The remainder of the first batch of Aerocraft kits.

The reason that the early homebuilders built Turbulents was that at that time the Department of Civil Aviation had to approve aircraft plans before an aircraft was built, and I think that the Turbulent plans were the first to be approved. This was in part because the Turbulent wing had 2 spars and the DCA was not comfortable with a single wing spar such as in the Jodel aircraft. Later this changed but the first Jodel D9 (which was an earlier design) was not registered until March 1967.

Again the photos are nearly all from the Keith Morris collection and I have taken most of them. However some of the photos were taken by others and I do not have a record of who took them. The early photos of Turbulents at Wanganui were taken by Ray Deerness in the early 1960's. The last of these is ZK-CAG below.

ZK-CAG (c/n 1005) was first registered to L H Mungavin of Palmerston North and I guess it may have been built by Aerocraft. Ownership transferred to R A Hicks of Aucland and it crashed on 22/7/66 at Horsham Downs. It was cancelled on 28/3/68 making it our shortest lived Turbulent. This is the only photo I have ever seen of it.

ZK-CAH (c/n 1004) was first registered to A Myers of Palmerston North and then transferred to Aviation Sales and Service Ltd and then Aerocraft (NZ) Ltd, all of Palmerston North, so I guess it may also have been built by Aerocraft. It was then hired to the South Canterbury Aero Club and was owned by a P Slater. It crashed at Arohena on 8/10/67 (or 69?) and was cancelled on 22/1/71.

It is photographed here at the same Blenhiem airshow that ZK-CAC was travelling to (see last post).

However it was re-registered on 25/2/72 after having been rebuilt by Robbie Gentry (who also built ZK-CAE), with a new c/n of AACA /10-R. It is again photographed at Blenhiem, this time at the AACA flyin of 1973 when I remember that the colour scheme was iridescent green. Robbie sold it to Bernie Webb of Wellington who in turn sold it to Cliff Adams of Masterton.

It is photographed here at Masterton during the time that Cliff Adams owned it. It overturned during a forced landing at Putara Valley (in the Wairarapa I think), on 17/4/82, and it was never rebuilt. It was cancelled on 2/2/94.

ZK-CAI (c/n 1006) was first registered to Neil Cribb of Palmerston North so I guess it also may have been built by Aerocraft (all of what I assume are the Aerocraft built Turbulents have the same color scheme pattern). It was on line with the Palmerston North Flying School before being sold to F P Bracefield of Christchurch, G A Vodane of Hamilton and then to the Egmont Chapter of the AACA on 18/2/70. It then had a series of owners in the Taranaki area Cliff Cory, the CAI Group, and finally Doug Farquahar & Arnie Broadmore. It hit a fence on takeoff at Rotowaro on 28/10/78 and was not rebuilt. It was cancelled on 28/8/97.

And the fiinal Turbulent in the series of 8 registrations, ZK-CAJ (c/n 1007) was registered to H W Jensen of Palmerston North but was not completed. It was cancelled on 11/8/77.

Adria’s new A319 arrives

Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways took delivery of a 135 seat Airbus A319 yesterday, expanding its fleet to 13 aircraft. The plane, which enters service tonight, will operate on Adria's European routes and longer charter flights, the company said. The new aircraft is on a long term financial lease from the AerCap investment group. It arrived from the Airbus Centre in Hamburg last night and bears the registration S5-AAP. Adria’s A319 will operate its first revenue flights tonight to Istanbul. With another A319 expected to arrive in May, Adria Airways’ CEO, Tadej Tufek, said that this was Adria’s biggest fleet expansion to date. “We now have a more cost efficient fleet which is inline with environmental regulations which are set to come into force in 2012”, Tufek told the Slovenian public broadcaster RTV SLO.

With another A319 on order, the airline is also awaiting the arrival of yet another Bombardier CRJ900. These aircraft will replace the airline’s sole Airbus A320.

