Bearhawks in the Southern Alps

On a weekend in March 2022, 7 Bearhawk owners and their aircraft got together to explore some of the South Islands backcountry.
Grant Bisset filmed this video from his Bearhawk, showcasing some of the best NZ has to offer.

[@youtuberAstar]

I SO appreciate you taking the time to make and show these videos. Thank you. We are SO blessed to live in such a beautiful country. Could I suggest you tell us what lakes etc you are flying over. Best wishes. G, Christchurch, NZ. 10/10

[@bearhawkblog3527]

Thanks Miles. The glaciers where the aircraft are circling over are know as the Garden of Eden, and Garden of Allah - near the upper Rakaia River. The lakes would have been a mixture - probably a short snippet of Pukaki, and many of the southern rivers too.

[@HtronEileahc]

What a great project Nev! Very inspirational - I've really enjoyed the videos. I'm based in Chch and often go flying with Jono so may see you around one day.

[@bearhawkblog3527]

See you out there sometime Charlie !

[@Fr99763]

Great video
Cheers

Quite spectacular, no doubt!
One question: some of these Bearhawks have proper registration (ZK-BGB), others (like yours) don't. How does NZ regulate this? In USA, you have to register, but the actual numbers don't need to be ICAO-compliant if you don't plan on flying abroad.

[@bearhawkblog3527]

Good question. My Bearhawk has the registration ZK-NSB. In NZ we don't have to show the "ZK" because it's pretty unlikely that we'll fly to another country (hence why Grants plane has BGB)
I then applied for a personalised call sign "Bearhawk Bravo". It's based on having an identifiable paint scheme, hence the large letter B on the tail. Actually I preferred to have nothing on the tail but CAA wouldn't accept that !

[@bearhawkblog3527]

Actually I see on second glance that Grants does have the ZK prefix.