single engine aircraft)).

I calculated some rounds of weights, wing areas, wing loadings (I have been calculating with wing loadings between 18 lbs/sqft to 25 lbs/sqft (e.g. Lancair Legacy has 23 lbs/sqft)) and subsequently the Cl-cruise and the L/D at the given Cl. Some airfoils are particularly poor at low Cl whereas at least, if Javafoil is at all to be trusted (the methods it uses aren't very accurate), the already mentioned NLF414F is a rare exception. It has excellent lift/drag relation exactly where it should be in a light aircraft with low wing loading. It would be easier to say for sure, if I could see some wind tunnel data for the NLF414F but so far I haven't found enough information. Also it would be interesting to compare to the Wortmann FX63-137. According to Carmichael [1] it does have good L/D charasteristics, but would be great to be able to determine, how good exactly at Cl 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 (as this is the usual range in light aircraft). The low drag potential is wasted if it can be only utilized at Cl higher than e.g. 0.4, which is not practical or even quite possible in a lightweight personal high performance aircraft and it is also interesting, that many aircraft that are using airfoils which have very low drag potential, may be operating the airfoil outside the best cruise Cl area, and the result is not that good, not that different, or in many cases worse, than if the airfoil was a low drag traditional one, like NACA 66-212. I haven't found so far the wind tunnel data for the Wortmann either, seems like it is not at least available in the Internet, at least not for free.

Well Greybeard has solved the Cessna 150 ZK-CCL mystery at Ardmore.
He has also sorted out the Green Zlin Z-37T at Taieri.
In talking with Bill O'Connor (Flying Ag Co) Greybeard learnt that he was planning on acquiring this aircraft
On 22-04-2008 a Zlin Z-37T with c/n 008 was listed as ZK-BOC to Flying Ag Company of Alexandra.
I was talking with Mark Paterson of Southair yesterday and he confirmed that the green monster is indeed c/n 008 and that Bill had acquired it to add to his collection of Zlins at Alexandra.
There is apparently one minor hitch at this time - no log books to advise the airframe hours. The Z-37 is only certified for 3000 hours.
So we continue to watch and wait.
This aircraft was originally registered as OK-RJB in the Czech Republic; it moved over to Hungary to become HA-MGY before returning to OK-RJB.
Not too sure of its NZ moves, but I know that early in its time at Taieri it had hopes of becoming ZK-KRB for Keith Baillie. This never happened and it has remained at Taieri ever since.

Pic taken in Aug 2005.

I also gleened from Mark at Southair that an English gentleman - who has come to NZ from Australia - has imported a Bell 47 and a Pitts Special. The Bell is currently flying in its foreign marks at Wanaka and the Pitts is coming together at Taieri.

Illustrating the current madness being perpetuated on the civil register, the Blue Bus blog about Nelson 19 May 2008 held an image of AS 350 ZK-HYM of Milford Helicopters. Here it is again on the Cascade Creek airstrip on 14 February 2008. Except it's not! This is the replacement, c/n 3287, first registered 1 Mar 07, the day after the last one was cancelled. You are pretty hard pressed to see the difference between the two.

By the way, the C150C ZK-CCL parked up at Ardmore is c/n 15059742 ex ZK-CCK. Since ZK-CCK had since been reallocated, Arthur took the next one available in sequence. Simple really.

The Motueka based Moyes Dragonfly ZK-DGF/2 , c/n C85 , of Blue Sky Microlight Ltd, was captured outside its hangar on a gloomy May the 20th 2008. It carries the "Tasman Sky adventures" script under its port wing.

It then doddled off and towed a hang glider aloft.

ANSWER TO QUESTION TIME # 6

The gentleman concerned is Bill McWilliam and the aircraft is his Titan T51 Mustang ZK-WWM

named "Miss Stress"

We have no winners.

Zenith CH601-XL , ZK-ZXL , c/n 6-9726 , was lost in a fatal accident near Wairoa airfield in the very early hours of this morning (25-05-2008) with the loss of both occupants.
Pic late in the trade day at Wanaka airshow 2006.

Not NZ Civil Aircraft related: But interesting :

Withdrawn from service about six years ago; these Douglas A4 Skyhawks of the RNZAF have been in storage in one of Safeair's hangars at Woodbourne. A recent need for hangar space for the C130 upgrades has meant these aircraft have been "spraylat" covered and placed in open storage.

