NZ Flyers - Any Good Cross Country Recomendations?

[FlyingKiwi_73]

Hi there all the kiwi flyer's on the forum (i know you're out there)
Looking to spread my wings further a field and do a few weekend flights before the weather closes in.

Probably flying from Paraparaumu or Omaka.

Looking for some good short hops (even multiple) no more than 1-2 hours flying each leg (the wife won't do it) nice pubs, nice views, good places to overnight?

Any airfields to ignore? I know a few aren't terribly GA friendly (Queenstown springs to mind) don't mind if airspace can be tricky (around the Tron maybe, Ohakea? probably won't get as far as AKL) could use the challenge.

Did a wee trip to Masterton and the wife is keen to try more :-)

Cheers.

[flyinkiwi]

I fly from the Tron and its not hard as long as you study the approach procedures well and don't arrive between 4-5pm when the circuit gets real busy.

Places I recommend:

New Plymouth: Jim Hickey runs a nice cafe and its (the airport I mean) generally pretty quiet.
Tauranga: The cafe at the Classic Fliers museum is good but the airspace is normally quite busy on fine days and there are VFR approach procedures to follow, so study up and be prepared to orbit a lot.
Ardmore: Haven't been there for some time so I cannot comment on the cafe at the Auckland Aero Club, but at least they have one. The best thing about Ardmore is that on the fine weekends you get to see some amazing aircraft being lovingly restored/cleaned/flown by their respective owners. Take a camera.
Raglan: Having the township less than 5 mins walk from the airstrip is brilliant! Large selection of eateries and drinkeries to suit most tastes. Don't forget to pay the $5 at the Camp Ground.
Pauanui Beach: Cafes/Bar/Beach only 3-5 mins walk from the airfield. No landing fees.

[Morrisman1]

Gotta come to invercargill :cool:

What about popping down the west coast in to wanaka for a look at the museums then back up the hydro lakes via mt cook etc.

What aircraft do you intend on flying?

[India Four Two]

FK73,

Good timing with your post. I've been doing some flying with Classic Flyers at Tauranga for the last two weeks and today I did a cross-country in an Airtourer to New Plymouth and then back to Tauranga via Turangi at the south end of Lake Taupo. The first time in my life that I've flown across a country from coast to coast (and back)!

Excellent legs for basic map and compass flying and an interesting leg over Lake Taupo - about 20nm. As flyinkiwi said, nice cafes at New Plymouth and Tauranga and the Classic Flyers Museum is definitely worth a visit. Ask nicely and they will show you the airworthy aircraft in the other hangars. Tauranga is not THAT busy and ATC are very helpful - just study the VFR procedures in advance.

I42

[FlyingKiwi_73]

Cheers all,

I42 are you flying the Airtourer with the old RNZAF red tail training scheme? there were shares going in that if i remember, i was going to do my PPL at Tauranga but it was too far away from the family. Plus no landing fees at Omaka!

FlyinKiwi is Ardmore not ridiculously busy, a mate of mine reckoned he went down wind calling number 8!

Morrisman I would like to do some mountain flying, did a bit of terrain awareness in my training (apparently its a new requirement, was quite fun) so Wanaka is on the cards. I'm glad i missed out on all the new 'Threat Managament' training.

[hightower1986]

I can also recommend Tauranga, Raglan and Pauanui Beach, all coastal and very scenic.

Tauranga is not that busy, ATC are as mentioned very nice people and are very patient on the whole unless obviously you are blocking the dash 8's arrival/departure etc, all of the arrivals are easy with good features to follow, the museum there does some good food and also very interesting to look around.

Raglan I found a bit hairy in a c150, the trees at the end of the runway seem very tall! But its fine, think I must have had too many chips in town!

I found Ardmore to be very busy too, it says in the AIP that it is the busiest GA field in NZ and I can confirm this, but again its easy if your on the ball and again have some nice aircraft there.

[flyinkiwi]

I wholeheartedly agree that Tauranga's ATC is very helpful and patient. I don't want to put people off flying there, the word "busy" is very subjective, and I tend to find Tauranga CTR is busier than Hamiltons with all the different ops going on (hang gliding, parasailing, gyrocopters, gliding etc...) in addition to training and commercial ops.