Another LSA (and another from Czech Republic!) is about to land on our shores.  It'll be featured in my Cool Stuff overview story in the June issue of P&P, but here's a sneak preview of the cute little low wing, and why I think it could be a winner for potential owners.

It's called Corbi Air Alto 100.
Two veterans of the sport aircraft biz - Dan Coffey and Ron Corbi - have extensive backgrounds in sport aircraft maintenance and marketing.  They saw through direct experience that many LSA had weak points that came out after extensive use in the field: insufficiently sturdy nosegear, cheap foreign tires (that were also a problem to reorder quickly).
So they went to an established Czech manufacturer (Direct Fly) and asked them if they'd be willing to update their four-year-popular Euro bird with American components for ASTM-certification as an S-LSA for the states. 
Coffey’s and Corbi’s approach might be called “pre-emptive” maintenance -  they intend to design out the very things that tend to fail in LSA. 
“Our focus with the Alto is to enhance the ‘maintainability’ of the airplane,” Coffey told me in a lengthy chat at Sun 'n Fun.
“We’ve added things like American-made Matco wheels and brakes, bucked rivets to replace pop rivets in high-stress areas, Vertical Power’s electronic electrical system, and the Approach Hub avionics wiring system for plug-and-play component upgrades.”
Another good idea here is to have as many quickly available U.S.- made parts as possible to make sure no flight school or owner is ever down for long.
Another feature: Alto’s canopy slides forward for easy access to the back of the panel.
Look for the cute Globe Swift-like Alto to be ASTM-approved and shipping by year’s end.
And get this price: $99,995, which includes a Dynon Skyview EFIS!

Off to Split and Dubrovnik

The low cost airline, Wizz Air, has announced that it will commence flights from London Luton to both Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia. The flights to Split are set to begin on June 18. The city will be served 3 times per week until July 4, with an addition of a 4th weekly flight from July 5. Flights to Dubrovnik will commence on June 19 and will operate 3 times per week. Both destinations will be served on a seasonal summer basis until September 19. Tickets are already on sale and all flight details can be found on the right hand side in the new route launches section.

With the addition of Split and Dubrovnik, Wizz Air will operate flights to 3 Croatian destinations as it already serves Zagreb from London Luton and Dortmund in Germany.

The first Aerocraft kits.

On 4/5/61 a block of 8 registrations ZK-CAC to ZK-CAJ was reserved for Turbulents, I guess by Aerocraft. Some of these were bult by Aerocraft and some were built from kits by early post-war homebuilders, and these formed the nucleus of the Amatuer Aircraft Constructors Association of New Zealand (AACA) which was formed in March 1964 based around the Wellington area with homebuilders such as Rob Gentry, Stan Smith and Robin Hickman.

The photos in these posts are nearly all from the Keith Morris collection and I have taken most of them. However, some of the photos were taken by others and I do not have a record of who took them. The early photos of Turbulents at Wanganui were taken by Ray Deerness in the early 1960's.

ZK-CAC (c/n PFA/505) was registered to Aviation Sales and Service Ltd of Palmerston North and its first flight was on 6/10/62. It was delivered to Len Hunter of Christchurch on 11/11/62 and it was hired to the Canterbury Aero Club from July 1963. This photo was taken at Kaikoura in the mid 1960's when ZK-CAC was on its way to an airshow at Omaka. It was then owned by John Caston of Auckland, J A Smith of Hamilton, Chris O'Brien and William Power of Frankton, and the it went to Peggy Perry of Hamilton on 1/9/76.

It was repainted in this yellow colour scheme at the time that Peggy Perry owned it and earlier on it had Kowhai flowers painted on the fuselage and rudder - maybe a reference to Te Kowhai?. This photo was taken at the 1990 AACA flyin at Waipukurau. Ownership then transferred to Adam Barrett of Lower Hutt, Brian Shears of Upper Hutt and finally Peter Small of Cust.

And this most recent photo was taken at the 2009 SAANZ flyin at Ashburton. ZK-CAC was redesignated as a Class 1 microlight on 18/3/96.

