Civil Register Update

Cessna 172F DGA was delivered new to Australia in February 1965 as N7948U and has been in continuous service since. It has now been changed to ISP to allow the Howard DGA-15P N66546 to use the very appropriate markings of DGA. The Howard arrived in Australia as part of the Vintage Air Rally last year and along with most of the accompanying aircraft, it will stay and eventually join the Australian register.

Beaver ION was first registered in Australia on 29th July 1964 and since then has been on and off the register five times. This is fairly common with agricultural aircraft as their owners remove them from the register for long periods of maintenance or when the machines are not being used. Vic Walton has now purchased the elderly Beaver, converted it to a floatplane and added it to the Aquatic Air fleet. Its registration has been changed to AQU in line with the other two Beavers in the fleet, AQA and AQV.

Another change of registration for company compatibility reasons is Navajo Chieftain MBP to OZP. The 1977 built aircraft was delivered new as N63735 to become AFP. Toward the end of August 1986 it became MBP and now four years later it has changed again to OZP with Aus-Air of Moorabbin. In time all the Aus-Air fleet will be changed to the OZ block whilst utilising the last letter of their previous registration.

Of the new aircraft appearing in the listing we find Robinson R22s JNN, JZT and the first aircraft in the Z block to be listed on these pages, ZRT. Boeing 737-400 series TJH arrived for Australian Airlines during July and a Dash 8 arrived for Lloyd Aviation (Skywest) in September. The Dash 8 was tested in Canada as C-GETI and takes up the Australian marking LAR. It is the sec ond aircraft to use these markings in service with Lloyd as their. . . . Fellowship also used this registration before being sold to Ansett and changing to FKO on 13th July this year. Another Dash 8 to be added to the register this month is XFT with Flight West Airlines of Brisbane. As mentioned before in Register Review, many of the Talair fleet in PNG are being transferred to Flight West, and XFT is the latest of these aircraft. It was delivered to Talair in November 1986 as P2-GVA and was joined by a second aircraft, P2-GVB, in 1989. Although the Flight West fleet is increasing, it would appear to be at the expense of Talair, but in fact several aircraft have joined Talair from Air Melanesiae (Vanuatu) which has recently been sold and renamed Vanair, therefore maintaining Talair’s numbers.

Several of the aircraft listed this issue have been in Australia for some time but have only just found their way onto the Australian register for various reasons. Piper Warrior F-OCXT was delivered straight from the production line to New Caledonia in 1978 but moved on to Vanuatu as YJ-RV15 on 18th February 1985. It was damaged by acyclone on 8th February 1987 and the wreck was brought to Australia. Over the last three years it has slowly been rebuilt by Clamback and Hennessy at Bankstown and is now flying again as IBK. The two Porsche engined Mooneys, JGD and JGQ, were part of a batch of Mooneys delivered to Sydney via Noumea during November and December 1988 to Adams Aviation at Bankstown. Over the last two years the other aircraft in the group, mostly 201s and 231s, have been sold leaving only the two German engined machines to find new homes. The Porsche PFM-3200 212hp engine was first fitted into the Mooney during 1985 and the prototype visited Australia in December of that year during a world tour. Another aircraft that has been in the country for a while is Luscombe Silvaire NCW. It has been flying as N71454 but it has the early American style of registration painted on its fin NC71454. It takes its Australian registration from its early American prefix and the initial of its owner, Mr Waddingham. It is interesting to note that this is the second aircraft to carry this registration. The first machine was one of only two to be registered in the N block before the complete block was reserved for military use and only in recent years released for civil use. T iger Moth serial number 352, and ex RAAF A17-333, was first registered NCW in October 1947. lt was owned by the Aero Club of Broken Hill and was registered NCW in honour of N C Waite, a committee member at the time. Unfortunately it was withdrawn from use one year later and dismantled for spares.

Three home built aircraft and another Jabiru also join the register, increasing the number of locally built aircraft flying in Australia. T he Jabiru LIP is the third of this type to fly, the first two prototypes, JCX and JQX, having only recently finished testing and now reduced to spares. Another Rand KR2, KRP, and another Vans RV4, PUS, are now flying in Queensland and the Northern Territory respectively. The Vans is unusual in as much as its serial number is quotedas DA1. Most home built aircraft in this country have the first letter of the state in which they were constructed as a serial number prefix. The third home built is in Oldfield Baby Lakes NIY. This is the first of this type to fly in Australia although one has been flying in New Zealand since 1985. The aircraft was designed for the amateur builder by Barney Oldfield in Cleveland, Ohio and is a single engined, single seat aerobatic biplane. Built with a steel tube fuselage and wooden wings, it is fabric covered and can take up to a 150hp engine.

Only one agricultural aircraft can be found this month and it has an interesting history. Pawnee Brave ZK-EIG was delivered new to New Zealand in June 1978 and was used extensively for crop spraying until it crashed at Winchester on 27th August 1982. On the morning of that day, when the pilot started the engine he observed an oil pressure surge, however after stopping and restarting the engine no further problems occurred until just after takeoff when the oil pressure again surged and the engine lost power. During the attempt to land in a nearby paddock, the aircraft passed under power lines and hit a telegraph pole before coming to rest with substantial damage to the wings, undercarriage and prop. T he official report cited not the oil pressure as the probable cause but a faulty magneto and the aircraft was never flown again in New Zealand. T he wreck was exported to Australia and now, eight years later, is flying again as XAV

Of the three aircraft returning to the register, Cessna 150 DVL is back in the air after eight years of non-activity and pressurized Navajo DRE is flying again after being damaged at Mascot. The Navajo was painted black with a flying horse emblem on the tail when used by Heli-Muster between Victoria River Station and Bankstown some years ago. When it was sold it was to go to New Zealand and indeed it was delivered there but returned a short time later. Whilst taxying at Mascot during 1987 a large explosion ripped out the bottom of the aircraft. At first it was thought that a bomb had been planted but it was later found to be the ignition of fuel from a leaking internal wing tank. Debonair FWW returns to Australia after being in PNG since July 1976.

Only a few items of interest in the change of ownership details this issue. Ex Hazelton Airlines Cessna 310, DVH, has gone to Moree Airways and the ex Amman Aviation Rockwell Commander, NYG, has gone to Heli-Muster at Victoria River Downs. This is one of the aircraft imported for the Coastwatch contract that Amman won and then lost in controversial circumstances. Lang Handcock’s British Aerospace 125 has been sold to Continental Aviation Sales of Rolling Meadows, Illinois, USA indicating that it will shortly be transferring to the USA register. T iger Moth BKC is listed as being sold to Tony Hammett of Cimberra, however Tony was tragically killed whilst flying his King Air, LFH, at Wonai, Queensland in July 1990. A real aviation enthusiast, Tony was instrumental in starting the Canberra branch of the Aviation Historical Society amongst other things and will be a great loss to aviation in Australia