Civil Aircraft Register Update

Register Review

Thirty four aircraft are listed in the New Allocation section this month. This represents a small increase in the number of aircraft registered in Australia and brings the total to 10,679 including gliders. Of the helicopters, HXD and NLL are brand new Robinson R22 Betas while HLY is a second hand example imported from the UK. HLY was delivered new to Mr C Norman of Stockport, England in October 1990 who flew the aircraft as G-BSUI until it was exported to Australia this year. Squirrel XKW comes from Japan where it was operated by Sony as a VIP transport and Dauphin NRL was previously used in Sweden. The Dauphin was originally delivered to the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force and flew as HKG-2 for many years. When the Dauphins were replaced in August 1990 with Sikorsky S-76s, HKG-2 moved on to the UK where it joined the Nash Helicopters fleet at Coventry as G-BSRN. After a while in Norway flying as LN-OME with Helikopter Service at Stavanger and a short time in Sweden marked as SE-JCJ it now joins the Northern Region SLSA at Lismore in Northern NSW on surf life saving duties. Australian built aircraft are well represented with two home built Rans designs, RV-4 KME and RV-6 XDT, two more Skyfox Gazelles, TIR and YOT, and the fourteenth Jabiru ST, YEP. Sales of the Bundaberg built Jabiru are proceeding steadily and with the delivery of the first aircraft (ZK-JRU) to New Zealand agents Agriculture and Related Industry Distributors of Rakaia, Avtech is looking optimistically to the future. Pitts Special RAW was built during 1975 and has been imported from the USA where it flew as N899 with Air Adventure of Wilmington, Delaware, while Tri-Pacer TWI comes from Canada. The PA-22 Tri-Pacer was a logical development of the PA-20 Pacer with the main undercarriage moved rearwards and a nosewheel fitted in place of the PA-20’s tailwheel. PA-20 and PA-22 aircraft were built alongside each other for four years between 1951 and 1954 and in fact the first six Tri-Pacers were fitted with PA-20 Pacer wings. The original 125hp (93kW) engine was retained for the first two years of production but during June 1952 this was upgraded to a 135hp (100kW) Lycoming. The 150hp (110kW) engine was introduced during 1954 and three years later, in September 1957, the 160hp (120kW) engine was made available. A small number of 150hp (110kW) Tri-Pacers continued to be built along with the 160hp (120kW) models during 1958, however during 1959 the Tri-Pacer 150 was phased out and the Caribbean was introduced. The Caribbean was a very basic Tri-Pacer, retaining the 150hp (110kW) engine, and giving 115kt (212km/h) cruise speed and four seats at a low cost. Production of the Tri-Pacer 160 and Caribbean 150 continued until August 26 1960 when Piper’s new PA-28 Cherokee was released. Altogether 7531 Tri-Pacers and Caribbeans were built between 1951 and 1960, making it the most successful Piper design at that time. Instead of scrapping the jigs at the end of production of the Tri-Pacer and Caribbean lines, Piper used them to produce a two seat training aircraft based on the Tri-Pacer but with no flaps and only one wing fuel tank. The reduced weight with only two seats enabled Piper to use the much smaller 108hp (80kW) engine and produce a very cost effective training aircraft. This aircraft became the Piper Colt and 1848 aircraft were built between 1961 and 1963 when the type was superseded by the Cherokee 140. Toward the end of Colt production, Piper built a special order of 12 Tri-Pacer 150s for the French Army. Mark Hemsley’s Tri-Pacer, TWI, is an early 150hp (110kW) model built during 1955 and is the second oldest Tri-Pacer still flying in Australia, the oldest being BPP which came to this country during 1956 and is still going strong. RIC is a brand new British built Colt balloon for Allan Harding of Canberra and Grob G 115Cs ZTL, ZTM and ZTO replace three earlier B models in the China Southern WA Flying College fleet based at Parafield. Lake Buccaneer ASS returns to the air after being damaged at Port Macquarie during 1983 when flying as WAI. The elderly amphibian was unable to use its original markings as a Skippers Aviation Metro 23 now flies as WAI. Two new bizjets are listed, both BAe 125s. XMO is an 800B model whilst LYG is the first 700A model to be registered in Australia (refer Traffic this issue). In fact LYG is not new to this country as it visited Sydney during 1977 as G-BEFZ and again in 1980 this time registered in Hong Kong as VR-HIM. The second time it was in company with sistership VR-HIN, both painted in the very attractive maroon and grey colour scheme of its then owner McAlpine Aviation (Asia). In the Aircraft Returning to Register section Dash 8 XFT returns to the Flight West fleet, as predicted last issue, after an 11 month lease to Ansett New Zealand flying as ZK-NEW. Aus-Air Bandeirante OZG was sold to Flight West Airlines during November 1991 and re-registered XFJ in keeping with other aircraft in the Flight West fleet. The much travelled Bandit is now back with Aus-Air using its original markings of OZG. Cessna 177 Cardinal DZS was the 308th Cardinal built and was delivered new to Australia during October 1968. It was damaged at Leigh Creek on June 9 1990 but has been rebuilt by Riley Aeronautics at Tocumwal NSW. Interestingly it has been rebuilt to 177A standard which was the 1969 model. Almost half of the Deletion section is made up of re-registrations and the change of Cessna 402C JOC to JOV is a classic example of the confusion that CASA’s policy of allowing aircraft to change markings is causing. The original JOC was taken off the register on August 29 1995 after being damaged. On the same day Air Swift acquired another Cessna 402C HUR