Investments to be delayed

Zmago Skobir, the director of Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, told the “STA” news agency that the airport lost an estimated 1.2 million Euros during the hubs 2 week closure brought on by a runway overhaul. Skobir said that the loss would probably put Ljubljana Airport’s revenue for this year at around 34 million Euros, which is on par with last year's result. The renovation of the runway, during which passenger traffic was scaled down and flights redirected to Maribor Airport, in part coincided with the air traffic disturbances caused by the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland. “If the airport had been open, the closed airspace above Slovenia would have cost us between 50.000 and 60.000 Euros per day”, Skobir explains. He noted that the damage caused by the ash cloud will have an affect on the entire aviation industry and that additional pressure on prices can be expected. “However, healthy companies will survive”, he added. On the other hand, Skobir said that airports will no longer be in the position to yield to the demands of carriers for lower or subsidised costs. If development is to be upheld, Ljubljana Airport will have to follow the example of some airports abroad and increase its prices of certain services. The crisis will delay some of the airport’s investment plans. Still, the company hopes to be able to launch a 60 million Euro investment into the construction of a new passenger terminal next year.

Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways has meanwhile updated its assessment of the damage suffered between April 15 and 21 when it had to ground its fleet because of the ash cloud. While initial estimates put the damage somewhere between 1.3 and 1.4 million Euros, Adria chairman, Tadej Tufek, told the “STA" last Thursday that the damage in fact now stands at around 3 million Euros.

Aircraft Type requires identification please.

Another useful clue :- It is not a Turbulent.

New airline in Serbia’s skies

It seems that Serbia will soon get a new airline. Kon Tiki Sky, to be operated by the region’s largest tour operator Kon Tiki Travel, will organise charter flights at first but may later indulge in scheduled services. The owner of Kon Tiki Travel, Slobodan Mićić said, “There couldn’t be a better way to celebrate our 20th birthday. We have already purchased an aircraft and it is in the process of being registered”. It is unknown which aircraft type the company has chosen. It is believed that the Kon Tiki decided to create its airline in Serbia after plans to create Mat Airways in Macedonia failed.

Kon Tiki Travel operates tours to various countries around the world with Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey and Greece being the most popular with Serbian tourists. Mićić told the “Tanjug” news agency that the company recorded unprecedented bookings for the May Day long weekend with many choosing to spend the short holiday in Spain and Italy.

If Kon Tiki Sky becomes a reality it could hurt Jat Airways’ charter operations. The Serbian national carrier currently has a contract with Kon Tiki to transport its holiday makers to various parts of Europe and Northern Africa.

Early 1960's Turbulents.

Following hot on the heels of the Aerocraft aircraft and kits, other homebuilders began completing their Turbulents, from 1961 on, as follows.

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 first of these to be registered was ZK-CAQ (c/n PFA/573) on 10/7/61. It was built by John Inglis of Towai and it is photographed here at Ardmore. It was named "Windsong" at this time. As with nearly all the Turbulents it had its share of incidents and accidents including minor damage at Ardmore on 7/1/68 and crashing at Thames on 6/4/69, but was rebuilt each time. It was sold to B N Inglis of Waimuku (a relative?) on 18/10/88.

This photograph of ZK-CAQ was taken at a Matamata airshow in the early 1990's. It then went to N E Wilson of Reefton, Dave J Stuart of Lower Hutt (who re-engined it with a HAPI 1860cc VW conversion - well up on power from the original 1200cc VW!). It was redesignated as a Class 1 microlight on 12/6/98 and then went to R O Byfield of Christchurch.

It was then sold to Paddy McDonnell of Ashburton who refurbished it and painted it in his trademark colour scheme (similar to Corby Starlet ZK-MGM and Avid Flyer ZK-VID). This photograph was taken by Blue Bus at the 1997 SAANZ flyin at Ashburton. Finally Paddy sold it to R C Brown of Lower Hutt. ZK-CAQ is still current.

The next Turbulent to be registered, on 27/9/61, was ZK-CAX (c/n PFA/658). It was built by Gordon Waldie of Lower Hutt and was one of the original core of Turbulents in Wellington which gave the impetus to the formation of the Amateur Aircraft Constructors Association (AACA). Gordon was AACA member number 12. The early AACA magazines wrote up some of the eventful flights of those early Turbulents, and everyone seemed to fly everyone elses planes. Jack Inder took Robbie gentry's ZK-CAE back to Dargaville and Stan Smith flew Gordon Waldie's ZK-CAX to Ardmore.

One interesting story that caught my eye was when two early flyers (no names) in ZK-BWE and ZK-CAX flew down from Ardmore to an air pageant at Taupo on 8 January 1966. A combination of winds and needing to refuel at Tokoroa saw them arrive at Taupo 20 minutes after the airshow had started. Nearly out of fuel and with a strong crosswind they elected to use the new grass vector that was not yet opened figuring that 2 Turbulents could not do much harm. Their arrival coincided with a DC 3 display and it was reported that their arrival "did not meet with official approval and we had some explaining to do"! Then "followed a joyful re-union with Mother Earth and all the other flyers of the Association who had made it"!

ZK-CAX has not had many owners. Gordon Waldie sold it to John Perry of Opotiki who in turn sold it to John Hansen of Te Awamutu on 18/4/74. The above photograph of ZK-CAX was taken at the 1981 AACA flyin at Mount Hutt. John Hansen still owns the aircraft and it is still current, although I haven't seen it for a very long time.