Pics acquired from a contact at NZWB on 23-05-08.

The beautifully presented Beechcraft B200 Super King Air ZK-MAN/2 , c/n BB-1366 , as seen at Nelson on 19 & 20th May 2008.

Still registered to Hawker Pacific NZ Ltd but operated by Tasman Helicopters (who also have the Eurocopter EC 130 B4 ZK-HEC/3).

BAe Jetstream Srs 3100, c/n 839, ZK-JSA is one of three festering away quietly at Nelson airport. The other two being ZK-JSH, c/n 838, and ZK-JSI, c/n 761.

Not festering (yet) but parked up at Nelson is the BAe Jetstream Srs 4100 A3-XRH, c/n 41052 of the now defunct Tongan based Peau Vava'u Airline. This aircraft returned to Nelson from Tonga, via Auckland, on 09-04-2008. It was previously operated as ZK-JSM by Origin Pacific Airways.

Robinson R44 Astro ZK-HPS/2, c/n 0149 , as seen on 19-05-08 is registered to David Waghorn of Christchurch. Noted here with Reid Heslop Helicopters script (Stbd side only). Reid Heslop have recently listed (17-03-08) the new R44 Raven 11 ZK-HTF/5 , c/n 11990.


Bombardier DHC-8-311 ZK-NEH , c/n 623 , at Nelson on 20-05-08.

The earlier blog on this topic on April 8th showed Piper PA-22/20 Caribbean ZK-BSH c/n 22-7321 belonging to the Pie Chaser Syndicate with fat feet.

Well it appears that they are now even bigger.

As seen at Nelson on 19-05-2008.

And it even flies !

Taken on take off with a long lense.

Seldom seen (by me). Cessna 180 ZK-BDR/2 was caught at Nelson on 19-05-2008.

This aircraft , c/n 32496 , has an extensive Australian history since 1956.

It was ferried into Auckland via Norfolk Island on 13-11-1994 and was listed briefly to Airflite South from 28-11-94 until relisting to its current owners Pukaki Inns Ltd on 16-12-94. It seems to spend most of it time tucked away in its hangar at Omarama.

The above pic shows the Aerospatiale AS350B2 ZK-HYM/2 , c/n 9045 , at Milford Sound in December of 2003.

During February 2007 a long line went up through the rotor blades and by the time it was landed the airframe was damaged beyond economical repair.

It has now re-appeared with Helicopters (NZ) Ltd from 12-05-2008 as ZK-HMQ/3.

These two pics taken on 19-05-08

Oh the lovely sound of those Continental GTSIO-520's as the Cessna 404 Titan Ambassador 111, ZK-NDY , c/n 404-0693 , takes off from Nelson on 19-05-2008.

This aircraft arrived in NZ As N6764D back on 14-09-2007 and has spent much of its time up until now being worked on at Avtek in Timaru.

Although registered to Dennis Thompson International Ltd, it carries the Ashburton Aviation Services logo on the fuselage side just ahead of the door.

An arrival at Westport whilst I was pottering around on 19-05-2008 was the BAe Jetstream ZK-ECN/2. c/n 967 . "City of Rotorua" Operated by Air National.

In one of the hangars behind the new terminal building at Westport airport I got my first look at a Foxcon Terrier 200. This one being c/n 2003, ZK-NRS belonging to Kevin Richards.

Greymouth on the 18-05-2008 had the Rans S-6S Coyote. ZK-OFF. c/n 0895873 carrying out its test flying programme. As you can see from the pic, this is ex N8422C. It first flew in 2001 with a Rotax 503 and has completed only around 200 hours flying time. It was actually built from a 1995 kit but had the later updates included. Its date of manufacture being 15-10-2000. It was sold to NZ without engine and has now been fitted with a Rotax 582 and associated plumbing.
Owner Dave McMillan also owns the Hoffman H36 Dimona ZK-GCB/2 which has not yet flown in NZ although registered here back on 20-03-2004.
Phil Olsen (owner of Corby Starlet ZK-JAM) did the initial first flight of "OFF" in NZ.

