The next morning dawned fine with light winds, ideal for my trip to Queenstown in the heart of the Southern Alps. This involves tracking the coastal plain southwards and then turning into the mountains, landing at the little airstrip at Pukaki to refuel. From Pukaki, I'll head direct to Queenstown, negotiating the narrow gorges on the visual approach into this extraordinary airport which had seemed so remote from the UK just a few weeks before.
I took the rental car back, much to the displeasure of the car rental operation who did not like early returns. After some discussion, they issued me with a credit note but would not refund the extra day I had paid for, so beware!
(Car rental in NZ is a funny old business. You can't just rent a car in N Island, drive it across to S Island, do some touring, and come back again. When you get to the Wellington ferry, you have to check the car in, go across as a foot passenger with all your bags, and get another car on the other side. Bizarre!)
Here's the little Cessna parked outside the excellent Canterbury Aero Club. (There was some discussion on here at the time about "the best airfield for Canterbury" and it was difficult to resist the temptation of posting "Here! - just head straight down!")
No trouble identifying the correct set of white marker boards this time and away we go from the grass. To my right as I depart on a Northerly heading are the mountains at Lyttleton, and then swinging around on a right downwind departure the Southern Alps come into view. Between the mountains and the sea is a broad plain, crossed at intervals by the characteristic braided streams.
I head South toward my original destination of Ashburton, out of range due to howling winds a couple of days ago but now lying placidly in this glorious late summer's morning.
VFR Flight plan As with most legs of my flight, I've filed a VFR flight plan with Airways New Zealand, using the iPad and my club's account, which they have generously made available to me. Flight plans cost $4.50 + tax, about £3.00, and are acknowledged with a squawk code that you wear for the entire flight. They are made available to flight information services along your route as well as departure and destination airfields.
SARTIME A flight plan is required for departing Christchurch and unlike the ridiculous UK system, I'm glad to have one. The crucial thing is SARTIME: the latest time before the alarm is raised on your non-arrival. This does mean that you have to be absolutely resolute about closing your plan - especially if routing to unattended fields. Fortunately, NZ FIS are happy to close your plan in the air, so the chance of forgetting due to distraction after landing is much reduced. (Despite this, around 10% of NZ VFR FPLs go overdue unintentionally - but not any of mine, on this trip at least!)
I'm experiencing one of the best flying days of my life, and I savour every moment of it! What a great, what an extraordinary privilege this flying hobby is! And there is no-where better on Earth to enjoy it than in this incredible country of New Zealand.
Now, the mountains beckon. I turn away from the coast and approach the first of many ridges that mark the edge of the Southern Alps. On my left is the South Pacific, and my right at 12,346' is Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in Australasia.
What happens next is slightly unexpected. Through a mountain pass dead ahead I glimpse an entirely different type of terrain. The fertile plain and the lush, forested mountain slopes give way to .. a desert! This dry, sandy place could be in Nevada.
At the tip of the glacial lake running down from Mt Cook is my first stop of the day - the tiny desert airstrip of Pukaki. It's quite amazing that this place could be in fertile New Zealand, and not somewhere in the Western US.
As I approach Pukaki, I see another plane - a high wing type, maybe a microlight - pass far below me. No radio calls, and no reply to mine. Why would he? On my entire journey, this is the only other aircraft that I will see from the air.
On the ground at Pukaki, I taxi to the automated air BP fuel pump and while away a few minutes in the now familiar game of 'hunt the step ladder'. The kindly folk in the tourist flight hut (the only evidence of life at Pukaki) allow me to borrow their enormous boarding ladder which dwarfs the little Cessna. Soon I have full tanks for my flight to Queenstown and any possible diversion if the weather should close in amongst these high mountains. I'm finding these automated pumps (and my club's generous decision to lend me one of their cards) an absolute boon. Without an air BP card, cross country flying in NZ would be quite difficult.
Wow! It's hot here, and it's hard to believe that Las Vegas is not just over that ridge. Instead, it's beautiful Queenstown that beckons...
