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Register Review for April to June

written by Tony Arbon | June 20, 2019

Australian Aviation.
Australian Aviation.

This edition of Register Review covers the period April to June and includes two new types to Australian skies as well as interesting older types.

Lars Larson has registered his Sonex SubSonex JSX-2 VH-LAS and it is the first of its type to be seen in this country.

The Sonex series of amateur built aircraft are all-metal, single engine, sport/touring aircraft designed by John Monnett who founded the company in 1998 at Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

He designed the Sonex, Waiex, Xenos and Onex before he took the Onex fuselage and wing, mated it with the Waiex V tail and added a PBS turbojet engine above the aft fuselage with the exhaust exiting between the V tails.

It was unveiled at AirVenture 2009 and the JSX-1 first flew during August 2011 fitted with a Czech built PBS Velka Bites TJ-100 engine. The single seat JSX-2 is a development of the earlier JSX-1 and it is this model that Lars has built and fitted with a pneumatically retractable tricycle undercarriage.

The TJ-100 engine produces 258lbs (1150N) of thrust and powers the aircraft up to a speed of 0.8 Mach and 32,000 feet. The engine comes as a stand-alone package including an integral ECU, starter, generator and sealed oil system and weighs only 43lbs (19.5 kg). Sonex also supply all the installation components including engine instrumentation, throttle controller and pre-wired harness.

The second new type is Greg McDonnell’s Corvus Fusion 540 VH-TIK. A comparatively new aircraft manufacturer, Corvus Aircraft was formed during 2004 in Hungary with only five employees including the managing director and chief engineer.

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Its first project was the Corvus Corone in 2006 and then the Phantom in 2007. The company first came to prominence that year when it signed a contract with Red Bull to develop the Corvus Racer 540 for Peter Besenyei to use in the Red Bull air racing series.

Unfortunately before the aircraft could be fully developed the racing series was cancelled half way through the 2010 season when Brazilian pilot Adilson Kindlemann crashed into the Swan River during practice for the Australian leg of the event.

By the time racing was resumed in 2013 other manufacturers such as MXS and Zivco had developed their own aircraft and left the Corvus behind. The ever resourceful Corvus then developed the Racer 540 into the Fusion 540 for owners that wanted the speed and manoeuvrability close to that of a real racer.

The Fusion is a low wing, two-seat, single engine, sports/touring aircraft powered by a 107hp (80kW) fuel injected ULPower 260iSA engine driving a three blade prop. It has a full composite fuselage with a chrome-moly central frame and Titanium firewall and is capable of +6/-3g manoeuvres.

The inverted oil system and symmetric wing enables it fly equally well inverted and it is available with a nose wheel or tail wheel undercarriage and a ballistic parachute system. It can be supplied as a factory built or kit machine and although VH-TIK is the first of its type on the local register one other Fusion 540 in known to be in Australia but it is for sale so may end up overseas.

Two new Cirrus aircraft are now in Australia, an SR22 Generation 6 GTS (VH-ICE) which is thought to be for a Western Australian buyer and an SR22 Generation 6 Australis (VH-YGX) for Molesworth Aviation at Surrey Hills, Victoria, who already have two other Cirrus aircraft in their inventory.

The Australis version is a model specifically optioned for the Australian market with air-conditioning, tinted windows, Garmin instrumentation, ballistic parachute system and dual side yokes as well as a unique exterior paint scheme which includes a stylised Southern Cross on the tail.

VH-YGX is painted in a very attractive blue and silver scheme and is powered by a 310hp CMI IO-550-N engine driving a three blade propeller. Meanwhile the SR22 Generation 5 GTS VH-ICE has been re-registered VH-ICF to allow the new Generation 6 GTS mentioned above to become VH-ICE.

The first Cirrus (VH-CRF) came to Australia during 2000 and was, initially, a fairly slow seller being a rather expensive but very high class single. However, since director Graham Horne arrived in Australia sales have increased dramatically with 185 Cirrus aircraft now flying in this country and with the arrival of the first SF50 Vision 5-seat personal jet due next year sales are certain to increase further.

