Register Update

BXT PA‑32‑301XTC 6XT 3255016 11/4/11 David Curtis, PO Box 42975 Casuarina NT 0811
CCT Grumman G‑164A Super Ag‑Cat 1311 30/11/10 Michael Lutz, 990 Bullumwaal Rd
Mount Taylor Vic 3875
CFI Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP 172S10596 25/3/11 The Scout Association of Australia, PO
Box 922 Narellan NSW 2567
CJN Robinson R22 Beta II 3957 28/3/11 Barkly Helicopters, 59 Louise St Cranbrook 4814
DPH Cessna 182Q Skylane 18266583 4/3/11 Michael Whillas, 7 Blacker Ct Port Lincoln 5606
DSL Cessna 182L Skylane 18258574 21/3/11 Claver Kenny, “Belyando Junction” Charters
Towers Qld 4820
DZM Cessna 177 Cardinal 17700130 24/3/11 Naonis Aviation, 3 Plenty River Dr Greensborough
Vic 3088
DZP Cessna 177 Cardinal 17700138 24/3/11 Gregory Scudder, 72 Hibiscus Rd Cannon
Valley Qld 4800
ECM Cessna 172N Skyhawk 17271712 21/3/11 CJ Wade Holdings, 244 Banksia Rd
Oldbury WA 6121
EJL Beech Hawker 800XP 258295 8/4/11 Sunshine Air Services, Private Bag 43 Mount
Waverley Vic 3149
ESS Cessna 182P Skylane 18262827 9/3/11 Zane White, PO Box 258 Moranbah Qld 4744
ETM Grumman AA‑1A Yankee AA1A‑0396 13/12/10 Paul Newton, PO Box 38 Walgett 2832
FOC Cessna 210L Centurion 21061327 3/4/11 Guru Aviation, PO Box 2835 Port Macquarie
NSW 2444
FYF Cirrus SR22‑G3 GTS 3515 1/3/11 Michaels of Donald, 15 McCulloch St Donald 3480
GDL Grob G103 Twin Astir 3028 15/3/11 Alice Springs Gliding Club, PO Box 356 Alice
Springs NT 0871
HAQ Ayres S2R‑T34 Turbo Thrush T34‑190DC 15/3/11 Cropair, PO Box 287 Wee Waa 2388
HBO Robinson R44 Raven I 1765 8/4/11 Heliflite, PO Box 121 Georges Hall NSW 2198
HCF Robinson R22 Beta 1254 17/3/11 Richard Powell, 8 Seagull Ave Aroona Qld 4551
HEA Robinson R22 Beta II 4093 4/3/11 A and L Prentice, PO Box 2039 Emerald Qld 4720
HED Robinson R44 Clipper II 10418 1/3/11 Francesco Giandomenico, PO Box 195 Ingham
Qld 4850
HYC Robinson R44 Raven II 10101 14/3/11 Sydney Helicopters, 25 Wentworth St Granville
NSW 2142
IAH Cessna 182H Skylane 18256251 10/3/11 Daniel Brown, 9 Marlee Ct Burleigh Heads
Qld 4220
IOG Extra EA300L 100 28/3/11 Inverted Downunder, 53 Yule Rd Merewether NSW 2291
IQM Cessna 172M Skyhawk 17261977 22/3/11 Lindsay Aviation, PO Box 537 Townsville
Qld 4810
JNO Robinson R22 Beta 1122 17/3/11 Channel Country Heliwork, “Milo” Adavale 4474
KEB Eurocopter AS350B2 Squirrel 4805 8/4/11 Power Capital Holdings, 27 Roche Rd
Kurwongbah Qld 4503
KEW Beech 58 Baron TH‑803 28/2/11 AAA Charter, PO Box 329 Jabiru NT 0886
KEZ Cessna 402C 402C0262 1/2/11 Broome Air Services, PO Box 3106 Broome WA 6725
KNH Cessna 182Q Skylane 18266711 16/3/11 Haeuslers Group, PO Box 4192 Mildura 3502
KQY Cessna 150H 15067720 18/3/11 Ronald Duncan, PO Box 411 Carnarvon WA 6701
KWT Robinson R44 Raven II 13016 28/3/11 Notuse, 981 New England Hwy Muswellbrook
NSW 2333
LBM Cessna 172M Skyhawk 17264716 23/2/11 J Lucas, 9 Queens Beach La Scarborough
Qld 4020
LLR Robinson R22 Beta 2005 5/4/11 Davidson Heliworks, PO Box 8 Tambo Qld 4478
LSS Beech 23 Musketeer M‑353 1/4/11 Fernhill Technology, 34 Reid St Fitzroy North 3068
