Register review

AZM was test flown in Spain using EC-034 as its test registration before being sold to the Unidad Militar de Emergencias or UME (Spanish Military Emergencies Unit). The UME is a branch of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for providing disaster relief but although the helicopter was allocated the serial HE26-10 is was not delivered as the order was cancelled before the helicopter was delivered. It then went to Turkey to join the three other EC135s before coming to Australia.

Soar Aviation have added four BRM Bristells, YUE, YUU, YUV and YUW, to their fleet of training aircraft based at Moorabbin and Bankstown. The Bristell is a sleek looking, low wing, two seat side-by-side, aircraft produced by BRM Aero in the Czech Republic. Construction is of aluminium and the aircraft is fitted with a tricycle undercarriage, bubble cockpit and wing flaps. The four new aircraft are fitted with 100hp Rotax 912ULS engines driving MT Constant Speed propellers and are the latest S-LSA models. This model conforms with the relatively new Australian Special Light Sport Aircraft regulations where the aircraft is certified by the manufacturer to meet a set of industry developed standards that do not necessarily meet American FAA standards.

There is currently only one other Bristell on the CASA register with one in New Zealand and more than twenty on the RA-Aus register. The four new aircraft complement Soar Aviation’s current fleet of Aquila, Foxbat, Vixxen and Tecnam P2006 aircraft.

KBX is the twelfth Fokker Seventy for Alliance Airlines although one of these has recently been scrapped (see deletions). The Fokker was registered PH-KBX and delivered to KLM on March 12 1996 to be operated by Martinair on behalf of the Dutch Royal Family. It has been used as a VIP transport until coming to Australia so it is in pristine condition and it only needed a few strokes of a paintbrush to become VH-KBX.

Eagle Copters Australasia has imported another Bell 407 from Canada, IBF, with the intention of converting it to an Eagle 407HP replacing the Rolls Royce 250-C4B7 engine with a Honeywell HTS-900D-2 power plant. Unfortunately due to the popularity of the conversion more kits will not be available until the end of the year so IBF will have to wait until early in 2018 for its upgrade.

Cirrus ZPZ is the very latest model SR20A-G6 which has been the Australian demonstrator for a while registered N54GG. It was to attend the annual Cirrus fly-in at Ayers Rock, NT, during September but has been sold to HBR Developments at Maroochydore, Qld, so it will be replaced as the display aircraft at Ayers Rock with SR22-G6 GTS N767SR.

Three aircraft have been exported to New Zealand, one to the Philippines and three to the USA. Piper Cherokee Lance HOK has joined Southern Lakes Aviation in Queenstown, New Zealand, and is now registered ZK-SLP. Southern Lakes operate scenic and charter flight throughout New Zealand using two GippsAero Airvans, a Cessna 172 and now a Cherokee Lance.

Also in New Zealand and used for scenic and charter flights is Cessna 182T JSQ which is now ZK-JLR with Pelorus Air at Blenheim. Pelorus Air operate a Cessna U206G and Cessna A185F along with an elderly Cessna 172 and an even older Cessna 150. Presumably the Cessna 150 is not used for scenic flights.

The final New Zealand export is PAC 750XL XLS which has returned to its birthplace after thirteen years in Australia. The 750XL was built during 2004 and came to Australia the same year to be used by The Mobile Carpet Cleaning Factory at Bankstown for parachute jumping and later by Skydive Nagambie in Victoria. The aircraft is now registered ZK-XLR with Northern Southern Holdings at Otane in the Central Hawkes Bay District on the East Coast of the North Island.

AP Jets’ Beech Hawker 800XP OVE, Grumman Avenger VTB and Boeing 747 OJM have all been exported to the US with the 800XP now flying as N123ED with EAL Leasing at Kalamath Falls, Oregon. Qantas Boeing 747 OJM is 26 years old being delivered new to Qantas in 1991 so it seems likely that it will be broken up in the US and used for spare parts recovery.

Six aircraft have been de-registered due to accidents including Cessna 182 AUT which crashed in mysterious circumstances at Hamilton, Vic, on September 23 2013. The pilot was conducting solo night circuit consolidation training when it suddenly plunged to the ground destroying the aircraft and killing the pilot.

CASA found there was insufficient evidence to determine the exact reason for the crash, however, the pilot’s post-mortem revealed a medical condition that could have contributed to the accident. The flaps were also found to be in the fully extended position which was not consistent with the operation of the aircraft. Two helicopters have been destroyed during low level operations emphasising the dangers of mustering and crop spraying. Robinson R44 VOH was badly damaged whilst mustering cattle on Deep Well Station, NT, during July 2015. The helicopter lost power, thought to be due to carburettor icing, whilst operating very close to the ground. The pilot made a precautionary landing but the helicopter rolled onto its side after one skid contacted the ground before the other. Luckily the pilot only sustained minor injuries.

Bell JetRanger WHU was written off whilst spraying sugar cane near Carmila, Queensland, during March last year. The helicopters struck power lines during one of its spray runs and the tail rotor and vertical stabiliser assembly separated from the aircraft. The post-impact fire destroyed the helicopter and unfortunately killed the pilot.

Bell LongRanger VDZ was destroyed at Olympic Park, Melbourne, during a horse race meeting at Flemington Racecourse. The helicopter was ferrying race goers between Olympic Park and Flemington when, whilst repositioning the aircraft from one temporary helipad to another at Olympic Park, it rolled toward one side and the main rotor blades struck the ground. A large amount of debris was thrown around hitting a marquee, some vehicles and another helicopter but no injuries were sustained by anyone except the pilot who suffered only minor injuries.

Two Robinson R22s were being ferried from Yeeda to Springvale, WA, during August 2014 but when the leading helicopter arrived at Springvale the second aircraft, YPC, did not arrive as expected. A search was initiated the following morning and YPC was found close to the intended track seriously damaged and the pilot deceased. It seems that the aircraft was not equipped for, and the pilot not rated for night flying and he had inadvertently allowed the helicopter to descend into terrain in the darkness.

Rounding off the large number of helicopter crashes covered in this issue, Robinson R44 ZWA received substantial damage at Darwin on October 7 2015. The pilot, with limited experience flying R44s, was preparing for a solo training flight to consolidate his local knowledge of the area when prior to take off the helicopter began to yaw and then rolled onto its side. The ATSB found that the difference in pedal input needed for the Robinson and the MD 520N Notar, which the pilot was used to flying, may have been a factor in the loss of control.

A large number of aircraft are listed as withdrawn from use this issue including four SOCATA Tobagos, YTO, YTR, YTW and YTX and Grob T-Bird TGX which have been the mainstay of the Flight Training Adelaide fleet for a number of years. Also de-registered is Alliance Fokker Seventy NKH which was imported in 2014 but never entered service but was stored at Brisbane and used as a spares source.