Civil Register Update

The first three Polish built MiG-15s make an appearance on the register, BPG, DIE and XIG as well as two new Harvard variants, USS and XAN. XAN is fairly new to Australia whilst USS has been in the country for some time although only recently being officially registered. The Boeing Stearman is becoming a popular aircraft in Australia and JQY is the first of three that were imported during September 1989. The three, N58982, N58983 and N58991 were constructed for a 1942 contract for US Navy trainers and were later converted to crop dusters in the USA. It is estimated that another seven Stearmans are in the country being readied for local use.

Mooney 20C Ranger, LJP, could almost be classed as an antique being more than 20 years old and was, in fact, the first Ranger produced in 1970. Helio Courier, LIW, is not new to Australia having first been imported in January 1967 as FRB. It went to PNG during September 1975 as P2-FRB but crashed at Mount Hagen on 28 May 1976. After a three year rebuild it returned to the air as P2-BOX in 1979 before returning to Australia last year. BSQ is one of three Kawasaki license built Hughes 500s recently imported by Chopperline at Caloundra, Qld. All three were built between 1971 and 1973 and the other two machines, JA9061 and JA9104 are expected to be flying in Australia soon.

Although Robin Sport JXY was built in Canada its origins can be traced back to France in 1956. Pierre Robin built his first aircraft, a Jodel D11, during the early fifties. His first attempt at a new design was the Jodel-Robin in 1956. Registered F-PIER it used a Delemontez designed wing married to a three seat stretched Jodel D11 fuselage. A year later Robin founded Centre Est Aeronautique at Dijon in the south of France and went on to produce a range of light singles to satisfy the local market for both private and club flying. Robin’s popularity was enhanced and sales rocketed after he took the prestigious Tour of Sicily in 1961 flying a much modified DR100. This aircraft was developed into the DR1051, several ofwhich fly in Australia.

In 1971 Robin employed Chris Heintz, later to become famous for his Zenith designs, to design the first all metal Robin aircraft and although Heintz abandoned the well known cranked wing which had become a hallmark of the Jodel/Robin range, he retained the forward sliding canopy. The company’s expansion was slowed in April 1972 when a major fire destroyed the production line,however by 1977developmenthad reached the HR200, a 100hp trainer utilising a bubble cockpit over two side-by-side seats. This in turn became the R2160 using a larger tail to aid spin recovery. Production of the R2160 was moved to Canada during 1981 and all Australian aircraft are from the Canadian production line. JXY is the tenth local Robin with all except two adopting the familiar XY registration suffix. Two aircraft make up the restoration section this issue, a Cessna 1828 and a Hughes 300. The Cessna Skylane, CYE, was built in 1959 and imported into Australia two years later. It led an active life until 27 April 1987 when it was withdrawn from use. Hughes 269C, PHU, has been restored after a six month rebuild, having been damaged during August 1990.

Twenty two aircraft are listed in the deletion section including two Qantas Boeing 7 47s. EBH has joined EBI in the Virgin Atlantic fleet at Gatwick in England, both aircraft receiving registrations showing !CAO codes for destinations in the Virgin network. EBM has joined sister ship EBK with United Airlines at Chicago, Illinois, and a further five Qantas 747s will join them in the near future.

Two aircraft, EBK and EBL have been leased through Electra Aviation and have been allocated N159UA and N160UA respectively, while the other five, EBJ, EBM, EBN, EBO and EBP are through Potomac Leasing and will become N158UA, N161UA, N163UA, N164UA and N165UA respectively. It is interesting to note that EBO and EBP have an airframe MTOW of 820,000lbs but this is unattainable with the JT9D engines fitted.

Seneca HJX has been sold to R Peach of Paraparaumu near Auckland and is now flying as ZK-PJX whilst another Aussie to cross the Tasman is Sikorsky ORL. The Sikorsky S-55, quite a rare bird in this part of the world, was imported in 1985 along with another, ORA. Both machines have not done as much work as anticipated since being in Australia. TRQ, a 1977 built Transavia Airtruk has gone to Spain to be the first Airtruk to be used in that country.

Changes of ownership this month include Cessna 207 Skywagon LFU to Kakadu Air Services to replace the crashed MNN and two Hazelton Airlines Chieftains to Camden Aviation. The two Navajo Chieftains, for many years the backbone of the Hazelton network, have become surplus to requirements with the delivery of twonewSaab 340Bs. TWB (1976) and OMV (1974) are the oldest of the fleet and therefore are the first to go. Another Chieftain, WGT, has also changed hands being part of the now defunct ParAvion fleet to pass on to Aerotechnology of Rosy Park, Tasmania. Other aircraft with the same fate are Cessna 310 IFF, Cessna U206Gs LCD and MYS and Cessna 172P RWV