LWA Cessna 208B Grand Caravan 208B1173 1/4/11 Chartair, PO Box 41170 Casuarina 0811
LZM Robinson R44 Raven I 2098 25/3/11 Williambury Helicopters, PO Box 3063 Belmont
WA 6104
NLW Cessna 172B Skyhawk 17247753 21/3/11 Tanake, PO Box 716 Airlie Beach Qld 4802
NOJ Vans RV‑4TE DA4 9/3/11 The South Australian Aviation Museum, PO Box 150 Port
Adelaide SA 5015
OHC Vans RV‑9A 91167 21/3/11 Border Airfarmers, Lot 1 Winton Rd Birdwood SA 5234
ONT Robinson R22 Beta II 4495 23/3/11 Aerial Agriculture, PO Box 453 Armidale 2350
OPS Ayres S2R‑T34 Turbo Thrush T34‑127DC 31/3/11 Rural Air Work, PO Box 453 Moree
NSW 2400
PBV Cessna 210M Centurion 21062350 28/2/11 AAA Charter, PO Box 329 Jabiru NT 0886
PKD Cessna 182D Skylane 18253151 12/3/11 I Downes, 234 Keepit Dam Rd Keepit 2340
RFW Robinson R22 Beta II 4395 13/4/11 QOTS Air, PO Box 187 Longreach Qld 4730
RSZ PA‑24‑250 Comanche 24‑1337 25/2/11 Henry Morris, 11 Barnes Gr Chelsea Vic 3196
SBO Seabird SB7‑L‑360A Seeker 070011 1/3/11 Maltair, PO Box 105 Archerfield Qld 4108
SCS PA‑25‑150 Pawnee 25‑730 19/3/11 Graham Heagney, “Oorawilly” Walcha NSW 2354
SGB Cessna 182A Skylane (Tail wheel conversion) 51034 23/3/11 Oulton Investments,
264 Tandur Rd Tandur Qld 4570
SQC Beech 58 Baron TH‑1213 1/2/11 Jetfield Nominees, PO Box 1586 Applecross WA 6953
SRT PA‑34‑200T Seneca II 34‑7970172 24/3/11 Quest Aviation, 195 Henrys Rd Loch 3945
SSZ Cessna 650 Citation III 650‑0158 4/3/11 Sundyne, PO Box 72 Auburn NSW 2144
STD Cessna 182E Skylane 18254209 8/4/11 Allan Gray, 36 Mariners Dr Surrey Downs 5126
TDS Cirrus SR20A 1409 1/3/11 Maltair, PO Box 105 Archerfield Qld 4108
TJQ Eurocopter AS350B2 Squirrel 4954 9/3/11 Whitsunday Helicopter Group, PO Box 8924
Mount Pleasant Qld 4740
TVE PA‑28‑161 Warrior II 28‑7716050 8/3/11 Michael Bourke, 4 Allambi Ct Mount Eliza
Vic 3930
TYB Cessna 182P Skylane 18262716 30/3/11 Lester Anderson, PO Box 10 Theodore 4719
UDC Cessna T182T Skylane T18208709 17/2/11 Alan Symons, 949 Williams Rd Scotts
Creek Vic 3267
VAH Beech B200C King Air BL‑156 28/3/11 Pel‑Air Aviation, PO Box 807 Mascot 1460
VAI Beech B200C King Air BL‑157 28/3/11 Pel‑Air Aviation, PO Box 807 Mascot 1460
VDB Beech G36 Bonanza E‑3791 29/3/11 Maurice Holden, 497 Landsborough Rd Concongella
Vic 3384
VMK Cessna T182T Skylane T18209017 10/3/11 Airal, 77 Palmer Tce North Adelaide 5006
VRI VulcanAir P68R 430 31/1/11 Michael Kirkley, 3 Houston Ct Wynyard Tas 7325
XRB Extra EA200 021 28/3/11 Stick and Rudder Aviation, PO Box 76 Georges Hall 2198
XVM Robinson R22 Beta II 4036 28/3/11 Barkly Helicopters, 59 Louise St Cranbrook 4814
XXR Robinson R66 0014 6/4/11 Richard Baillieu, 33/360 Collins St Melbourne Vic 3000
ZKA Beech B200C Super King Air BL‑154 28/3/11 Pel‑Air Aviation, PO Box 807 Mascot
NSW 1460
ZKB Beech B200C Super King Air BL‑155 28/3/11 Pel‑Air Aviation, PO Box 807 Mascot
NSW 1460
ZMJ PA‑31‑325 Navajo C/R 31‑7912011 10/2/11 Australasian Jet, Hangar 81 Bristol St
Essendon Airport Vic 3041
ZPP Robinson R22 Beta II 2919 16/3/11 Setanta Aviation, 15 Upton St Soldiers Point 2317