I have not flown into Ardmore for a couple of years now, so I cannot comment on how busy it is currently. When I was flying there semi-regularly it wasn't too busy for my comfort level so I don't remember being scared, or maybe I just blocked out those memories... ;)

Raglan can be challenging, but who wants to only land on 2000m+ runways? Where's the fun in that? :}

[FlyingKiwi_73]

I'm happy with obsticles and short runways, at Omaka the hills in proximity to the end of 12 and 19 tends to freak out some pilots.
The approach to 30 and 01 needs to made over a ride, some pilots get in trouble as they are either too high or get to close to the runway and have a short base leg. one poor cessna pilot doing his flight test failed as he just kept going around (we were in the office just willing the guy to stick it on the ground, apprenty he'd done fine on the rest of the test)

25 and 07 at Omaka is 690, happliy landed an Archer there, although there is a distracting tree on the approach to 25.

Its the Vineyards that i don't like... an engine failure here would not be pleasent below 500ft.

I love the look of the raglan strip, its only 45 meters shorter than 25/07... only...

[FlyingKiwi_73]

Also chaps while we are on the subject of NZ flying, anybody have a comment on kapiti areoclub? I have flown with them a few times now, and they haven't been very helpful. I turned up to finish my Archer rating only to find that the only bloke who had a rating was not there (even though he had been rostered on especially for my lesson) I checked out the Archer, man it was tatty (ZK DFL) wouldn't let me switch on the master and check a few things. I then flew a 152 with one of the chaps (nice enough, pulled me up on a few points which is good) to get a feel for the circuits (wasn't going to waste the trip) and the hold points, vrp's etc.

Just have not got a good feel from them, they just don't seem interested? they are My local and i'm looking to join but just wondered if any of you have any comments

[MetGirl]

A bit closer to home for you that your wife might enjoy:
Martinborough - you can arrange to stay at airfield and the wineries are all near by
Hanmer
Kaikoura - fly down and get some crayfish etc
Flat Point - think there's a cafe there, haven't tried it, but don't go there in a NW
Foxpine is always good too, friendly people, although I heard they don't have avgas anymore so check that one out first

[knox]

KI is mint.... landing fees real cheap.... crays are not :(

[M14_P]

Nothing wrong with Queenstown dude, study your charts, and when you call, tell them you are new to the area, they are probably the most laid back cruisy bunch in the whole country.
And head south not north!
- Mt Aspiring
- Haast
- Big Bay
- Mt Cook
- Fox and Franz
- Southland
- Caitlands
- Olivine Ice Plateau
- Lake Te Anau
- Doubtful/Dusky
- Milford
- And everything else in between

That is if you want a really, really spectacular trip. :)
Shoot into Qtown, it won't take 30min to find a local pilot/instructor who would be happy to jump in the right seat and show you the ropes going into Milford. Spectacular flying. :)

[+TSRA]

Its not a quick trip but I had my favourite route on a sunny weekend: out of Rotorua - east along the lakes to Whakatane, then west low level around the coast to Great Barrier Island - have Lunch there and then down south to the east of Hamilton and into the hills near Taumaruni then a nice map reading excercise to get back to Rotorua going west along Lake Taupo.

Takes the better side of 5 hours - and I would not recommend taking the wife along - I did it only the once ;) - but its a great flight on a warm, sunny summer afternoon.

Otherwise a quick trip across to Masterton and a car to the tui factory was another fav - of course, you dare not come back the same day if you do it properly...:}

[NZScion]

Another recommendation for a Flight to KI here. From PP return you're looking at about 2-3 hours depending on aircraft type and winds (although you can always draw this out ;)). Pick a good day and spend some time in the sounds, stop off in Omaka and have a look at the museum, then down the coast to KI (or through the hills to Hanmer first), get your crays (or a coffee at Wings over Whales), then back over the strait to PP. Fantastic day out :ok:

[tinpis]

Kiwi ruined since they put wireless in them towers :(

[Weekend_Warrior]

I've been member of KDAC for a few years, I'm quite happy with them.
Things do get screwed up sometimes, what club doesn't, but the senior instructors are all good, not just hour builders. Can't say the same for the c-cats, there is a high turnover, but I just avoid them and ask for John or Richard. You just got to be a bit flexible.
The Archer is privately owned so not really the clubs responsibility. They do have a Cub which I have flown occaisonaly and a good selection of cessnas (152 172 182) as well as the part-banana.

