About Us
Downunder Stol was started out of a love for back country flying and the incredible Zenith CH701. Deane Philip the founder of Downunder Stol is only a new pilot in aviation terms and very early in my training I researched the web for a type of aircraft which would allow me more freedom than the usual airfield to airfield plane, unable to afford a helicopter to get into the back country riverbeds for a fish or hunt or just an adventure the only other type of aircraft that kept surfacing over and over again was the Zenith CH701 so the search began. I found a lovely 701 in my price range in Seattle, so after some convincing the owner that it was not a joke and a chap from New Zealand was serious about buying his plane I travelled to USA disassembled the 701 packed it into a 20ft container and sent it on the way back to NZ. and now she fly's the NZ sky's as ZK-JUG or the JUG for short. the JUG was everything I was looking for it enabled me as a new pilot to have adventures that many seasoned pilots still do not get to experience and with very few hours under my belt I entered the Healthy Bastards Bush pilot STOL competitions in 2014 as a absolute beginner and managed to win my class first time round see the winning flight here and a Zenith has won or placed in the top 3 in its class since the competition began. after the attention gained from the win I had many people ask how and where I got my plane from. I have also assisted several pilots in finding and importing there own Zenith aircraft with my experience in shipping and importing items in the past and having imported my own from start to finish. In 2014 I travelled to Oshkosh Wisconsin for Air venture the USA largest air show and meet the guys from Zenith and other Zenith pilots from across USA and the world. From there Sebastien Heintz founder of Zenith aircraft company posed a question to me How would you like to be our dealer in New Zealand ? well it didn't take long for me to reply with a (I would love to) and the rest is history. We now have the pleasure of selling not only pre built aircraft sourced from across the world but for those who would love to build your own aircraft we can accommodated there needs with kits and parts sourced direct from Zenith.