ZK-CAD (c/n 1001K) was registered to L W Hunter of Christchurch but was not completed. It was cancelled on 25/5/90.

ZK-CAE (c/n 1002K) was built in Wellington by Robbie Gentry and first flew on 20/1/63. The above photo was taken at an airshow at Hamilton on 27 March 1966.

Robbie Gentry was a driving force behind the formation of the AACA and was its first secretary. The AACA allocated a membership number to all its members starting from Number 10 to recognise earlier homebuilders. Robbie Gentry was AACA member number 10.

ZK-CAE was flown by Jack Inder of Dargaville early on and was then owned by B Harvey of Napier, N C Wood of Frankton, the Piako Aero Club, Hugh McDonald of Waharoa and then back to Robbie Gentry on 20/2/87.

This photo was taken at the 1982 AACA flyin at Taupo when it was owned by the Piako Aero Club. It is looking a bit worse for wear.

So when Robbie Gentry bought it back he refurbished it to this very smart colour scheme. Robbie has gone on to be one of our most prolific homebuilders and he has built Turbulent ZK-CGU, Taylor Monoplane ZK-CPC, Jodel D-11 ZK-DGA, Jodel D-9 ZK-FLI and Jodel D-18 ZK-JPK (and probably others). Robbie was living at Masterton by this time and this photo was taken at an airstrip alongside the Masterton racecourse, just North of Masterton. Robbie then sold ZK-CAE to A Surtees of Auckland and its registration was revoked on 18/6/98.

When I met up with Robbie Gentry at the 2010 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga he told me that he is now building another Turbulent!

ZK-CAF (c/n 1003K) was built by Peter Dyer at Christchurch and first flew on 16/12/62. Peter was a leading light in the AACA in the South Island. He is AACA member number 15 and has also gone on to built multple homebuilt aircraft. This photo was taken in the Christchurch Aero Club hangar in the mid 1960's. After Peter Dyer sold it, it was owned by Mick Holland of Christchurch, R M T Bruce of Christchurch, F Renwick of Christchurch, Brent David and J B King of Mosgiel and finally H C Ross of Dunedin.

This photo of ZK-CAC was taken at the Mt Hutt AACA flyin in 1981. It was damaged at Gore Bay on 19/2/92 and its registration was cancelled on 27/7/92.

Following Sir Minty's article on the first two Turbulents, I have dug out some ancient photographs of ZK-BWE taken at Ardmore on 1st November 1965. These show the Turbulent getting ready for an airing, and one of it on climbout. I noted the colours at that time as 'white with blue trim'.
Pilot was John Caston.



The AFS Cessna was ZK-CFD, and the Auckland Gliding Club's Commer van mobile control tower can be seen prowling in the background.


A not-so-good pre-telephoto lens photo of the initial climb off Ardmore's 21 runway shows the scattering of ex-air force prefabs still extant in the distance.


John and ZK-BWE were involved in a crash at Ardmore on the 30th March 1968. Presumably the Turbulent was repaired after that accident prior to its move north.

Planned terminal for Berane Airport

Berane is set to become the home of Montenegro’s third international airport. The town is located in the North East of the country and counts approximately 12.000 residents. The president of the Berane municipality told the media that talks with Turkish and German investors are set to begin by the end of May. “It seems that we are on the right path for this project to become a reality. We will see how talks with the German and Turkish companies play out in May. We would allow the investor to control the airport from 20 to 50 years”, Vuka Golubović, the municipality’s president said. Berane is one of Montenegro’s poorest municipalities and the prospect of an airport could kick star the economy.

Berane has both a paved runway and a derelict terminal building which has seen better days. In the 1970s JAT Yugoslav Airlines operated flights from Belgrade to Berane, then known as Ivangrad. Plans to develop Berane into an international airport were formulated several years ago with a visualisation of the future terminal made.

Together with Berane, Trebinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Štip in Macedonia could receive airports in the near future. Do you think Montenegro needs another airport? Send a comment.

