Civil Register Update

In an interesting twist of fate the Maule has been brought to Australia by Englishman Andrew Mitrega whose long lost cousin Paul runs North West Aviation at Inverell, NSW and who has converted several Cessnas to tailwheel configuration recently. Paul converted an early model Cessna 172A, RGH, to a taildragger last year so when Peter Mooney of Moree could not find a suitable Cessna 180 this year he approached Paul about converting a 182 to a 180 by installing a tailwheel. A 182A, ATH, was found in good condition and the project progressed by fitting a steerable tailwheel, taking out the nosewheel and moving the main gear forward. The area around the main wheels was strengthened and the tail cone was modified to suit the new tailwheel. Peter reports that he is more than happy with the conversion and recommends the 182 tail dragger as a viable option to a 180.

The Australian Aviation College in Adelaide has added six more Tobagos, YHC to YHH, to its fleet. All were delivered to Parafield during September and the College has traded in LQA and LQC on the new aircraft. LQE and XYA are also expected to leave the fleet as the new Tobagos come onto line.

Four warbirds are shown, two Trojans, a Bird Dog and the Polish built PZL Iskra that has been at Bankstown for some time. Three more ex military Airtrainers have also joined the register making a total of 23 now flying under civil guise. Incidentally Airtrainer PKY which is officially registered as construction number 069 is in fact 062 and therefore ex A19-062 and ZK-EAY and another Airtrainer with an identity problem is JDN which appears to be flying as JND. Another aircraft that is not what it appears is de Havilland Heron NJP which was listed in the October issue. The ex RN Fleet Air Arm machine was one of a number of retired Herons that were stored at Cheltenham, England prior to sale. Somewhere along the way the British registrations G-ODLG and G-ORSJ were painted on the wrong aircraft so although NJP is officially listed as construction number 14072 (G-ODLG) it is believed to be 14092 (G-ORSJ). Several reports have indicated that the other three Herons stored with G-ORSJ will also be coming to Australia although some may be for parts only.

Five aircraft return to the register this issue, four Helicopter Resources Squirrels and a Beech Musketeer. The Squirrels have returned from their annual sojourn to Peace Helicopters in Canada whilst the Musketeer returns after almost eight years of inactivity after being withdrawn from use in 1985.

Unfortunately the largest group in the deletions section this month are those aircraft that have been involved in accidents, many of which were fatal and received much publicity. All the occupants of JetRanger ALV were killed when it crashed near Mount Hotham and one person died after Bell 47J Ranger KHZ crashed into the Spencer Gulf off Whyalla. In a gallant attempt to save his friend, an Adelaide plumber released his companion’s safety belt and dragged him from the sinking helicopter. He then swam with his unconscious friend for several kilometres before he was forced to let go and continue his swim to safety. Meanwhile, the pilot of Robinson HBO was lucky to escape serious injury when his helicopter crashed and burnt near Normanton on a flight from Mareeba to Karumba in Qld. He survived the wreck and a night in the bush before being rescued the next day. Also lucky were the two occupants of Cherokee Six BMU which crashed into a garden, narrowly missing a house, in Wandong, Vic. The two escaped with minor injuries.

Not so lucky were the two young men in Trinidad JTI which went missing on a flight from Bankstown to Forbes in Western NSW. The aircraft and bodies were found two weeks later under tragic circumstances. Quickie OIO was also destroyed on a flight from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast during late October. Four aircraft are also listed that crashed some time ago but have only recently been taken off the register including Corby Starlet XSJ which only flew for about two months before it crashed at Lilydale during November 1992.

Three aircraft have been withdrawn from use including Cessna 411 TDB which has been donated to a school as an instructional aid. Piper Warrior BIJ has been reregistered again, after only two months as BLI, whilst a further six aircraft have had their markings changed for various reasons. As usual New Zealand is the principle destination for exported aircraft this month with nine making the journey, including Seneca PZG which has gone to Southflight Aviation of Christchurch. Eleven other machines have been exported to different countries such as the USA, Thailand, Malaysia, India and PNG. Dennis Douglas of Boroko PNG has acquired Cessna Stationair UDE whilst Cessna Centurion JQS has gone to Mapmakers at Port Moresby. The turbocharged 210 will be an ideal aircraft for photography in the mountain regions of PNG.

Three candidates for export in future issues are Cessna 182J RHO which is now owned by Mr B Brumley of PNG, Cessna 421B Golden Eagle AIW which was at Bankstown during late June for fitting of extra fuel tanks for a trip to the USA and Tomahawk NFY which, after long range fuel tanks were fitted, left Moorabbin on October 6 bound for Dennis Thompson International in New Zealand.

