Visiting Aircraft Logistics Support at Rangiora today (07-01-2010) was the Lake LA-4-200 Buccaneer ZK-DQN (c/n 1045). This amphibian came to NZ from Fiji after lying idle for some time. It was rebuilt at Northland Aviation of Whangarei and came on our register on 22/04/2008 with Seabird Aeromarine Ltd of Whangarei. On the 20th November ownership changed to Paul Dalley of Christchurch.

As you can see it carries the "Vanuatu Sea Planes" titles and and is named "Missy". Following NZCAA requirements ( a certain number of hours to be flown and water landing to be carried out) it is expected to fly north about the 20th of the month on its was to Vanuatu. The Company now has new owners and have replaced the previous floatplane Maule (YJ-NZ20) with this Buccaneer. So I imagine we will see it in "YJ " marks in due course.

The two earlier shots below show it at Northland Aviation Whangarei on 10-03-08 during its rebuild.

And parked up at Kerikeri on 06-03-09.

Another stranger in town was this Jabiru J200 ZK-CHW2 (c/n 009) having radio work carried out. It was listed to the Watkins Family Trust of Auckland on 27-01-2006.

The more I look into the story about those two wild and crazy South African dudes (post below) who flew around the world in the LSA of their own design and manufacture, the more interesting it gets.
Just heard back from James Pitman who offered this:
"We're just getting into production at this instant here in SA and will deliver the first 20 planes to local buyers. We absolutely intend to be in the US thereafter - hopefully commencing in the second half of this year. We have an established close friendship with Matt Liknaitsky, who is the distributor for MGL Instruments in the States, and we'll be getting help and advice from him on how to best serve the US market...Thanks for the good wishes for the year - we've got a hang of a lot of work ahead of us, but we're excited about the prospects and are having a good time, both working and flying."
Can't do much better than that, eh?
A few more details about Sling 002's globe-circling flight, which are available in depth on this page:
* The standard inner leading edge tanks (19.8 gal. each on the production version) were augmented by outer leading edge and behind-spar tanks, to increase capacity for the trip to 118.9 gal.
BTW: that gave a 24-hour endurance per fillup!
* 15 extra layers of fiberglass were used to beef up the main gear for the extra weight
* seats were modified to lie flat (kids, don't try this at home)
* powerplant was a 912 ULS Rotax (100hp)
* two MGL Avionics Voyager MFDs made up the ‘glass cockpit’
* other instruments

• Garmin SL30 navcom radio
• Insight Strikefinder lightning detector
• Zaon TCAS
• Trio Avionics Autopilot (two axis)
• PS Engineering PM1000 II intercom
  
• handheld Avmap GeoPilot II GPS

Now the only question is, what's next for these guys...a flight to Mars?

These three aircraft remain unidentified in my shoe box. Can any kind soul give me a registration so I can file them away please.
Above was taken at Wanganui on 11-02-2007.

The compressed C152 above was at Tauranga on 16-03-2009.

And this Cessna 172 was at Omaka on 24-03-2009.

If only MAT had more of these

Courts in Macedonia will begin bankruptcy procedures for the country’s grounded national carrier on January 18. The airline recently lost its Air Operations Certificate (AOC). The bankruptcy motion was filed by the Civil Aviation Directorate. It is believed that since the airline’s status as a national carrier is set to expire in September 2010 other airlines were reluctant to takeover the indebted MAT.

MAT Macedonian Airlines owes millions to various companies. It is indebted 6.5 million Euros to Jat Airways, a lump sum of 3 million to Skopje and Ohrid airports, 2.5 million to EUROCONTROL, 2.1 million to both Bombardier and the Macedonian fuel supplier (although the latter could be written off by the Government) and 2 million to the CIT Group. The airline is also in court for selling tickets to various destinations even though it had already ceased operations. The total sum of that court process could cost another 300.000 Euros. The airline also owes unknown sums to unpaid former employees as well as spare part suppliers.

If the Macedonian Civil Aviation Directorate issues necessary licenses MAT will be relaunched under the name Mat Airways this summer. The project is headed by the Serbian tour operator Kontiki and the former management of MAT Macedonian Airlines.

Last July I ran an item here on the grand LSA adventure of two South Afrikaaners, James Pitman and Mike Blyth, who set out to fly around the world - in an LSA!
Happy to report the boys finished the epic flight, all 45,150 km (27,090 miles) with a stop at EAA Airventure 2009 to boot - in 40 days!
One memorable highlight: two friends of the pilots greeted the return landing in Full Monty mode: they waved large So. African flags, wearing boots...and nothing else! (ck out those merry buffsters at left).
The story was just carried on the official Johannesburg, S.A. website, written by Makoena Pabale.
Anybody who doubts the durability and utility of LSA, take note: the chariot of choice was the Sling, built by The Airplane Factory right in Joburg.
BTW: the company is their own startup, and the Sling is their first design. Now that's confidence for you.
The attractive metal low-winger can be built from a kit or bought ready-to-fly. It's not certified for the U.S. - yet - but does conform to ASTM standards with a 1320 lb. max weight and a clean stall of 44 kts. It's also powered by the ubiquitous Rotax engine (two 912 models and the 914).
James Pitman is quoted in the story as saying, "The experience was just amazing."
The westward odyssey included stops in Hawaii, Brazil, New Guinea and 10 other countries.
One thing that stood out to me (until I did the math): the story reports the dynamic duo reached Oshkosh in just 10 days and five stops from South Africa, then went on to complete the circumnavigation in only nine more stops!
These boys either have sturdy bladders or kit-built relief tubes.
Meanwhile, the math: that's an impossible range per tankful, almost 2000 miles...naw, can't be right - company specs call for 800 nm. Well, author Pabale, nobody's perfect.
UPDATE! My bad. Although not mentioned in the story, Mssrs. Pitman and Blyth outfitted the Sling with 118 gallons of onboard fuel for the flight only. The potential 1900 mi-plus legs was indeed accurate. Which takes me back to the bladder question!
Meanwhile...Well done, lads!
---photos courtesy The Airplane Factory

Montenegro Airlines’ 2009 a success

Montenegro Airlines seems to have avoided the global economic crisis. The airline served 527.000 passengers in 2009, an increase of 4.6%. Accompanying this figure is news that the airline had more flights than in 2008, a total of 12% more. The airline recorded revenue of 62 million Euros, although whether the airline completed 2009 with a profit or a loss will be known in a few months according to the airline’s CEO, Zoran Djurišić. He also stated, “This was the most difficult year for civil aviation, with economist predicting that the airline industry lost 11 billion American Dollars in 2009. We are satisfied with the 2009 result. We have done our outmost in the circumstances that prevailed”. Djurišić also stated that in 2009 the national carrier of Montenegro began new services to Skopje, Priština, Dusseldorf and Copenhagen.

By the 2010 summer season the airline will have 8 aircraft in operation – 5 Fokker F100 jets, 2 Embraer E195 jets and 1 Embraer E175 scheduled to arrive just prior to the summer season. Meanwhile, the arrival of B&H Airlines’ new Boeing B737-700 has been delayed. The aircraft, which was to enter service later this month will now arrive in March, prior to the 2010 summer season. The fate of the second B737-700 which was scheduled to arrive in March is unknown. Whether its arrival will also be delayed remains to be seen.

Question time # 84 answers can be found now embedded in the original blog of December 25th.

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