But, there is Heli-whore across the way - try them, but I don't think they are any better tho.

[FlyingKiwi_73]

Weekend_Warrior Thank you!

I like the look of KDAC but i understand what you mean about the c-cats, they are the only guys i've met. They seemed more interested in building the hours and going next door (scare to there) I did look at the part-banana :D but the 600 per hour price slightly put me off, though its the far cheaper option for twins - the 402 down at omaka runs much higher :-) So the Archer is private, but the club rents it out? i imagine you have to be a member. i could cross to the dark side and get a 172 rating.

I just didn't get a good club feel there which is something i was after, flying and a bit of banter... there were not alot of people about and the c-cats did not seem interested in anything but the business, seems like a cessna shop.

I would not go to Heli Prossie if they paid for my CPL, having run into some of their students (almost literally) i wonder what kind of cookie cutter operation it is?

[On Track]

Another vote in support of Queenstown.

The people who manage the airport seem to think that only airlines matter, but the controllers understand GA and are there to help.

GA still makes up the bulk of aircraft movements at QN.

[riseagainst]

Great barrier island for the weekend, perhaps stop by in raglan on your way home for lunch!

[Weekend_Warrior]

The pa18, pa28, fixed-gear 182, aa5 and at least one of the 152s (ZK-FPI) are privately owned. The club just leases them out.

The club captain organizes the occaisonal family-orientated event. They also have regular competition days at Otaki, and club away-trips when enough are interested/some special event is on.

They run the commercial training school during the week, maybe you called in then. It is a bit more relaxed and friendly during the weekend.

As for Heli-whore, they exist only to make money for the owner. If you are not spending buggar off seems the atttude. A friend of my daughter just got her PPL thru them but is now flying over at the aero-club and likes it much better.

Hope this helps.

[India Four Two]

I42 are you flying the Airtourer with the old RNZAF red tail training scheme?FK_73,

Yes, I've been flying XXI, callsign "Airtourer 60". A lovely little aircraft, although a bit limited in the useful load department and very cramped in the cockpit. I'm going to be flying the yellow CT-4 tomorrow which should be an interesting comparison.

Since I've been in TRG, I've renewed my aquaintance with the Stearman, had a flight in a YAK and had a ridiculously expensive, nostalgic charter flight in the DH Dominie with my wife and daughter. Worth the cost though, since my first ever flight was in a Dragon Rapide for the equivalent of 70c (it was a long time ago).

We flew up to Waihi to have a look at the open-pit Martha gold mine. Well worth a look if you are flying up that way.

Its the Vineyards that i don't like... an engine failure here would not be pleasent below 500ft.

My view of what is a suitable forced-landing location was forever changed by an instructor who said to me "When the engine fails, the aircraft belongs to the insurance company. Your job is to walk away from the crash!"

[FlyingKiwi_73]

Theres an AA5 at KDAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! never saw it and it wasn't on the books... love those things! damn i know what i'm doing on the weekend.

Weather looks great!

I42 i agree, if i loose the engine over vineyard i'm landing with the rows and in the middle hopefully the wings take the load. I'm not caring about the airfrae at this point.

FYI for those of us who fly over Vineyards. land as far into the middle DOWN the rows as poss those posts are brittle and will snap quite happily with the forward motion (harvesters break them all the time).
DO NOT try the head land, they look nice and mowed and flat but they are not usually wide enough for the wings of the average light A/C and those strainer posts are knocked in a long way, they will not move, a wing tip may ctach and swing you into the post head on, if you are unlucky you may end up with a Lycomming in the lap.

Don't land ACROSS a vineyard as you'll get wire in the cockpit, which would be painful and most likely fatal.

I spend most of my days in these green tunnels of hell so i know where of i speak.

All vineyard owners are insured.... and at the moment they may thank you for the pay out!