Also spied at Greymouth was N94PR. This is Rans S-7. c/n 0793115. Built 1994. Cancelled from the US register on 21-12-2007 and shipped to NZ via Boston, Antwerp and Sydney. Likely to become ZK-ODD.

At the fixed wing airstrip at Franz Josef was the Air Safaris Gippsland GA8 Airvan. ZK-SAF/2. c/n GA8-02-017. This is one of six in country.

ZK-HBR/2 Aerospatiale AS350D AStar, c/n 1386. At Franz Josef pad with blades churning & ready to go on 17-05-2008.

Orientation is the awareness of the position of the aircraft and of oneself in relation to a specific reference point. Disorientation is the lack of orientation, and spatial disorientation specifically refers to the lack of orientation with regard to position in space and to other objects.

Orientation is maintained through the body's sensory organs in three areas: visual, vestibular, and postural. The eyes maintain visual orientation; the motion sensing system in the inner ear maintains vestibular orientation; and the nerves in the skin, joints, and muscles of the body maintain postural orientation. When human beings are in their natural environment, these three systems work well. However, when the human body is subjected to the forces of flight, these senses can provide misleading information. It is this misleading information that causes pilots to become disoriented.

Orientation: Awareness of the position of the aircraft and of oneself in relation to a specific reference point.

Spatial disorientation: The state of confusion due to misleading information being sent to the brain from various sensory organs, resulting in a lack of awareness of the aircraft position in relation to a specific reference point.

Human factors is a broad field that studies the interaction between people and machines for the purpose of improving performance and reducing errors. As aircraft became more reliable and less prone to mechanical failure, the percentage of accidents related to human factors increased. Some aspect of human factors now accounts for over 80 percent of all accidents. Pilots who have a good understanding of human factors are better equipped to plan and execute a safe and uneventful flight.

Flying in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) can result in sensations that are misleading to the body's sensory system. A safe pilot needs to understand these sensations and effectively counteract them. Instrument flying requires a pilot to make decisions using all available resources.

The elements of human factors covered in this chapter include sensory systems used for orientation, illusions in flight, physiological and psychological factors, medical factors, aeronautical decision making, and crew/cockpit resource management.

Human factors: A multidisciplinary field encompassing the behavioral and social sciences, engineering, and physiology, to consider the variables that influence individual and crew performance for the purpose of reducing errors.

Here is the latest test flight video of LH-10 prototype (see earlier article where I blogged about the French new plane with low drag body, tandem seating and high aspect ratio wings, LH-10):

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=IJjEoPiv66U

SPATIAL DISORIENTATION— Specifically refers to the lack of orientation with regard to the position, attitude, or movement of the airplane in space.

SPECIAL FLIGHT PERMIT—A flight permit issued to an aircraft that does not meet airworthiness requirements but is capable of safe flight. A special flight permit can be issued to move an aircraft for the purposes of maintenance or repair, buyer delivery, manufacturer flight tests, evacuation from danger, or customer demonstration. Also referred to as a ferry permit.

SPECIAL USE AIRSPACE— Airspace that exists where activities must be confined because of their nature.

SPECIFIC FUEL CONSUMPTION—The amount of fuel in pounds per hour consumed or required by an engine per brake horsepower or per pound of thrust.

SPEED—The distance traveled in a given time.

SPIN—An aggravated stall that results in an airplane descending in a helical, or corkscrew path.

SPIRAL INSTABILITY—A condition that exists when the static directional stability of the airplane is very strong as compared to the effect of its dihedral in maintaining lateral equilibrium.

SPIRALING SLIPSTREAM—The slipstream of a propeller-driven airplane rotates around the airplane. This slipstream strikes the left side of the vertical fin, causing the aircraft to yaw slightly. Rudder offset is sometimes used by aircraft designers to counteract this tendency.

SPOILERS—High-drag devices that can be raised into the air flowing over an airfoil, reducing lift and increasing drag. Spoilers are used for roll control on some aircraft. Deploying spoilers on both wings at the same time allows the aircraft to descend without gaining speed. Spoilers are also used to shorten the ground roll after landing.

STABILATOR—A single-piece horizontal tail surface on an airplane that pivots around a central hinge point. A stabilator serves the purposes of both the horizontal stabilizer and the elevators.

