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Post by sopwitht1 on Jul 9, 2009 21:11:24 GMT 12
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Post by hardyakka on Jul 10, 2009 13:23:30 GMT 12
C310s are smokingly cool machines but I think there are only two left in NZ now. When I did the Great Northern Air Race in 1996, a C310 (ZK-OIL I think) was the only aircraft that could ever give us any trouble. We were flying a Glasair IIRG which at max continuous power topped out at about 180kts indicated. The C310 seemed to keep its energy in the turns better. We'd catch it in the straight, but whenever we got to a turning point they would get away for a bit.
We still won the "outright fastest plane" prize though ... that little plastic ship sure could boogie!
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Post by flyjoe180 on Jul 10, 2009 13:41:21 GMT 12
I particpated in that air race too, I remember the Glassair and 310, and a Saratoga loaded with women. Nice photos of DTM at WB.
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Post by shorty on Jul 10, 2009 14:10:44 GMT 12
Thats one pig ugly beacon on the fin!
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Post by FlyingKiwi on Jul 10, 2009 16:21:28 GMT 12
It is indeed a very cool aircraft - I thought I had some photos of one at Ardmore a year or so ago, but I've just checked and that was in fact a C-320.
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Post by Bruce on Jul 10, 2009 18:00:02 GMT 12
310s are way cool! back in my days at Ardmore I acted as "self loading ballast" for a Max Weight check as part of Arthur Revilles type rating in ZK-DLP. Lovely aircraft to fly in, even in the back row of seats. The huge side windows gave a spectacular view, and it was generally comfy and quiet. Even the stalls required for the handling check were really docile. Unfortunately DLP succomed to structural corrosion issues a few years ago and was broken up.
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Post by sopwitht1 on Jul 10, 2009 20:54:45 GMT 12
Awesome - the air race sounds cool. I couldn't say how many 310s are around, but the owner was telling me he owns two, both imported from Oz. Maybe his are the only two? Rare ship indeed. Very quick off the mark, so I believe.
"Hamiltron..." tee hee, up there with Palmy for entertainment value...
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Post by chinapilot on Jul 14, 2009 9:16:18 GMT 12
Who else can remember ZK-CFG and the character that flew it for both the Wellington Aero Club then Fletcher's? :-)
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Post by kiwi172 on Jul 16, 2009 12:08:09 GMT 12
Oh Yeah. I remember ZK-CFG rather well. It arived as VH-RBX in about August of 1963. Was that character Peter Duggan-Smith (sp ?) ?
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Post by Peter Lewis on Jul 16, 2009 21:55:13 GMT 12
Who else can remember ZK-CFG and the character that flew it for both the Wellington Aero Club then Fletcher's? :-) I remember CFG well also, a really smooth looking ship and one of the first corporate aircraft to be based at Ardmore, for Fletchers. Ardmore January 1967:It ended up being sold back to Rex Aviation in August 1971 but crashed into the Manukau Harbour 1.45pm 2Dec71 @ 4029hrs - the ownership change was not registered before crash. Pilot at that event was Alan Robertson. It evidently led an active life, as it arrived in NZ having flown only 448hrs at that time. Oh Yeah. I remember ZK-CFG rather well. It arrived as VH-RBX in about August of 1963. Not exactly - sure it was previously VH-RBX but it arrived in NZ in August 1963 already painted up as ZK-CFG, as shown in this photograph taken at Bankstown 27July1963: By my reckoning, right now there are only two 310 active in NZ (ZK-DEM and ZK-DTM) and another nine have passed through here over the years since 1957.
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Post by philip on Jul 16, 2009 23:09:42 GMT 12
peter were you returning to ardmore from places north monday afternoon?
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Post by Peter Lewis on Jul 17, 2009 8:39:31 GMT 12
Not me Philip. I was in Katherine (NT) on Monday. Somebody else using JAX?
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Post by philip on Jul 17, 2009 9:02:15 GMT 12
Yeah JAX tracked from Kawau to Ardmore while I was moseying around the harbour.
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Post by chinapilot on Aug 16, 2009 10:36:39 GMT 12
Sorry about the tardy reply..yes it was. Quite a character who ended up as a 'realtor' in Vancouver in later life..
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Post by ZacYates on Feb 28, 2020 9:10:21 GMT 12
Reading through back issues of NZ Wings, kindly lent to me by a friend, I've found that Wanganui Aero Work had two 310Rs: ZK-ETC and ZK-ETM, and 319 ZK-DLP. Any chance someone has photos of these three?
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Post by JW on Feb 28, 2020 20:09:03 GMT 12
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Post by oj on Feb 28, 2020 21:53:16 GMT 12
When I was working for Icarus Aviation at Bankstown in 1979, we used to service a C310 that was owned and operated by a Catholic mission somewhere out west in NSW. As the electrical member of the crew, I was somewhat taken aback to find all the undercarriage microswitches and wiring caked with red dust. Then I saw the hydraulic rams were the same. It had flown all the way with the gear locked down. The àirframe Foreman i/c said don't do anything with the undercarriage as it is always flown with the gear permanently locked down. I said how can you certify the maintenance release with it like that? No problem, just a log book loose leaf entry to the effect that spares have not arrived so the aircraft is released for flying back to base with the undercarriage declared inoperative and placards in the cockpit accordingly. He said the owners had no money to repair the undercarriage so always operated it as a fixed-undercarriage machine (oxymoron unavoidable). I actually talked to the jovial priest pilot and asked about the extra drag and fuel costs. He said they could always get money for fuel or donations of same but funding for major maintenance items was difficult. So that was their modus operandi I do not remember the registration, but it will be in my engineering logbook somewhere in my archives.
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Post by ZacYates on Feb 28, 2020 22:34:35 GMT 12
Top job JW, thanks! I'd visited NZCA but not 3rd Level. That'll teach me!
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