Last edited by David Viewing on Fri Sep 14, 2012 11:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
Such a lovely trip! I've never been to NZ, but it sure looks like renting a small aircraft is THE way to see the country.
Two small comments about closing flight plans or forgetting:
In Sweden, those of us who are based at controlled airfields use ATS Flight Plans most of the time. When going to an unattended airfield it is perfectly fine to ask an Information Service to close the flight plan for you in the air, just as David says that it works in NZ. If you forget, and forget to close it by phone, the first thing that happens is that they call your mobile 30 minutes after your ETA. Then they call the club/airfield. Only after that, SAR kicks in. I must admit that I have forgotten to make that call on two occasions, but in both cases they could call me up.
Some smaller airstrips in Germany charges you for the service to close the flight plan, so I once tried to ask Bremen Information to close it for me before arriving at my refuelling destination. They were also happy to do it, but only if I had the airfield in sight. Which I didn't, since I wanted to change frequency five minutes before entering the circuit. So I had to keep the flight plan open, change to the airfield frequency and then do a quick change back to Bremen Info when on downwind to close the flight plan.
Looking forward to reading more about NZ!
/Peter
Everyone can make mistakes. Yesterday, for instance, I thought I was wrong, but I wasn't.
Very interesting reply AKG. When I started using VFR FPLs in the USA many years ago I was taught to put my home contact number in the additional information. It was only when mobile phones became available in modern times that a friendly (they always are) Flight Service Station (FSS) operator pointed out on the radio that I should put my mobile number instead and made me read it out to him, embarrassingly pointing out on air that my number in England wouldn't be much use if they needed to contact me in the US! Doh!
Contrast this excellent VFR FPL system in various countries with the stupid non-existing arrangements in UK and your heart weeps.
From memory, I believe the field for contact number is called "Contact number until EOBT" or something to that effect. So a number in the UK while flying in the US is not of much use. If something happened to me for real, and I could not make a Mayday call, I would of course want the SAR to start as soon as possible. Sadly, there are too many of us, myself included, who occasionally forget to close the flight plan. On my plog template, I have written in large capitals "CLOSE FLIGHT PLAN", but it doesn't always help.
Perhaps there is too much GA that, in combination with military and commercial flights, there is not enough bandwidth to handle VFR FPL in the UK?
/Peter
Everyone can make mistakes. Yesterday, for instance, I thought I was wrong, but I wasn't.
I have written in large capitals "CLOSE FLIGHT PLAN"
Ditto - me too. That's why I find closing in the air, when you are relaxed and have time to think about it, such a great advantage over scrabbling around on the ground trying to tie the plane down with one hand while trying to get a cell phone number with the other!
Lovely trip report and some cracking flying scenery.
Looking forward to reading more.
The UK flight plan system does seem a bit hit and miss, you do not need to close VFR flight plans if landing at your designated field. I think they would only start to raise concerns in the UK if they had information about your non arrival rather than anything else. Thats why if VFR you need to let someone know of your trip and times.
The route from Pukaki to Queenstown is fairly mountainous and I'm keeping a close eye on the weather. A storm system (lows are clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere!) is moving up from the Arctic Ocean and a front curves gracefully across the Tasman a few hundred miles to SW.
For weather information, I am using Metservice, a login to a subscription site kindly provided by my club and of course SkyDemon. It is a genuine view of the future to fly along and see SD update TAF's and METARs in the air, in real time, through the all-pervasive 3G. Whether one is meant to do that is another question, of course...
Note how the route meanders through the gorges close to Queenstown. You can see the VFR arrival proceedures in the NZ AIP and I spent some time studying these. I was also glad to see that the various VRP's are faithfully represented in SkyDemon.
On departure from Pukaki, I turn to the SE and leave the desert behind, crossing into a mountainous region. Away to my left is the famous gliding centre of Omarama and I give it a wide berth, constantly scanning the sky for traffic. There isn't any. Higher and higher the little Cessna climbs. On run up at Pukaki, I thought I'd noticed a certain roughness to the engine, but it's running sweetly enough now.