STABILITY—The inherent quality of an airplane to correct for conditions that may disturb its equilibrium, and to return or to continue on the original flightpath. It is primarily an airplane design characteristic.

What aircraft does this appear on/in ?

Where on that aircraft does it reside ?

Chris Hagen has his Alpi Pioneer 300. ZK-CUZ2 . c/n 117 down at Rangiora on Wednesday 14th May visiting the Brent Thompsons propeller factory.

On the port side canopy frame has small script "Piloted by Chris".

Starboard side has "Copilot The Boss".

Also noted were the Robinson R22 Beta ZK-HEH4. c/n 1789 . This carries a very small label at the bottom of the port window advising that it is "Operated by Amuri Helicopters".

Bigger cousin R44 Astro ZK-HKH4 was also on hand.

RUNWAY END IDENTIFIER LIGHTS (REIL)—One component of the runway lighting system. These lights are installed at many airfields to provide rapid and positive identification of the approach end of a particular runway.

SEA BREEZE—A coastal breeze blowing from sea to land caused by the temperature difference when the land surface is warmer than the sea surface. The sea breeze usually occurs during the day and alternates with the land breeze that blows in the opposite direction at night.

SEA-LEVEL ENGINE—A reciprocating aircraft engine having a rated takeoff power that is producible only at sea level.

SECTIONAL AERONAUTICAL CHARTS (1:500,000)—Designed for visual navigation of slow or medium speed aircraft. Topographic information on these charts features the portrayal of relief, and a judicious selection of visual check points for VFR flight. Aeronautical information includes visual and radio aids to navigation, airports, controlled airspace, restricted areas, obstructions and related data.

SEMI-MONOCOQUE—A fuselage design that includes a substructure of bulkheads and/or formers, along with stringers, to support flight loads and stresses imposed on the fuselage.

SERVICE CEILING—The maximum density altitude where the best rate-of-climb airspeed will produce a 100 feet-per-minute climb at maximum weight while in a clean configuration with maximum continuous power.

SERVO—A motor or other form of actuator which receives a small signal from the control device and exerts a large force to accomplish the desired work.

SERVO TAB—An auxiliary control mounted on a primary control surface, which automatically moves in the direction opposite the primary control to provide an aerodynamic assist in the movement of the control.

SIGMET—An in-flight weather advisory that is considered significant to all aircraft. SIGMET criteria include severe icing, severe and extreme turbulence, duststorms, sandstorms, volcanic eruptions, and volcanic ash that lower visibility to less than 3 miles.

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER PROGNOSTIC CHART—Presents four panels showing forecast significant weather and forecast surface weather.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS— The accurate perception and understanding of all the factors and conditions within the four fundamental risk elements that affect safety before, during, and after the flight.

SKILLS AND PROCEDURES— The procedural, psychomotor, and perceptual skills used to control a specific aircraft or its systems. They are the airmanship abilities that are gained through conventional training, are perfected, and become almost automatic through experience.

RELATIVE BEARING—An angular relationship between two objects measured in degrees clockwise from the twelve o'clock position of the first object.

RELATIVE HUMIDITY — The ratio of the existing amount of water vapor in the air at a given temperature to the maximum amount that could exist at that temperature; usually expressed in percent.

RELATIVE WIND—The direction of the airflow with respect to the wing. If a wing moves forward horizontally, the relative wind moves backward horizontally. Relative wind is parallel to and opposite the flightpath of the airplane.

RESTRICTED AREAS—Areas that denote the existence of unusual, often invisible hazards to aircraft such as artillery firing, aerial gunnery, or guided missiles. An aircraft may not enter a restricted area unless permission has been obtained from the controlling agency.

RIGGING—The final adjustment and alignment of an aircraft and its flight control system that provides the proper aerodynamic characteristics.

RIGIDITY IN SPACE—The principle that a wheel with a heavily weighted rim spun rapidly will remain in a fixed position in the plane in which it is spinning.

RISK ELEMENTS—There are four fundamental risk elements: the pilot, the aircraft, the environment, and the type of operation that comprise any given aviation situation.

RISK MANAGEMENT—The part of the decision making process which relies on situational awareness, problem recognition, and good judgment to reduce risks associated with each flight.

