Register Review

Design improvement began straight away but it was not until August 11 1960 that the FBA-2 took to the air. The newer model was an all-metal aircraft able to seat five people and was fitted with a 250hp (186kW) Lycoming O-540 engine. It had a large cargo door on each side and the horizontal and vertical tail surfaces were designed to be interchangeable in the same way as the much later Pilatus Porter. The production model was the FBA-2C which had a slightly longer fuselage and a tail wheel undercarriage. During 1966 Found was working on a larger six-seat utility aircraft with a 290hp (216kW) Lycoming engine – the Centennial 100 – but the development costs were crippling the company and Found ceased operations in 1967 after only 27 FBA-2s had been built between 1962 and 1967.

Over the next 40 years the comparatively small numbers of Found aircraft operating in Canada gained a reputation for being perfect for bush flying and in 1996 a new company was formed – Found Aircraft Development – to put the aircraft back in production as the FBA-2C fitted with a 260hp (194kW) Lycoming engine. The prototype was underpowered so a second prototype was built using a 300hp (224kW) Lycoming IO-540- L1C5 powerplant and named the Bush Hawk 300, which first flew during October 1998. With further design refinements including a redesigned undercarriage, wing and tail the production aircraft was named the Bush Hawk XP.

The second new type shown in the listing this issue is Simon Pike’s Sonex Onex OVT. The Onex (pronounced One-X) is the brain child of John Monnett who previously designed the Sonerai sporting/touring aircraft, Monerai glider and Monex racer. The Onex is an all-metal single-seat fully aerobatic machine with folding wings to enable it to be stored in a single-car garage or trailered to and from an airfield on local roads.

Simon obtained his aircraft from the Sonex factory at Oshkosh, Wisconsin and is almost ready for its first flight. The aircraft’s 80hp (60kW) AeroConvertions AeroVee engine is based on the 2. 2 litre air-cooled, flat-four engine found in the VW “Beetle” and drives a fixed pitch Sensenich propeller.

Simon has had 20 years’ experience in building and flying amateurbuilt aircraft and has made several aerodynamic modifications to the original Onex design. Simon has already built and regularly flies a Vans RV-6 OWT.

An uncommonly large number of aircraft Returning to the Register this issue is due mainly to two fire bombers arriving from Canada for the bush fire season and three aircraft back on the register only days after deregistration. Air Tractors FFM and FFU are back with Field Air at Ballarat for the Australian bushfire season after their annual pilgrimage to Canada for their wildfire season. FFU is returning after its fourth rotation with Connair at Abbotsford, Ontario, whilst FFM has operated in Canada twice before. A further two Air Tractors are due back soon to add to the fleet. Robinson R22s HFQ and HRJ along with Cessna 404 Titan TTK are back on the register only days after being revoked by CASA (see Deletions this issue) and the Bell 212 NSY is back in Australia after a spell in PNG.

The much-travelled Bell 212 was built in 1977 and delivered new to the UK to become G-BFES.

From there it went to America and then Trinidad before coming to Australia for the first time during October 1981. It went back onto the UK register for 11 days during 1982, although it is unlikely that it actually left Australia, but is it known to have returned to the UK during October 1985 and came back as NSY two years later. After a two-year stint in India and South Africa during 1996/97 and four months in Canada during 2009 it was dispatched to PNG for nine months last year as P2-PAF and has now returned from another six months in PNG as P2-HCI.

A relatively small Deletions listing this month with only 12 entries. Seven of these will still be flying in Australia with three transferred to the RA-Aus register, one reregistered and three revoked and since put back on the register (see Aircraft Returning to the Register section). Of the others, THG becomes the first GippsAERO Airvan to be sold in Thailand and AeroPelican Air Services BAe Jetstream OTP has gone to New Zealand as ZK-VAI with Vincent Aviation at Wellington where it joins another AeroPelican Jetstream OTH/ZK-VAH. Vulcanair P68C (nee Partenavia Victor) EPF has been exported to Taiwan after only seven months on the local register and Bristow Helicopters’ Aerospatiale Super Puma BZF has been withdrawn from use. Bristow’s early Super Pumas are growing old now with BZF being a 1982 model.

With the aircraft operating mostly over water during their time in the UK and Australia, salt water and high utilisation have taken their toll on the airframes.

Following up on a couple of aircraft that recently departed our shores. Heavylift Boeing 737 freighter JWL, which was shown in last month’s deletions as going to the US as N737WF, has moved on to Brazil where it is now registered PR-ADX with Sideral Air Cargo.

The 23 year-old Boeing 737 becomes the second aircraft in the Sideral fleet and joins another 737 freighter PR-SDL (24 years old) based at Rio de Janeiro. Sideral Air Cargo is a relatively new Brazilian airline and was formed in February 2010 with its first commercial flight on March 2011.

It is now known that Hawker 850XP PNF, which was shown in the November deletions, is now registered N230PA and listed to a trustee of the Wells Fargo Bank in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was ferried from Fort Lauderdale to Boa Vista, Brazil during October and will become PP-JFZ. The 850XP first came to Australia during August 2007 when it was registered RAM but changed to PNF during March 2012.

With a federal election scheduled for 2013, being half-right may be a very ‘courageous’ position in the eyes of electors.