Jet Rangers in New Zealand

[Dave Homewood]

When I was a kid you used to see lots of Bell Jet Rangers on TV in the US cop shows and action movies, etc. But did the type catch on in New Zealand? I can't recall seeing one for many, many years here. Are there any around NZ now? Or have cheaper, better types seen them disappear?

[Naki]

According to the CAA register ther are still 55 Jetrangers and Longrangers currently registered ...still pretty popular but probably superceded by the R-44 at the lower end and the AS-350 at the upper end..and increasingly by the lot newer EC-120 which is pretty close in power and size.

I am pretty sure there were nearly 100 Jetrangers in NZ during the 80s so yes I guess they are on the decline.

Robinson also has the R-66 (sort of a turbine R-44) on the way which may see more Jetrangers disappear. Bell also has some new models on the way.

[Ykato]

this one flys over every now and then pictured on 11 august 2010.

[Dave Homewood]

Wow, 55 of them? Amazing. I don't know why it's been so long since i saw one. Unless they just blend in like Corollas and I don't notice they're there.

[beagle]

Cambridge is Corolla Capital ??

[DragonflyDH90]

Theres heaps down our way Dave. Otago Helicopters operate quite a few (3 or 4 I think) and there are a couple of other spray Jet Ranger around here also, couple of private machines too.

[agile]

Marlborough Helicopters still operate a couple I think. We got a lift with them for a job back in May:

[Kereru]

Weren't many replaced by the Squirrel?

When I get home from CHC I have a few pics to add.

Cheers from an overcast Christchurch.

[bobgod]

In 1972--Tim Wallis, Bill Black and myself went to Bell in Texas
Alpine having bought and Blackie did the pilots course and I did the mechanics. It was Reg ZK-HEH.
Helicopters NZ had one some years earlier than that but it didnt stay long.
I assembled and certified a few for Bell at the [Textron] Hallmark
greeting card premises in Rosebank Road--just test flew them
there out over the mud flats.
Then Alexander Pacific became Bell Service Center at Aerospace
in Hamilton.

[madaero]

rotorcraft at hamilton airport still service quite a few on a regular basis

[Deane B]

Beck helicopters in Eltham used several over the years and got the first one in 1977 from memory. They were the first ones in NZ to use a Jetranger for agricultural operations (and later the first to use an 204 Iroquois too). I think Alan Beck and his team pioneered the underslung fertilizer bucket for helos too?

[Deleted]

Wanganui Aero Work had I think seven during the 1980s, currently they have only ZK-HTM left. I spent many, many fond hours in her during my childhood, on the ground and flying with then-chief pilot Charles Anderson.

There also seems to be a LongRanger based in/around New Plymouth, I see and hear it quite often operating from the beach nearby.

[Deleted]

Also, I recall seeing photos and video of an OH-58A Kiowa, from which the type 206 JetRanger was derived, at Warbirds Over Wanaka 1996.

[lumpy]

Oct 29, 2010 7:18:25 GMT 12 agile said:

Marlborough Helicopters still operate a couple I think. We got a lift with them for a job back in May:

I got a lift to my mates wedding in a Marlbrough Helicopters jet ranger . I could have walked there in 5 minutes , but it took about 30 minutes by the " scenic route " ;D

[Deleted]

*one-upmanship time* My mum had a WAW Ranger as her wedding "car". Was news in the local paper at the time !

[Dave Homewood]

I remember the red, white and blue tourism ones owned by The Helicopter Line (?) used to appear on TV a lot on nature shows, tourism shows, etc, and they always looked like great adventure flying over mountain tops and down river valleys. From memory Tim Wallis flew one for an award winning documentary, or something like that, and I was told he also flew the one that did the awesome helicopter-boat chase in The Race For The Yankee Zephyr.

[oj]

In Hamilton, James Aviation had ZK-HLU ("LULU") from new for many years.

It did some ag work locally, was a development platform for many JAL modifications and accessories, and did quite a lot of HT powerline stringing between many of those pylons you see from the Auckland motorway.

It also served as one of the early air ambulances in Auckland (from a JAL base at Ardmore), did several seasons as the Piha Rescue helicopter and serviced the batteries on many of the off-shore unmanned lighthouses, including right up at the Three Kings Islands.

I did quite a bit of work on HLU including electrical mods and a couple of field trips to get it mobile after suffering electrical component failures (one at Piha and one at Cape Reinga). Not due to our mods I hasten to add!

I do not remember what became of it after JAL ownership.

On another note, good to see bobgod is still extant, but God knows why he chooses to live down there!

[Dave Homewood]

Owen do you recall a helicopter company at Tamahere in the early 1980's, in a property sort of the Hamilton side of Eventide Resthome, near the Motel? I think they may have had a Jet Ranger for a bit, and then went to a Squirrel, and if the info I was told at the time is right one of these two helo's was the first Hamilton rescue chopper, but it also did contract work around the Waikato too, and sometimes had to drop a job and go do rescue work. Is my memory right on this? Sometimes you'd see the helicopter in their paddock when on the way to Hamiton.

[Bruce]

Yep, Range Helicopters were located in Cherry Rd, theres a load of houses on the site now.

[lumpy]

Oct 29, 2010 18:21:08 GMT 12 @zacyates said:

*one-upmanship time* My mum had a WAW Ranger as her wedding "car". Was news in the local paper at the time !

Yep , thats pretty much what we did Zac , awesome feeling watching " the girls " Limo pull in (because us boys in the wedding party were having too much much fun over the hills - so we were a touch late ( cheers Owen ). Awesome !