Early Christmas presents for WASSI
New Livery and Refurbishment for MAJ
It is now mid December, and as we gear up for the holiday season we have a sprinkling of new happenings within the WASSI sphere.
Air Hawkes Bay’s cancellation of their lease agreement for NJT in early June gave us the opportunity to lease this aircraft to Mid Canterbury Aeroclub in Ashburton and “borrow” MAJ back for it to be completely stripped and repainted. This task was carried out by Aquamax. Their comment was that the paint just fell off!
Inevitably this process revealed a number of additional jobs required of the bodywork, such as refurbishing the engine cowls and replacing a leading edge panel on one of the wings that looked like it had been panel beaten with a builder’s hammer!
While in the shop, we took the opportunity to re-cover the seats (sorry to all the folk who liked the old retro scheme!) and replace the threadbare carpets.
During this time the CEO of ASPEQ reached out and asked what they could do to contribute. As a result we were able to fit LED nav lights, strobes and beacon.
On the 31st of October Breanna picked up MAJ from Omaka and positioned it to Nelson in preparation for Mid Canterbury Aeroclub to ferry it back to Ashburton, who are now leasing three of our aircraft and using them very well.
MUM is poised to come out into the world
From being WASSI's first purchase, our longest running project is drawing to an end. ZK-MUM is in the final stages of assembly at JEM Aviation and will be joining the rest of the fleet at the Walsh in the New Year.
Further Avionics Upgrades
In addition to the new livery, and interior upgrade, we have been fortunate to receive funding to complete MAJ’s refurbishment by upgrading its avionics. This is scheduled to occur in the last week of January, as it heads south post Walsh.
In addition we have also been fortunate to receive funding for the upgrade of JHF’s avionics as well. This is also scheduled to occur immediately post Walsh.
Many thanks to Grant Reidy for his assistance with this fundraising.
The WASSI fleet to (potentially) grow in number and size
Recently the Wakatipu Aeroclub ceased to be an Incorporated Society. Sad though that was, the Club had residual funds in its account, and at a meeting of past members and other interested parties it was agreed to allocate these funds to deserving recipients in the industry. Subject to approval by the registrar of incorporated societies, about $90,000 from the funds have been allocated to WASSI.
When this comes to fruition, the intent is to purchase a Cessna 172 and re-register it WKU (the old designator of Queenstown airfield and the rego of the aeroclub’s first aircraft back in the day).
WASSI will then set about raising the funds to replace the time expired engine and repainting it in the WASSI scheme. The colour chosen will be as close as we can match to the Wakatipu Aeroclub’s “corporate colour”; a shade of maroon. The C172 will then be leased to a flight training organisation in the Central Otago area, for the benefit of young locals wishing to begin/progress their aviation journey.
A huge acknowledgement of Carlton’s efforts behind the scenes, over a prolonged period to get this initiative to this stage. We are confident it will happen.
As you can see a number of irons in the fire, and many of them are starting to glow. I wish you all the very best for the holiday season, and look forward to meeting many of you in person in January.
Woody
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