The next Turbulent to be registered, on 8/3/62, was ZK-CBN (c/n PFA/462) which was built by Merv Meredith at Waipukurau. It first flew on 7/12/64 and Merv was very active flying it around New Zealand, including flying up to the opening of Mangere Airport in 1966 (when 5 Turbulents attended). Merv sold ZK-CBN to Neil Managh of Feilding and then it went to Robert Trewavas of Motueka. Merv Meredith went on to serve as president of the AACA and to build 2 other homebuilt aircraft: Minicab ZK-DAG and EAA Acrosport 2 ZK-MWM. Tragically he and a friend were killed in ZK-DAG when they got caught in bad weather in the Ruahine Ranges when returning from a fishing trip in the Bay of Plenty.

ZK-CBN crashed at Motueka on 28/12/71. It must have been rebuilt because it was sold to A D Stott of Christchurch on 13/2/73, and later to I G Williams of Whenuapai. It was withdrawn and reduced to spares, and cancelled on 29/8/75. It may have been begun to be rebuilt with a new c/n. Does anyone know any details of this?

Flyernzl has provided details on the reborn ZK-CBN as follows: It was re-registered on 29/5/95 as an Amateur Built Aircraft to the Williams/Thompson/Knox syndicate of Auckland, with a new c/n of 21875. It was redesignated as a Class 1 Microlight on 23/4/01 and is still current.

And the next Turbulent to be registered, in 11/62, was the Rev Ron Keyte's ZK-CDD (c/n PFA/428) which he built at Kaitia. This first photograph of it is very early on in its life when Ron thought that a very small registration would fit nicely with his colour scheme. The colour scheme was mainly a duck-egg blue with white and black. Ron Keyte went on to be an Air Force chaplain at Ohakea where he completed Jurca Sirocco ZK-DAF. Ron Keyte was also tragically killed with a friend when the Sirocco broke up in mid air at Masterton.

Unfortunately the long arm of officialdom descended and this next photograph shows it with a larger (presumably regulation for the time) registration.

By the 1972 AACA flyin at Masterton where this photograph was taken, it sported a canopy and another version of a smaller registration. It was sold to Chris Reid of Blenhiem on 22/5/72 and was damaged near Renwick on 8/7/72.

It was rebuilt and then had 2 other owners in the Blenhiem area: Tony Chaytor, the Trarangi Flying Group. It is photographed here at the 1974 AACA flyin at Bridge Pa where the colour was overall red.

It was withdrawn from use after its permit to fly expired, and was cancelled on 21/6/84

A couple more images of Turbulent ZK-CAG, taken at Ardmore on a dull weather day 16th April 1966.
Colours noted at the time were red overall, blue and black trim.
Note that the BP logo only appears on the port side of the rudder.





As an aside, ZK-CAG2 is a complete contrast to the low-powered Turbulent - the Allision engined P-40!

Lurking in the corner of the Timaru Aviation Heritage Museum are the remains of this First Strike Bobcat ZK-EJB. Built by John Lowther and registered on 22-09-1989 to W J Rae to take the place of his Mirage ZK-ESQ. All of the references that I have seen for EJB has its c/n listed as 627-03-A.
Its first flight was on 14-04-1990, and it carries the name "Top Cat" and the pilots name James Rae.

It was relisted to Jim Young of Wanaka in March of 1993 and to Andrew James Bowmar of Tapanui on 26-06-1997.

It was damaged at Cookston on 01-06-1998 and ultimately cancelled on 25-08-1998.

A close look at the firewall shows its stamped c/n as 627-02-A.

***********************************

Added Sunday 2nd May.

I was thinking that there must be at least three airframes involved here, and with a little digging around I find that the c/n 627-01-A was allocated to the First Strike Bobcat ZK-FHA on 04-07-1989 and listed with D E Ewart-Jones of Ashburton. This was withdrawn from use and cancelled on 10-06-1992. So I have no problem with this one. (Alas I have no photo of FHA.)

If ZK-EJB was registered with the c/n 627-03-A, then there should be a 627-02-A.

Sure enough - The Light Miniature Aircraft LM-1 ZK-FWB is listed with the 627-02-A/MAANZ/442 construction number. This was another John Lowther built aircraft and was first registered to him on 19-02-1990. I have a note saying that this aircraft had an engine failure on 04-01-1992 and landed IN Caroline Bay at Timaru (presumably getting wet). Interestingly ownership went to Walter James Rae on 20-03-1992. Some seven owners later this aircraft is in the Feilding area with Paul Svendsen.

Can anybody up that way check out the data plate (maybe stamped on the firewall) on this aircraft please ?

Summary

ZK-FHA was registered with the c/n 627-01A.

ZK-FWB was registered with the c/n 627-02-A/MAANZ/442.

ZK-EJB was registered with the c/n 627-03-A but is stamped as 627-02A.

Coming soon: Dubrovnik’s new terminal

Dubrovnik Airport is getting ready to open its new multi million Euro terminal, which will make the airport the most modern in the country, ahead of Croatia’s busiest hub Zagreb. The opening of Terminal B is set to take place mid May. In 4 days technical checks of the terminal will commence.

The new terminal building stretches over 16.740 square metres. In the arrivals hall, located at the ground floor of the terminal, one will find 3 conveyer belts for baggage claim, 2 for international flights and 1 for domestic services. The first and second floors stretch over 1.300 square metres and will contain 4 gates and 2 air bridges. Offices and a gallery will be placed on the third floor. The new terminal will also have retail space of up to 575 square metres where a duty free shop, 2 coffee bars and a bistro, as well as tour operators’ offices will be located. A VIP lounge will take up 125 square metres.

With the addition of the new terminal, Dubrovnik Airport will have the capacity to handle 2 million passengers. The total price tag of the project amounts to approximately 170 million Kuna (23.4 million Euros).