Four new Kavanagh hot air balloons have been registered during the period covered, a B-77 (VH-ZKR) and an EX-90 (VH-PZL) for private individuals, an EX-70 (VH-WRH) for the manufacturer and an EX-90 for The International Balloon Flight Company at Cessnock in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales.

The International Balloon Company is a loyal Kavanagh customer with 14 of the company’s products in their fleet plus two British built Camerons. Their latest EX-90 (VH-SHK) has a 90,000 cubic feet (2548 cubic metres) displacement envelope (as the designation indicates) with 20 gores – the number of longitudinal panels that make up the envelope. It has a four person wicker basket and is specifically designed for racing and other competitions.

Kavanagh Balloons was established during 1979 at Mount Kuring-Gai, about 30kms north of Sydney, and have produced almost 600 balloons since then. All the envelopes and baskets are built in-house and only the burners and gas cylinders are out-sourced. They are the only balloon makers in this country and obviously Australia is their main market, however New Zealand and Japan are their main overseas market with 28 and 21 units being sold respectively. Surprisingly Kenya has received 11 units, while there are a small number of Kavanagh balloons that have gone to the Netherlands, Malaysia, Indonesia, USA, UK, South Africa, China, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.

Deletions

The deletions section this issue includes three Bristow Helicopters Aerospatiale Super Pumas and one AW139 going overseas with Super Pumas VH-ZFS, ZFQ and ZFH now in the US and registered to the Bank of Utah Trustee as N2785B, N2790F and N2723C respectively while the AW139 VH-ZFN is now in Nigeria.

Ex-Royal Australian Navy Bell 429 GlobalRanger VH-IWT has gone to New Zealand where it has joined Advanced Flight at Auckland to be used on a New Zealand Police contract. It joins two other RAN GlobalRangers, VH-IWR/ZK-IPB and VH-IWS/ZK-IPC in the Advanced Flight fleet for the same contract.

Also in New Zealand is PA-28 Archer VH-BVN which is now ZK-UPS with PE Upton of Cable Bay and Pitts Special VH-PUG which has conveniently become ZK-PUG. The Pitts came to Australia from New Zealand during November 1981 but was cancelled in July 2006 so it was a bit of a surprise when it turned up back on the New Register 13 years later.

PA28 Warrior VH-IBJ has been exported to the UK and now flies as G-CLDK with Ian Logan of Kidlington near Oxford while the rare Miller converted PA-30 Twin Comanche VH-UCH has also gone to the UK but is registered in the US as N68GP with Southern Aircraft Consultancy at Bungay, Suffolk, UK – a company that specialises in registering American aircraft in overseas countries.

Thankfully only one accident to report this month with Jabiru J170 VH-DJX crashing during October 2018 at Hagley, Tasmania.

A recent survey of the Indonesian aircraft register has revealed some previously unreported subsequent registrations of Australian aircraft.

Cessna 172M Skyhawk VH-BCR is now PK-AYJ with the Alpha Flying School, Cessna 172N Skyhawk VH-DAZ is now active as PK-DDG and Cessna 208B Grand Caravan VH-AUQ is now with Marta Buana Abadi marked as PK-HVS.

PAC 750XL VH-DXQ, which spent three months in PNG during 2015, is now PK-BSF with Cendrawasih Air, Air Tractor AT-504 VH-WXE is now PK-JCC and Cessna 172P Skyhawk VH-NHW is now flying with Bali Widya Dirgantara as PK-ROZ.

View the Register Review online here.

Register Review for April to June Comment

  • The Corvus Fusion is a factory built UL/LSA. The plane you refer to in June 20 edition is NOT a Corvus Fusion according to the register VH-TIK . This plane is a home built 540 with a Lycoming engine (never offered with the Fusion). My understanding is that I have the only Corvus Fusion in Australia, brand new, never registered or flown (other than factory test flight in Europe!)

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