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VH-PAL. Convair 580. c/n 501. Was also registered as: N5123; N5122; C-GTTA; N631AR; ZK-PAL; C-GYXS. |
Constructed by the Convair Division of the General Dynamics Corporation, San Diego, Califoirnia Ordered by REAL Transportes Aereos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but it was not taken up Construction completed as a Convair 440-62 - January 27, 1958 Powered by Pratt and Whitney R-2800-CB-16 Double Wasp engines Delivered to General Motors Corporation - October 30, 1959 Entered onto the United States Aircraft Register as N5123 - ? Converted to 580 standard by Pacific Airmotive Corporation as Conversion # PAC4 - October 30, 1959 to May 21, 1960 Fitted with Allison 501-D13 turboprops Redelivered to General Motors Corporation - May 21, 1960 Reregistered as N5122 - August 26, 1995 Sold to Cypress Jetprop Charter Ltd, Vancouver, Canada - July 26, 1996 Cancelled from the United States Aircraft Register - July 29, 1996 Entered onto the Canadian Aircraft Register as C-GTTA - August 07, 1996 Registered to Cypress Jetprop Charter Ltd, Vancouver, Canada Withdrawn from use and stored British Columbia - 1997 Sold to Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter - July 1997 Sold to Hydro-Quebec - April 02, 1998 Leased to Air Inuit Ltd - October 07, 1998 Returned to Hydro-Quebec on termination of the lease - June 22, 1999 Sold to IFL Group Inc - July 08, 2002 Entered onto the United States Aircraft Register as N631AR - July 08, 2002 Leased to Contract Air Cargo, Pontiac, Michigan - July 08, 2002 The aircraft was named 'Joan the Jet Prop' Sold to Pionair Adventures, New Zealand - July 12, 2003 Departed Pontiac, Michigan on the ferry flight to New Zealand via Fargo, Dakota and Kelowna - July 21, 2003 It was prepared for its trans-Pacific Ocean crossing at Kelowna Large rubber fuel bladders were installed giving the aircraft an endurance of some 12 hours Ferried Kelowna - Honolulu - Pago Pago - Palmerston North It arrived at Palmerston North on completion of the ferry flight - July 31, 2003 Cancelled from the United States Aircraft Register - August 01, 2003 Entered onto the New Zealand Aircraft Register as ZK-PAL - September 24, 2003 Registered to Pionair Adventures Ltd, Christchurch It was operated by Pionair with Tauck World Discovery titles Cancelled from the New Zealand Aircraft Register - August 15, 2008 Entered onto the Australian Aircraft Register as VH-PAL - August 21, 2008 Registered to Pionair Australia Pty Ltd Ferried Palmerston North - Christchurch for storage - September 10, 2008 Ferried Christchurch - Sydney (Bankstown) - May 09, 2009 Sold to Conair Aviation, Abbotsford, Canada - September 2009 Departed Sydney (Bankstown) on the ferry flight to Canada - September 07, 2009 Ferry route: Sydney - Pago Pago - Honolulu - Vancouver Ferry flight time - 27.9 hours Cancelled from the Australian Aircraft Register - September 14, 2009 Entered onto the Canadian Aircraft Register as C-GYXS - September 21, 2009 Registered to The Conair Group Inc, Abbotsford Current status - ? |
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C-GTTA. Cypress Airlines - in the standard livery at an unknown airport, November 1996. (R. N. Smith Collection Copyright Image 1030-033.) |
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C-GTTA. Cypress Airlines - in the standard livery at an unknown airport, June 1997. (R. N. Smith Collection Copyright Image 1030-029.) |
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ZK-PAL. Pionair Tauck World Discovery - in the basic Cypress Airlines livery at Brisbane Airport, June 2006. (R. N. Smith Collection Copyright Image 1030-017.) |
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ZK-PAL. Pionair Tauck World Discovery - in the basic Cypress Airlines livery at Brisbane Airport, June 2006. (R. N. Smith Collection Copyright Image 1030-018.) |
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ZK-PAL. Pionair Tauck World Discovery - in the basic Cypress Airlines livery at Queenstown Airport, January 2007. (R. N. Smith Collection Copyright Image 1029-277.) |
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ZK-PAL. Pionair Tauck World Discovery - in the basic Cypress Airlines livery at Brisbane Airport, June 2007. (R. N. Smith Collection Copyright Image 1030-066.) |