– Former TVNZ weather forecaster Jim Hickey has sold a hangar home overlooking New Plymouth Airport to a local pilot.
– The buyer plans to store the aircraft in a hangar and stay in a three-bedroom apartment.
– Hickey and his wife moved closer to town in search of a house with fewer stairs.
Former TVNZ weather forecaster Jim Hickey has sold his dream hangar home overlooking New Plymouth Airport to a fellow pilot.
The buyer, who lives locally, plans to store his aircraft in a hangar and stay in the three-bedroom apartment above.
Bayleys property agent Kathy Gulliver declined to reveal the sale price, but told OneRoof there was a lot of interest in the Hickey home, which went on the market late last year.
She said the leasehold property on Airport Drive in Bell Block was within New Plymouth City Council’s special purpose airport zone.
Jim Hickey: “I grew up loving airplanes. My father was a Spitfire pilot in the war and I’ve been flying for many years.” Photo/NZME
Hickey and his wife Sue built this unique property in 2008 after selling it in Oakland. Photo/Provided
“Being able to live there was part of the uniqueness,” she said, adding that Hickey and his wife Sue were also happy with the outcome.
Hickey told OneRoof late last year that the couple decided to move to a house with fewer stairs closer to the city as a “special place.”
https://www.oneroof.co.nz/news/former-tvnz-weatherman-i- sold-my-plane-and-now-im- Selling-my-dream-home-48713
He had already sold the Yak-52 plane he had in his hangar and knew it was time for him to take the next step.
“Now that I’m a little older, in my 70s now, I think, ‘Oh, I don’t have a plane yet. It’s time to take the next step,'” he told OneRoof.
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The passionate aviator quit his job as a TVNZ weather forecaster and moved to New Plymouth 22 years ago to look after his elderly parents.
Hickey and his wife, Sue, sold everything in Oakland, bought leasehold land, and built a customized commercial hangar with units on it. Mr Hickey said it was a really convenient location, as he only had to walk 150 meters to catch a commuter flight to Auckland for his part-time presentation job.
Ms Hickey told OneRoof she was already thinking about planning her next home, a modern recreation of an early settler’s cottage in New Plymouth. The couple wanted a newly built home with reclaimed vintage artifacts, including old doors and a fireplace, primarily from Taranaki.
Hickey said the aim was to “capture a pinch of pioneer architecture that was largely driven out by greedy developers.”
Hickey previously stored his Yak-52 in a hangar, but since selling the plane, he has rented out the space to other pilots. Photo/Provided
This leasehold property is within walking distance of New Plymouth Airport. Photo/Provided
Mr Hickey told OneRoof last year that his apartment was also near Airpresso’s New Plymouth branch. Air Spresso is an airport cafe co-owned by the Hickeys along with Kate and Craig MacFarlane, owners of Ozone Coffee Roasters.
It is said that a desperate comment made to Mr. Craig, who was in the hospitality industry, became the impetus for starting the business. “I happened to say to him the same thing that a lot of people say, ‘Why can’t you get decent coffee at the airport?’ It was almost a cliché.”
The brand currently has cafes in Dunedin, Hawke’s Bay, Nelson, Queenstown and New Plymouth.
Hickey told OneRoof that after years of being at airports, he has learned to identify which planes are landing just by the sound of their engines.
“When Air New Zealand arrives with an ATR or a Dash 8 or a 50-seat Q300 or a 68-seat ATR, you know it. You know all that. And when the Yak arrives. [Soviet era planes] When it goes up, it sounds like a small V8 car. It’s a very loud, rumbling little sound. Here are two or three of them.
“We have some corporate jets arriving, we have some big engineering companies here, some oil and gas sectors.
“You get to know all that. I grew up loving airplanes. My father was a Spitfire pilot in the war, and I’ve been flying airplanes for many years, so you just get used to it.”
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