The changes of owner/operator section reveals some commuters changing hands. Rockwell Commander AAG has joined Newcastle Aviation’s fleet of Swearingens on overnight parcel runs in NSW whilst Air Link of Dubbo has acquired the ex Oxley Airlines Navajo LHH. A second ex Oxley Navajo, LHL, has gone to Paul Cromarty of Wodonga. Air North West has obtained two Islanders, XFF and XFI, from Flight West Airlines after the latter withdrew from some of its island routes in north Queensland recently and found itself with some piston engined types that have become surplus to requirements.

Col Pay, famous for his warbird collection, has added Chipmunk AMV to his assorted aircraft based at Scone NSW whilst further north the Challinor brothers at Murwillumbah on the NSW/Queensland border now have Auster HPM in their hangar. The Auster was damaged at Mackay on February 25 so it will no doubt be receiving some TLC from the brothers, known more for their Tiger Moth restorations, before taking to the air again. A couple of Twin Comanches appear in this months listing including Max Pearson’s FVZ. Max is the Australian Tribe Chief of the International Comanche Society who are hosting the group’s Annual Convention at Surfers Paradise in July 1994. Max is hoping to get as many Australian Comanche owners and pilots to the convention as possible along with a their mounts. Two aircraft that changed hands some time ago, although the paperwork has only just filtered through the system, are Rob Slater’s Cessna 210 SMC and Doug and Gillian Lennon’s Harvard LJQ which is now based at Oakey. Trislander NKW, Commander SPP and Cessna Titan WGS have had their official owners changed from Aerodata to World Geoscience Corp although the address remains the same. The appropriately registered Titan WGS (World GeoScience) was noted on the other side of the worldrecently passing through Guernsey in the Channel Islands on July 11. It was engaged in oil survey work in the Solent area of England on July 24 and 25, and then passed through Glasgow, Scotland on its way to Reykjavick in Iceland on August 3.

Some New Zealand markings of aircraft recently imported from Australia are now known and include Cessna 172N ZK-SAL (ex JYT) with Sunair Aviation of Mount Maunganui, Bonanza ZK-RNT (ex WMD) with Mr R Taylor of Christchurch and Tomahawk ZK-DMF (ex LMD) now with the Marlborough Aero Club at Blenheim. Two Cessna Skylanes, TBE and HSF, have become ZK-TBE and ZK-ZOC respectively whilst Beaver IDR is destined for Astro Air, Aztec RCI is for Mountain Air of Taumaranui and Cessna U206 HAC will go to Ash Corbett of Blenheim. Another recent trans Tasman delivery was Pawnee SUG which is now used as a glider tug at Omarama. Beaver XIX which crashed during March 1992 has also found its way to New Zealand. It has since been rebuilt and is now back in the air using its previous Kiwi registration of ZK-CCY.

John Mowett who flies with the South Pacific Aero Club at Port Moresby has advised that three recent Australian exports are on line with the Aero Club. Cessna 206 P2-CJK still carries the name of its previous owner, Air Aust Asian, on its cowling but John assures us that it is now privately owned along with Warrior P2-JXR and Cessna 172 P2-DCZ and all are available for club use. Also in PNG is Queen Air FDL and Islanders OCH and TRW. The Queen Air was shown as exported in the July issue and it is now known that the elderly Beech now flies as P2-TNQ with Transniugini Airways whilst the Islanders have joined Southwest Air of Mendi as P2-SWD and Heli-Niugini of Madang as P2-HBE respectively.

Cessna 414A FOF has returned to the American markings, N414TF, that it wore prior to coming to Australia and Baron KSA now flies in the USA as N70706. Further afield, two East West Friendships, EWG and EWJ which were sold in Norway more than ten years ago are still active with Air Nordic of Vasteras, Sweden. King Air BIB, which was came to Australia in 1967 for Bib Stilwell and was sold in the USA during November 1975, has found its way to Chile where it now flies as CC-COT with Maquinarias Piucivic Hijos.

The 1993/94 Australian Aviation Civil Aircraft Register is now available. The latest register has been expanded to include ultralights and powered hang gliders (trikes) but even with the increase in the number of pages we have been able to maintain the same price as last year. This is the only publication available that lists registration, type, construction number and owner/operator’s name and address in an easy to read tabulated format. Nearly 10,000 aircraft are listed including those registered with the Civil Aviation Authority, the Australian Ultralight Federation and the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia. The register is only available from AustAirData, PO Box 1142, Toombul, Qld 4012, ph (074) 98 3757 at a cost of $10. 95 including postage within Australia (add 50% for overseas air mail). Details are also available on IBM compatible computer disk in dbase IV or ASCII format at a cost of $50. 00 and credit card facilities are now available.