Question time # 94 is now resolved to my satisfaction.

Both ZK-EWD and ZK-DRS were painted in near identical colour schemes; except that DRS had white wing tips, whereas EWD had blue lines and a Cessna decal on the tips.

A look at the original post of the "unidentified Cessna" at http://design-plane.blogspot.com/2010/04/question-time-94.html shows white wing tips. a closer look at this pic reveals that the left rear passenger window has what appears to be perhaps a camera hatch within it and also what appears to be a tow hook under the rear fuselage. See the two enlargements below of the above pic which was taken at Feilding on 25-03-2008. ZK-EWD does not have these to my knowledge.

And the reason for the asking the Question in the first place is the original photo below of this aircraft as "Police 6". So, unless somebody convinces me otherwise, I am now happy to call this ZK-DRS.

Thank you all for your contributions.

The Druine D 31 Turbulent was designed by Frenchman Roger Druine in 1950. Roger was an aeromodeller who was building bigger and bigger models until friends convinced him to build a full size aeroplane. The Turbulent was a success and was taken up by the Popular Flying Association in the UK, and was also built commercially by Rollason Aircraft Ltd in England, and by Stark Flugzeugbau in Germany.

The Turbulent has a wingspan of 6.53 metres (21 foot 5 inches) and a length of 5.30 metres (17 foot 4 and a half inches!), with an empty weight of 158 Kg (349 lbs) and a maximum takeoff weight of 281 Kg (620 lbs). It was originally powered by a converted 1200 cc Volkswagen engine producing around 30 HP giving a maximum speed of 150 km/hr (93 mph), although many later Turbulents sported a larger VW engine.

There have been 23 Turbulents registered in New Zealand and 12 are still on the register. There is also another highly modified Turbulent that I will also list. In this series I will detail all the Turbulents and some of their history. I hope that others can add to the history with their own stories.

The photos are nearly all from the Keith Morris collection and I took most of them. However, some of the photos were taken by others and I do not have a record of who took them. The early photos of the Turbulents at Wanganui were taken by Ray Deerness in the early 1960's.


ZK-BVT (c/n PFA/437) was the first Turbulent registered in New Zealand, on 12/5/58. It was built in Auckland B G Climo and John Parkin. It was then sold to G A Weir of Wanganui and maybe this was the catalyst for the gathering of Turbulents at Wanganui that Ray Deerness photographed as above. As with nearly all the Turbulents it had an interesting history with several incidents that resulted in various damage and rebuilds. It was also owned by E J Weir of Oamaru, J M Dillon of Blenhiem, E G Brister of Wellington, Brian Barrett of Lower Hutt, K Cropp of Masterton, L Robinson of Masterton and finally Brian Pilcher of Lower Hutt.
ZK-BVT is shown here at Masterton where it spent most of its later life. This is the colour scheme that it wore when Brian Barrett and his wife June flew it, as I recall the colours were a dark green with a red fuselage stripe. I remember one incident when it taxied off without a pilot on start up and across the airfield where it crashed into a hangar door. I knew its last owner Brian Pilcher who was piloting it when it lost power and he had to put down on the Waingawa River bed. It was damaged beyond repair and was cancelled 30/9/88.

I think that ZK-BWE (c/n PFA/505) was the first Turbulent to fly in New Zealand although it was registered later than ZK-BVT, on 9/11/59. Its first flight was on 8/12/59 at Palmerston North flown by Syd Jensen, and it is photographed here at Wanganui in the early 1960's. It was built by Syd Jensen's company Aerocraft (NZ) Ltd and was first registered to Aviation Sales and Services Ltd of Palmerston North. As I have posted previously, Syd Jensen's story is really interesting one and he was a motorcycle racer, a racing car driver, racing circuit promoter and an aircraft businessman involved with Turbulents, Agricolae, Bolkow Juniors and latterly was the builder of New Zealand's first Falco ZK-TBD. A link to the story of Syd Jensen can be found at www.seqair.com/Hangar/Jensen/Versatile.html