and changed it to JOC. JOC the first, has now been repaired and was put back on the register on February 1. However it was changed to JOV the next day when it was realised that there were two Cessna 402Cs registered as JOC. Seven aircraft have been sold overseas including four to New Zealand. Hughes 500 AJZ and Hughes 300 JPT both departed by ship whilst Twin Otter FNT and Cessna 180 GCW were flown across the Tasman to their new owners. GCW was noted at Lord Howe Island on February 1 enroute to Auckland. Agusta 109 BIS has been sold in the Philippines whilst Piper Malibu MOY has gone to Thailand, leaving only seven Malibus active in Australia. Lear 25 OVS has departed for the USA, leaving no other examples of the smaller model 25 flying in this country. Two aircraft have been withdrawn from use but can be expected to return to the register in due course and two have been deleted due to accident damage, the details of which are not available at present. Two more Skywest Commander 500s appear in the Change of CoR Holders listing this issue. EXR and EXI have been made redundant after Skywest lost the Coastwatch contract to National Jet Systems, however, the aircraft did not take long to find new owners with Whitsunday Aerial Survey and General Aviation Maintenance respectively. EXI replaces GAM’s Commander UJP which crashed at Horn Island, Qld in December. Aero Training Camden also figured prominently with seven of its aircraft included due to the consolidation of Aero Training and Camden Aviation. Both companies will continue to trade separately but for administration purposes all aircraft are now listed with CASA under the same name. The aircraft involved are Tomahawks BVK, HAA, HAW and HAY, Cherokee BVM, Skyhawk SXE and Cessna 150 TUC. Cherokee SVY is also part of the fleet and this is expected to be re-registered BVY in the near future. The merger of Camden Aviation and Aero Training has made it one of the largest training organisations in the Sydney area. John Weymouth has acquired Airtrainer DPV from Rod Hall to add to his already extensive fleet of warbirds whilst the former Careflight Aerospatiale Dauphin is now with Bell Helicopter agents Helitech. Galaxy EPO has changed hands and Kavanagh WHJ is shown due to a change of company name. Both balloons will remain on the Sunshine Coast where ballooning is becoming one of the biggest tourist attractions in the area. During the last three months we have reported three aircraft that have returned to the UK and further details are now available. BAe 146 NJQ arrived at Woodford, England on January 11 and was repainted as G-BWLG. The ex National Jet Systems machine is now registered to Trident Leasing Services of Jersey but will go to Air Jet of Paris in the very near future. BAe 125 JFT, after returning to its birthplace, was very quickly sold to Cheyenne Management of Sterling Heights, 90 Australian Aviation May 1996, Illinois, USA and is now flying as N395RD. Bristow Helicopters Bell 212 BEU arrived back at Bristow’s UK base Redhill during October and took up its previous UK markings of G-BOEP as predicted. Meanwhile another of Bristow’s Bell 212s G-BMVF, which saw service in Australia as BEY, is now active in Nigeria flying as 5N-BHE and based at Port Harcourt. Sikorsky S-76 EMM was shown in the March deletions section and is now in South Africa. The aircraft is owned by Court Helicopters of Cape Town but leased to Helinamib for use in Namibia and registered ZS-RGZ. The S-76 is expected to be joined by a further two Australian S-76s, probably ex Esso machines made redundant by later model S-76Cs. In the August 1995 issue we noted that Squirrel BGV had been sold in Singapore. In fact it was sold to Samaero of Singapore but did not make it onto the local register as it was quickly sold to Mactan-Cebu Airline System of the Philippines. It now operates from Cebu City Airport and is registered RP-C1808. In the same vein Aztec WJJ was shown in the September deletions as being sold in the USA. In reality the aircraft did not get that far as it now operates in the French Pacific Islands as F-OHJR. AWAS Boeing 737 OAN, which went to Belgium in April last year, is now flying as F-GRSA with Air Provence of Marignane, France, which has recently become part of Euro Belgium Airlines. Airlines of Tasmania Shorts 360 TAO, which went to the USA during April 1993, has been remanufactured as a Sherpa for the US Army and after a short period of test flying as N427SA, now uses the military serial 93-1325. Early model DC-9s and Boeing 727s are popular bizjets with the “wealthier than you and I” set in the Caribbean and ex TAA Boeing 727 TJF has had its fair share of wealthy owners. TAA sold it to Constance Leasing in Bermuda where it flew as VR-BAT for a number of years before going to View Top Corporation of New York City as N888VT. In 1994 it returned to Bermuda, this time as VR-BRR but has now moved on to the Cayman Islands, just south of Cuba in the Caribbean sea, where it flies as VR-CAM. The 1996 Australian Aviation Civil Aircraft Register is now available. This is the only publication that lists registration, type, construction number and CoR Holder’s name and address in an easy to read tabulated format. Over 10,000 aircraft are listed including those registered with CASA, the Gliding Federation of Australia and the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia. The register is only available from AustAirData, PO Box 1142, Toombul, Qld 4012 (phone and fax 074 983 757) at a cost of $11.00 including postage within Australia (add 50% for overseas air mail). Credit card facilities are available and the Register is also available on IBM compatible computer disk in ASCII format at a cost of $50.00 or as a complete stand alone database programme at a cost of $70.00.