About ZKScope
A free, easy way to explore New Zealand's aircraft register
Where the data comes from
Every aircraft here comes from the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand's aircraft register, which the CAA publishes as a downloadable file. ZKScope checks it every day and records what changed between updates.
The current snapshot has 4,945 aircraft and is from 6 Nov 2026. Change history starts on 6 Nov 2026.
Aircraft photos come from Planespotters.net and belong to their photographers, who are credited under each photo.
ZKScope is an independent project and isn't affiliated with the CAA.
Privacy
The CAA's register includes the names and postal addresses of private owners. ZKScope only shows the names of organisations, such as companies, clubs and trusts, and only the town they're based in. Aircraft owned by individuals are shown as "Private owner", and no addresses are shown at all.
ZKScope counts visits with its own first-party analytics: which pages are viewed, time on page, links followed to other sites, the referring site, and coarse device and country details. It sets two first-party cookies, a random visitor ID (kept for 13 months) and a session ID (kept for 30 minutes). It stores no IP addresses, shares nothing with third parties and doesn't track you across other sites.
What the fields mean
- Mark
- The aircraft's registration. Every NZ-registered aircraft starts with ZK-, the country's nationality mark.
- Category
- The CAA's category for the aircraft, such as aeroplane, helicopter, glider or microlight. Amateur-built aircraft have their own categories.
- Manufacturer
- As recorded by the CAA. For filtering, ZKScope groups names that refer to the same maker, such as Eurocopter and Airbus Helicopters. The aircraft page always shows the original name.
- Registered
- The date of the aircraft's current registration. An aircraft that was re-registered shows its latest date. Some older aircraft have no date recorded.
- Max take-off weight
- The maximum certified take-off weight (MCTOW) in kilograms.
- Mode S code
- The unique 24-bit address the aircraft's transponder broadcasts. Flight trackers use it to identify the aircraft in the air.