ZK-BWE was sold to the Wairarapa Finance Corporation and it was operated by the Wararapa and Ruahine Aero Club. It was also hired out to various aero clubs including the Auckland Aero Club, The Hawkes Bay and East Coast Aero Club and the Waikato Aero Club. It was sold to John Caston of Auckland in 1965 and he sold it to Bruce Shepherd of Whangarei on 17/6/71. Bruce rebuilt ZK-BWE and painted in the above colour scheme, as seen at an AACA flyin at Taupo in 1982.

Remarkably, Bruce Shepherd still owns ZK-BWE and it is still registered today - more than 50 years after it first flew! It is pictured here at an AACA flyin at Matamata in 1998. It now sports a canopy as do most of the surviving Turbulents, and has been re-designated as a Class 1 microlight.

This is not the end of the story of Bruce Shepherd and Turbulents as I will detail in a future post.

Oceania registered Bell 206L Long Ranger ZK-ILR/2 back on 16Feb this year and it was noted outside their Ardmore facility 27Apr undergoing engine runs.


Pacific Aerospace 750XL ZK-KAW (c/n 165) was cancelled from the register as exported 27Apr and was photographed at Hamilton the previous day by Wayne Grant.

Better luck next time

Unsurprisingly, Jat Airways has cancelled its order for 2 Boeing B737-700 aircraft which were set to arrive this summer, the “Danas” daily reports. This is despite the fact that the airline had started tender procedures to find the most affordable price for the aircraft. The Serbian national carrier said that it was unable to find an interested company, despite the newspaper revealing that several parties had already applied for tender documentation. Only a few weeks ago, the CEO of Jat Airways, Srdjan Radovanović, said that it shouldn’t be hard finding new Boeings as the aviation industry was in a deep crisis, and as result new aircraft could be found at affordable prices.

It is uncertain whether the abrupt move has anything to do with plans to create a new national carrier by the end of the year. Jat currently has 16 aircraft in its fleet, some of which are grounded and in need of engine overhauls. All of the airline’s aircraft are expected to be in the sky by July.

New renovations for Belgrade

Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has reported that its profit in 2009 amounted to 17 million Euros, increasing by 27% compared to 2008. The profit will now be used for the upgrade of facilities at the airport. Velimir Radosavljević, the director of Belgrade Airport, said on Sunday that this year the airport will expand its gate lounge areas and construct the airport’s business headquarters. The biggest investment will be in the expansion of the transit area and gate lounges. In cooperation with Durfy, the airport will open new shop and duty free areas. The airport also plans to replace the older “A” platform air bridges with glass air bridges which correspond to the “C” platform gates.

Radosavljević says that all of these investments will be financed from the airport’s net profit from 2009. In the first 3 moths of 2010 the airport is recording the same profit as in the first 3 months of 2009. Belgrade Nikola Tesla is served by 24 scheduled airlines with the number set to increase in the coming months.

Something different for this QT.
This time we have a picture of the complete aircraft but with its registration and most of the background blobbed out. All you have to do is to tell me the registration of this 172.
Shouldn't be too hard with only about 260 to choose from !

Zagreb Airport

In March most of Croatia’s airports continued to report lower passenger figures than in March of 2009. Although Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula and Osijek all reported a decrease in passenger figures, the rate of the slide is easing. On the other hand, Zadar and Rijeka reported improved results.

Zagreb saw its passenger numbers decrease by 3.3% in March. The airport handled 144.074 compared to 149.086 last year. It is important to point out that the airport had 5.4% less flights than in March 2009. Pula continued its steep slide with passenger numbers decreasing by 26.8%. With only 48 passengers handled, Osijek’s airport figures decreased by 22%. Then again, Dubrovnik’s passenger decrease is slowing with the airport posting a decrease of less than half of a precent.