Crossing the ridge ahead at around 6,500', I see a long river valley leading away to the South. On my right is another famous gliding and skydiving centre, Wanaka and I stay well clear, listening to the constant chatter on their frequency. A direct track would take me close to their dropzone, and I don't fancy that.
Ahead is a place called Cromwell where I have to make a sharp right turn into the gorge that leads to Queenstown. This takes me back to my mountain training in Canada in pre-gps days long ago, when the only way to choose the right valley to turn into was by counting them off on the map against a stopwatch. Pretty intimidating, especially as some of the 'wrong' valleys were too narrow to turn back in.
Now, with SkyDemon on the passenger seat beside me, nothing could be simpler. So far, it hasn't missed a beat, but anyone who thinks that they can rely on these things is sadly deluded, as I will discover in the weeks to come.
At Cromwell Racecourse i make my turn and descend to remain below the tops of the ridges.
Following a sharp left turn in the valley, the first reporting point, Victoria Bridge, comes into view. It's amazing how little space the 152 needs to turn at 70 kt with a little flap and I make an orbit here before being called forward to the next VRP, Bungy Bridge.
The Valley is wider here and I am put into a hold for no less than 5 Orbits. I don't mind this one bit as I drink in the gorgeous scenery all around me with the comfort of knowing that if the engine did stop here, there's plenty of level-ish ground below.
At last, Queenstown calls me forward through the narrow defile that is the exit from the Valley and at last the airfield comes into view.
As I approach the airport, I'm given no less than three runway changes as they shoe horn traffic in front of me, no doubt as the little Cessna is soo slow in the strong headwind. I really don't mind any of this additional sightseeing!
And so at last I'm on the ground in a place that I've known of for most of my life but never imagined visiting, far less flying to. At 45 deg South, I'm further South than any part of Australia and only 2000 miles from Antarctica.
I tie the little Cessna down at the deserted Aero club and make my way around the street to the terminal. Taxying in, I had stopped by the run up area and found I have a significant mag drop. So here I am half a world away from home in one of the wildest places on Earth, and not a plug spanner to my name - that's aviation!
Last edited by David Viewing on Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Very good point! I found Paraparaumu a bit of mouthful and the Kiwis said it so quickly it sounded like p.p.oo. But a very friendly place - the chap sounded dissapointed when I said I wasn't landing.
You could always read the ICAO designator - I've had to do that in Finland.
David Viewing wrote:Very good point! I found Paraparaumu a bit of mouthful and the Kiwis said it so quickly it sounded like p.p.oo. But a very friendly place - the chap sounded dissapointed when I said I wasn't landing.
That was exactly the place I was thinking of, set off there on my first solo landaway from Welly after getting my sign off. The owner of the flight school I was renting from just pointed to it on the map and said head on over so I did.
I then spent 10 minutes orbiting the island off the coast waiting for a local to come on frequency so I had some idea how to pronounce the place before I landed
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I'm currently in Hamilton doing my training, trying to get as many of the north islands airfield as possible. Tried in vein to get to wellington today but managed to get to Paraparaumu via Wanganui. The plan was to go back to HN via Hastings up the east coast too, but hugely strong winds and the associated Sigmet for severe turbulence put the brakes on that plan! Ended going back to Wanganui then onto Hawera, for a colleague to then hop in the front seat and fly the reutn via New Plymouth. The weather was much better than it has been recently, made for some good views.
I'm so jealous of your south island flying! I hear the south island makes the scenery up here look suitably boring. It is a life goal to fly into Milford Sound
I've also managed to get up to Ardmore, flying there for the first time as a solo flight which certainly made me concentrate!
I hope the return to Ardmore will be written up too, or at least a few pictures!?
Queenstown has to be the outdoor capital of the world. Every shop is given over to skiing, paragliding, white water rafting et. al.. Right now, it was the low season, between the summer boom and the winter rush, because the snows had yet to arrive. One month apparently when it goes quiet in Queenstown.
Not for me the extreme sports. Instead, I was delighted to see the famous steamer 'Earnslaw' tied up at the wharf across the road from my hotel. Earnslaw was built in 1912 in Dunedin and shipped to Queenstown by train. She is one of the oldest steamers still in service anywhere in the world and I was delighted to find that she was still operating at this end of the season.