Register Review

After two months of being able to report a plethora of new types coming to Australia, mainly for the Avalon Airshow, this is the first issue for a long time where there is only one new type listed in the New Allocations section. However, the Chance Vought Corsair is a very interesting aircraft indeed.

During 1938 the US Navy requested tenders for a new single seat fighter to be based on aircraft carriers. Chance Vought designed such an aircraft with the emphasis on a powerful engine, good load carrying capabilities and a long range. The result was the smallest possible airframe built around the most powerful engine available at the time, the Wright R-2800 radial, driving a four bladed propeller.

The large turning diameter of the propeller meant that the fuselage would need to sit well above the ground, which would mean using a long, ungainly undercarriage. Chance Vought overcame this problem by designing the famous inverted gull wing, and by mounting the main undercarriage at the crank of the wing it was possible to use a compact and very strong main wheel arrangement.

A single prototype made its maiden flight on May 29 1940 and proved to be the fastest fighter the US armed forces had at their disposal. An initial contract for 584 aircraft was placed with Chance Vought on June 30 1941 after the aircraft was given the designation F4U and named Corsair. The Corsair proved so popular that Chance Vought could not keep up with demand, so Brewster Aeronautical and Goodyear Aircraft also built the Corsair under licence. By the time production ceased in December 1952, more than 11,000 Corsairs had been built and had been delivered to the US Navy and Marines as well as the RAF and RNZAF.

The North Queensland Warbirds Corsair NQW began life with the US Navy before being donated to the War Memorial Museum of Virginia at Newport, Virginia, during 1949. Steve McClellan of the Confederate Air Force at Virginia Beach acquired the aircraft during 1985, and then sold it to Gerald Yagen of the Fighter Factory at the same location in 1998. The Corsair is thought to have been in storage at Norfolk, Virginia, since 2001 awaiting restoration.

Peter Rosendale’s 1962 Piper Comanche ECR is the first 180hp (135kW) version to be imported since 1968 and joins eight other examples still flying in this country, while two survive in New Zealand. The PA-24 Comanche was Piper’s first all-metal, four-seat, single engine, touring aircraft. When the prototype flew in June 1956, it was considered a big step forward in aircraft design with its low wing, swept tail fin and retractable undercarriage. Two prototypes were completed before mass production got underway during October 1957 at Loch Haven, Pennsylvania.

Initial production aircraft were powered by the 180hp (135kW) Lycoming O-360-A1A engine, but less than a year later the higher powered 250hp (180kW) model was released using an O- 540-A1A5 engine and, although both engines were available as options in the Comanche up to 1964, very few 180hp (135kW) engines were fitted after the 250hp (180kW) unit became available. The Comanche 260 was released during 1965, fitted with a 260hp (195kW) engine, and turbocharging became an option in 1970. Production ceased on June 23 1972 when the Loch Haven plant was inundated with floodwater and all completed and partially completed aircraft after serial number 24-5029 were destroyed.

Cessna T303 Crusader ENJ has been registered to International Mining Machinery after sitting for almost 12 months at Caloundra, Queensland, wearing its South African markings ZS-LMV. The Crusader was designed to replace the 310 which had been a tremendous success for Cessna, selling almost 6000.

It had a larger cabin to accommodate an extra seat, higher powered 250hp (187kW) Continental engines and an airstair door. The prototype 303 Clipper flew during February 1978 fitted with two 160hp (120kW) Lycoming engines, but production aircraft, designated T303 Crusader, had the more powerful Continental engines.

Deliveries began in 1982 after 310 production ended the previous year, but sales were slow due to a downturn in the American economy and an increase in product liability claims. By 1985, liability claims had reached major proportions and the T303 was discontinued after only 305 aircraft had been built.

Cipher Transport and Aviation Services has registered five of the six Austrian air force Bell 206A JetRangers which arrived at the AMT/Airwork hangar at Caboolture, Queensland, during mid February. The sixth helicopter is believed to have been slightly damaged in transit and will therefore take a little longer to be ready for resale.

Three more Austrian air force aircraft are on their way, along with one or two civil JetRangers previously flown in Austria.

There is only one aircraft Returning to the Register this month, with Beech A36 Bonanza ABN back after being revoked by CASA on January 27.

More than half the aircraft listed in the Deletions section have been exported, with a further five deleted due to accident damage, while three have been withdrawn from use. The biggest loss is the last remaining flyable Fokker Friendship, EWP.

During April 1956 TAA announced that it had been granted permission to import six Friendships, and later that year Butler Air Transport announced that they had ordered five. In May 1958 TAA’s order was increased to 12 aircraft, while later than year Ansett ordered six 200 series Friendships.

The first Friendship to arrive in Australia was TFB, named Abel Tasman, which was officially handed over to TAA at Essendon on April 16 1959.