RNAV—See AREA NAVIGATION.

RUDDER—The movable primary control surface mounted on the trailing edge of the vertical fin of an airplane. Movement of the rudder rotates the airplane about its vertical axis.

RUDDERVATOR—A pair of control surfaces on the tail of an aircraft arranged in the form of a V. These surfaces, when moved together by the control wheel, serve as elevators, and when moved differentially by the rudder pedals, serve as a rudder.

RUNWAY CENTERLINE LIGHTS—Runway lighting which consists of flush centerline lights spaced at 50-foot intervals beginning 75 feet from the landing threshold.

RUNWAY EDGE LIGHTS—A component of the runway lighting system that is used to outline the edges of runways at night or during low visibility conditions. These lights are classified according to the intensity they are capable of producing.

Cessna 182P Skylane II . ZK-RMP . c/n 63940 was flew into NZ on 08-08-1994 for delivery to R M Paterson of Mosgiel . Hence the personalised registration.

In July of 2002 it went to Hamish Ross of Greenhill Station near Hastings. He placed it on line with the Hawkes Bay Aero Club/ Air Hawkes Bay and it was used by the Hawkes Bay Coastguard Air Patrol.

It was sold and moved to Kerikeri in January listed to the Northland Coastguard Air Patrol Inc.

(NorthCAP).
The ZK-RMP registration was cancelled on 26-03-08 and the aircraft was re-registered as ZK-CGD/4 (to represent CoastGuarD) It has also been repainted.

The aircraft is now fully operational and is very popular with its Coastguard volunteer crews.

ZK-RMP pic by Bluebus at Whangarei in late March.

ZK-CGD a more recent pic kindly sent by Alan Murgatroyd (President NorthCAP).

PRESSURE DEMAND OXYGEN SYSTEM—Ademand oxygen system that supplies 100 percent oxygen at sufficient pressure above the altitude where normal breathing is adequate. Also referred to as a pressure breathing system.

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE—Simple or minor preservative operations and the replacement of small standard parts not involving complex assembly operation as listed in Appendix A of 14 CFR part 43. Certificated pilots may perform preventive maintenance on any aircraft that is owned or operated by them provided that the aircraft is not used in air carrier service.

PROHIBITED AREAS—Areas that are established for security or other reasons associated with the national welfare.

PROPELLER—A device for propelling an aircraft that, when rotated, produces by its action on the air, a thrust approximately perpendicular to its plane of rotation. It includes the control components normally supplied by its manufacturer.

RADAR SERVICES—Radar is a method whereby radio waves are transmitted into the air and are then received when they have been reflected by an object in the path of the beam. Range is determined by measuring the time it takes (at the speed of light) for the radio wave to go out to the object and then return to the receiving antenna. The direction of a detected object from a radar site is determined by the position of the rotating antenna when the reflected portion of the radio wave is received.

RADAR SUMMARY CHART—A weather product derived from the national radar network that graphically displays a summary of radar weather reports.

RADAR WEATHER REPORT (SD)—A report issued by radar stations at 35 minutes after the hour, and special reports as needed. Provides information on the type, intensity, and location of the echo tops of the precipitation.

RADIOSONDE—Aweather instrument that observes and reports meteorological conditions from the upper atmosphere. This instrument is typically carried into the atmosphere by some form of weather balloon.

RAM RECOVERY—The increase in thrust as a result of ram air pressures and density on the front of the engine caused by air velocity.

RAPID DECOMPRESSION—The almost instantaneous loss of cabin pressure in aircraft with a pressurized cockpit or cabin.

REGION OF REVERSE COMMAND —Flight regime in which flight at a higher airspeed requires a lower power setting and a lower airspeed requires a higher power setting in order to maintain altitude.

Oceania had Wanganui Aero Works AS350 Squirrel ZK-HFA in their compound today.

Bell 206B ZK-HXQ, sporting a new scheme since I last saw it many years ago in Nelson, was parked near the Catalina. Its presence may explain who was training in the Catalina from Ardmore over the weekend.

Robin R3000/160 ZK-TZV was spotted at Ardmore, the first time I've seen this machine registered to Izard Pacific Aviation for the last 3 years (registered in 13May 2005!).