Thursday 1 December 2011

Pitts S 2 Specials of New Zealand - Imported Aircraft (2)

This next batch of Pitts S 2's, all imported in the 1990's, have all been used for tourist flights in Queenstown and Wanaka.
The photos are from the Keith Morris collection unless otherwise noted.

ZK-FXT (c/n 2126) is a 1978 Aerotek built S 2A model that is ex N84FS. It was imported by the Ashburton Aviation Syndicate and was first registered in New Zealand on 13/2/91. It arrived with a damaged engine. Ownership transferred to the Rotorua Aero Club on 24/9/92, and it was then owned by a succession of owners in the Queenstown area: P R Clarke from 18/1/95, Over the Top Ltd from 9/9/99 and Actionflight Ltd from 12/8/04. The above photo was taken at Queenstown by Blue Bus on 10/9/05.

Ownership was transferred to Jagair Ltd of Wellington (Ray and Amy Mudgeway) on 25/8/06 and the registration ZK-FXT was cancelled on 20/11/06. It was re-registered as ZK-JAG on the same day. The above photo was taken at Queenstown on 24/2/08, where it still operates tourist flights.

ZK-PTO (c/n 2182) was a 1978 Aerotek built S 2A model that was ex VH-WEB. It was imported into New Zealand by Grant Bissett of Ashburton and was first registered in New Zealand on 6/11/92. Ownership transferred to Biplane Adventures at Wanaka in 1994 where the above photo was taken by flyernzl at the 1998 Wanaka Airshow. Tragically it was involved in a fatal accident at Wanaka on 15/12/00 killing the pilot and passenger. This was the second fatal Pitts accident at Wanaka, after ZK-ECO 15 years before. ZK-PTO was cancelled on 23/3/01.

ZK-KHM (c/n 5090) is a 1985 Christen built S 2B model that is ex N86TW. It was imported by Mitchell Aero Holdings of Pleasant Point and was first registered in New Zealand on 25/11/97. It also was then owned by a succession of owners in Queenstown: Actionflite Ltd from 17/2/04, Over the Top Ltd from 23/7/04 (briefly), then by Actionflite Ltd again from 12/8/04. On 12/6/09 it was sold to ST Trust of Christchurch (C/- Sam Stephenson) but I think it continued to operate tourist flights out of Queenstown. The above photo was taken by Blue Bus at Queenstown, on 16/8/06.
Finally it was sold to Aerostunts Ltd of Christchurch on 19/1/10 and the registration ZK-KHM was cancelled on 22/1/10 and re-registered on the same date as ZK-STX. The above photo, also by Blue Bus, was taken at Rangiora on 14/3/10. It has returned to Queenstown to operate tourist flights in association with the Wakatipu Aero Club, and a website shows that it is now operating without the Red Bull signage.

3 comments:

  1. ZK JAG is no longer operating in queenstown with jag air as jag air has ceased operation and the aircraft was flown back to nelson airport by Dan Coleman of Queenstown and the owner about 6months ago

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  2. Thanks very much for the correction Planecrazy4. I based my comment on the Jagair website, however it shows you can't trust everything on the net!

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  3. Hi there, ZK-FXT and ZK-KHM were never owned by Over The Top helicopters, they were only the registered operator. Actionflite and the parent company The Action Aerobatic Company were always the actual owners.

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