Good news comes from Zadar and Rijeka. The 2 airports increased their passenger numbers by 62.8% and 13.7% respectively. Zadar handled an impressive 3.103 passengers. This is despite the fact the number of flights to the seaside town decreased by 2%. The passenger increase is much needed for Rijeka Airport which has been financially struggling over the past year. However, the recent volcanic ash cloud, which grounded flights across Europe, could have a highly negative effect on airport recovery in April.

Below you can view March’s 2010 results for Croatian airports:

Airport	Passengers MAR 2010	Passengers MAR 2009	Change (%)
Zagreb	144.074	149.086	▼ 3.3
Dubrovnik	25.701	25.819	▼ 0.4
Pula	1.562	2.134	▼ 26.8
Split	27.779	29.027	▼ 4.3
Zadar	3.103	1.905	▲ 62.8
Osijek	48	62	▼ 22.5
Rijeka	1.577	1.387	▲ 13.7

Overview of Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport

On Wednesday evening, Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport opened for business after the completion of runway upgrades, which lasted for 2 weeks. The upgrade has been somewhat controversial with Slovenia’s national airline, Adria, blaming the airport for inevitable losses the carrier incurred as a result of the airport’s closure. Adria had to significantly scale down its operations and move to Maribor. Adria is seeking compensation from the airport authorities although Ljubljana Airport says that there is no basis for such claims.

The closure of the airport was part of the third and final phase of the runway reconstruction project. The overhaul of the runway included resurfacing the asphalt as well as expanding parts of the taxiways, replacing the lighting system and installing additional cable conduits. The first phase, covering around 800 metres, was concluded on June 25, 2009 while the reconditioning of the other section, involving over 1.000 metres of runway, was completed in the early hours of July 15, 200. The final and most time consuming phase was completed on Wednesday, April 21, 2010. The entire runway upgrade project has amounted to a cost of 9 million Euros. It is the first time since 1978 that the runway has been upgraded.

Meanwhile, Ljubljana Airport announced that it recorded a 14% passenger decline in 2009 when compared to 2008. It handled 1.42 million passengers. According to airport statistics, in 2009, most passengers originating from Ljubljana Airport travelled to Germany (18%), followed by the United Kingdom (12%), Turkey and France (8%) and Serbia (7%). The greatest increase in passenger numbers was recorded on flights to Serbia while the greatest decline on flights to Belgium.

Talking about "PIG" reminds me of another aircraft which was referred to as "The Pig". This was not in a derogatory way but came from a shortened version of its manufactures name.

ZK-DAI , c/n 410 , was the prototype Piaggio P166B which was delivered to Australia as VH-PQA in January of 1964. It did a stint in PNG before returning to Australia and then to NZ; arriving here on 27-02-1970 to be registered as ZK-DAI on 05-03-1970 to the Wellington Aero Club. It was then re-listed to the Clubs commercial arm Capital Air Services on 08-06-70. It was slightly different than the norm for this period in having two pusher, geared, fuel injected, super charged Lycoming engines (IGSO-540 if memory serves me). An interesting piece of kit, with a very distinctive sound.

It went back offshore on 16-01-1973 to take up its old Australian registration and was finally withdrawn in 1976.
Photo taken at Wellington on 30-10-1970
("turbo" changed to "super" charged after the error of my way was pointed out by Anonymous).

I remember when Grumman G44 Widgeons operated out of Invercargill. I also recall the first occasion that I heard the radio call of "Alpha Victor Mike, wheels up and landing". It took a few minutes for the penny to drop that it was the amphibian landing on Halfmoon Bay at Stewart Island. From memory I think AVM had at least four landing incidents with the wheels either down when they should not have been, and up when they should not have been, with very spectacular results.

Here I have two shots of ZK-AVM , c/n 1466 , taken at Invercargill, with two different operators. Top view taken on 26-07-1969 with NZ Tourist Air Travel and bottom view with Mount Cook Airlines on 25-04-1974.

This aircraft has had a very interesting life and I believe it is still stored in the Auckland area with Owen Harnish.