"By Dawn's early light". TSS Earnslaw awakens on the morning of her final departure before the winter refit.
Back at the airport, I taxied out to the run up area and found that my engine was mis-firing just as before, and that no amount of aggressive leaning would clear it. The aero club had already suggested a course of action if the fault would not clear and so I taxied to a maintenance hangar for help. Fortunately for me, I found an engineer familiar with Lycomings who was prepared to have a look and so my back up plan - find a hardware shop and buy some tools - wasn't needed. He told me to give him 2 or 3 hours.
(Once long ago my PA-28 carb heat fell apart over Ireland, and with no maintenance at Galway, and in close telephone consultation with my engineer I fixed the problem with tools purchased in town. When I got back to UK my engineer said it was a perfectly good repair and would last until the next 50, which it did!)
Back in Queenstown, the Earnslaw's crew had told me it was a shame that I had to leave that morning, because they were preparing to winch the ship out of the water for her annual inspection. Now I had time to seek out the slipway and watch proceedings.
Hauling the ship out of the water is a tricky business and divers were working underneath positioning the blocks on which she sits. Most interesting of all is the winch that pulls her up the slip way - built from the paddle engines of a long scrapped 1869 steamer!
Back at the airport, my new best friend had removed and checked the plugs and found one of them (bottom row) badly fouled. Now, she was running sweetly and the weather had lifted slightly, giving me a clear run out of Queenstown to the North.
With a pang of remorse at leaving this exquisitely beautiful place so soon, I called for taxi and headed for the runway,
The big question in Queenstown is "are you going to Milford"? Milford Sound, only half an hours' flying from Queenstown, is one of the world's most spectacular flying destinations. But not this trip.
Call me chicken, but the factors were against it: The Cessna's limited range would mean a diversion for fuel early on the way North, and my delayed departure meant that stop would become an overnight. About 300 mi to the South, a front was sweeping in across the Southern Ocean toward the tip of the South Island. By morning, it would be overhead and could easily add two or three days to my trip. And Milford has a fearsome reputation. So discretion is the better part of valour or something and anyway, I had to leave something for next time.
I gunned the engine and headed North. Reassuringly, all four cylinders seemed to be functional as we climbed away, retracing my steps through the narrow valleys past Bungee Bridge (something else you can do in Queenstown!).
Very soon I began to glimpse patches of blue sky through the overcast and soon I was in the clear. Ahead, snow capped mountains crossed my route and the little Cessna climbed very, very slowly toward them. One high ridge stubbornly blocked my way and I had to turn parallel to it while we slowly climbed.
Mount Cook, the tallest peak in New Zealand, lies beyond the glaciers at the head of this lake.
The Southern Alps lay to the west in all their glory but now I have to turn away and back to the coastal plain and tonight's objective, Ashburton.
Soon I'm on the ground at this beautiful grass field and being welcomed by the inhabitants. They have a magnificent air museum here, containing almost entirely British types and even a Harrier!
"Milford Sound....I had to leave something for next time" and a few other things! Great report and pics. Love the added bit about the Earnshaw and C150 vs the high ridges! I did get to Milford in 2006, in a 206 from Wanaka, but we had the weather, and a local pilot!
Ashburton Aviation Museum is situated right on the field and has a fascinating array of mostly British types including a Harrier.
Next morning, it's off again retracing my Southbound route past Christchurch and up the coast to the Cook Strait.
Christchurch are extremely accomodating and I'm able to route along the edge of their CTR, inland of the city and clear of the high ground that rises rapidly to the West.
Soon I join the coast, following exquisitely beautiful inland valleys that lie just behind the coastal hills, sometimes down to low level to drink in the glorious scenery. (Who knows when I might pass this way again?)
FLYER Exhibitions
If something happened to me for real, and I could not make a Mayday call, I would of course want the SAR to start as soon as possible. Sadly, there are too many of us, myself included, who occasionally forget to close the flight plan. On my plog template, I have written in large capitals "CLOSE FLIGHT PLAN", but it doesn't always help.
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