Meanwhile, East-West Airlines had ordered two Friendships with the first, EWA, arriving in Brisbane on August 10 1959, while two months later the first Ansett-ANA Friendship, FNA, was delivered to Essendon. Since then, there have been 78 Friendships registered in Australia, with Ansett, Trans Australia Airlines and East-West being the main operators. Butler Air Transport intended using its Friendships on Queensland Airlines routes, but before the aircraft were delivered Butler/Queensland Airlines was taken over by Ansett and the aircraft never carried Butler Air Transport titles.

EWP was delivered to East- West Airlines during September 1976 and was used on the airline’s extensive route network for the next 16 years. During 1992 the aircraft was retired from airline service and fitted out as a hydrographic survey platform for the Department of Defence.

A laser airborne depth sounder (LADS) was fitted and work began to chart the ocean floor around the coast of Australia.

During May 2009 it was announced that the Friendship would be replaced by Dash 8 LCL, and on September 15 EWP made its last survey on behalf of the Department of Defence/Navy. It was then ferried to Adelaide where the LADS equipment was transferred to LCL. EWP continued to be used for survey work, mostly overseas, and on April 22 2010 the aircraft departed Australia for the last time, heading for South America.

After a survey in Guadeloupe during March this year it was sold to International Air Parts of Bankstown and ferried to Opa Locka, USA. It will most likely be parted out in the USA and therefore will not return to Australia.

Of the exports, four Colville Aviation Services Cessna 152s have been exported to the Philippines.

AQF, BSF and BYQ came to Australia together during March 2008, while LEK was a 1985 import. Iain Hutchinson’s Supermarine Spitfire replica IJH has at last been deleted from the local register, having been resident in Perth, Scotland, since October 2007.

Agusta AW139 NZE has gone to Thailand where it now flies as HS-SFH with SFS Aviation, and Cessna 172S Skyhawk IMZ is now with CTC Aviation Training in New Zealand marked as ZK-ZAQ. CTC New Zealand, a division of CTC UK, uses 15 Cessna 172s and 7 Diamond Katanas for single engine pilot training, and eight Diamond Twin Stars and three Piper Seminoles for twin engine training, from their extensive Hamilton facility on New Zealand’s North Island.

Four aircraft are shown as being exported to America, including Swearingen Metro EER which is now with Career Aviation at Wilmington, Delaware, marked as N632TR, and Agusta Koala KEJ which in now N119HF with Wells Fargo Bank at Salt Lake City, Utah. Cessna Citation III SBU has been sold to Cloudscape, Roswell, New Mexico, and flies as N353HA, while two Qantas Boeing 747s are shown as being exported and may well end up on the US register some time in the future. The two 747s, OEC and OED, were ferried to Victorville, California, during late 2009 for long term storage and have now been sold. It remains to be seen whether they will be broken up for parts at Victorville or will move on to another airline.

Bell 47 BMH, Liberty XL2 CVX, Robinson R22 HYE and Cessna 172 SMY have all been deleted due to accident damage, with the Cessna 172 coming to grief at Pigeon Island, 160km NW of Geraldton, WA, when it ended up in shallow water after it overran the strip while landing.

Catching up with some recent Australian aircraft movements in South America, we find Embraer ERJ-145s SZF and SZH, which were operated by SkyAirWorld between May 2008 and April 2009 and have since spent time in Ireland, Spain and Austria, are now in Brazil. Marked as PR-PSO and PR-PSP, the aircraft are operated by Passaredo Transportes Aereos at Ribeirao Preto. BAe 146-200 NJJ, which National Jet Systems operated on behalf of QantasLink from August 1994 to November 2006, is now with Star Aviation at Lima, Peru, where it flies as OB‑1964-P. In Mexico, Learjet 35A XB-LWW turns out to have been owned by Bib Stillwell between February 1977 and October 1979 and registered TLJ. Also in Mexico is Boeing 737 OAM, which was owned by leasing company Nordstress and used by Oman Air before coming to Australia in March 1993. It went to Belgium two years later, and after spending time in Tunisia is now marked as XA-VIL with Viva Aerobus at Monterrey.

Learjet 35A MZL is now in Uruguay flying as CX-PYB, Beech Super King Air USD has recently been acquired by Servicios Aereos at Denim, Mexico, and is now registered XA-JMS, and Agusta A109S N408SM, which was to become NBX but was not imported and was replaced by a newer A109S, is also in Mexico where it flies as XA-ACU. Ansett Boeing 737 CZU and Boeing 767 RMA are respectively with Whitejets at Guarulhos, Brazil, marked as PR-WTB, and Aerosur at Santa Cruz, Bolivia, flying as CP‑2659.

On a much lighter note, Tiger Moth ASF, which was built from spare parts and originally registered as GAC on March 14 1956, was sold in the US during June 2000 and officially registered N176TM.

However, the elderly aircraft is based in Puerto Rico and is regularly seen flying, still in its RAAF markings as A17-177 and VH‑ASF.