This Invercargill third level airline (and numerous others) is being covered on a blog dedicated to third level operators. Well worth a look. Go to http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/

I had the distinct pleasure of closing out my 8 day stay in Florida for Sun 'n Fun's airshow with a visit to the MySky company at the fabulous Spruce Creek aviation community near Daytona, FL.

My host was Prez Dieter Canje, who along with company principal and 30,000 hour pilot Tim Plunket, introduced me to the airplane.
We were all set to shoot air2air and ground photography but Ma Nature had other ideas with some rain and overcast skies.
I did the next best thing and copped a ride with Tim in the MS-1 prototype.
And boy, am I glad I did.  Or dude, am I glad I did.  Whatever.

First off, I have to say this was the best demo I've ever had, and here's why: Tim spent a good ten minutes briefing me on the flight deck, controls, knobs and levers I'd be a-twiddlin'.  Then he talked me through the maneuvers we'd be doing.
"I'll do everything first, then you'll do it," he instructed, and that's exactly what we did: stalls, high bank turns, big looping wingovers, high speed dives.
"Remember," Tim said at one point near the end of our flight, "there's no rule against going faster than 120 Knots in an LSA other than straight and level, full power."  This, while we dove for the deck at 140 knots plus, smooth and solid and not unlike, (I gotta say because I've had the pleasure), zooming down in a P-51 Mustang or Extra 300.  The feel, the narrow tandem cockpit, the fuselage right-side fighter-like control stick, the bubble canopy - oh yeah, you can see where this project is going.

I felt the urge to bark "Tally ho!  Bogies at 5 o'clock low, arm your guns!" -- because this is definitely a Top Gun experience compared to most other LSA.
The company hopes to have the airplane in delivery by the end of the year.  Prototype #2 is being built in their hangar at Spruce Creek and more refinements will be made.
But that flight with Tim stands in mind as the most thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating 24 or so minutes I've spent in an LSA yet.
Stay tuned: Dan Johnson will be writing a flight report on it for Plane & Pilot down the road.

We had just the one response to this Question time.

It was a few days ago and the answer was spot on as being Lake LA-4-200 ZK-DQN. Now resident on Vanuatu, it was cancelled from the NZ register on 23-02-2010.

Well done.

The original clue shows the fuel drains under the port wing

B&H heading to Zagreb

The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed that B&H Airlines has had problems paying off its loan for 2 ATR72 aircraft, which make the core of the airline’s fleet. The ATR72s arrived in 2005 thanks to a loan from the Hypo Alpe Adria Bank. The bank itself said that B&H has been tardy with its payments but said that the two airlines have excellent ties and that they are sure this problem will be solved soon. The CEO of B&H Airlines said that all payments had been made on time. The Ministry also confirmed that the Bosnian Government provides aid of up to 5 million Convertible Marks (approximately 2.5 million Euros) to B&H annually, as agreed with the airline’s other owner Turkish Airlines, the “Dnevni Avaz” newspaper reports. The airline reported it had lost 500.000 Euros due to a recent volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, which grounded airlines across Europe.

On the other hand, there is some good news. Despite initial problems, the Bosnian and Herzegovinian national carrier will commence flights from Sarajevo to Zagreb from May 21, 6 times per week (flight details can be found on the right hand side in the new route launches section). The airline will also operate charter flights from Tuzla to Hurghada in Egypt and Antalya in Turkey.

I noted Murphy Renegade Spirit 11 ZK-PIG2 at Ashburton on 23-04-2010. This aircraft which was listed to William Scarlett of Christchurch on 16-02-2006 is currently undergoing its test flight period.
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_Renegade for more history of this type.

This delightful pink and balck aircraft features Miss Piggy on its fin plus the script "Don't mess with the pig"" .

It carries the name "Lilly" forward of the cockpit. (Reminds me of the 1969 song by The Scaffold - "Lilly the Pink")

The instrument panel is also pink.