New Zealand SFH

[Whirlybird II]

Looking for SFH during six weeks vacation there December/January. Can anyone recommend any companies/individuals in either north or south islands? Any personal experiences would be invaluable. Ta!

[206 jock]

I flew an R44 with Over The Top helicopters based in Queenstown in 2007, they were very good to deal with. I only did 1.1 hours, but flying around the Southern Alps was awesome.

If I'd had more time, another trip to Milford Sound is a great idea by all accounts.

A couple of pics:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff74/flyingsniffer/Humbolts.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff74/flyingsniffer/glenorchy.jpg

[Evil Twin]

You need to look up Peely on here and send him a PM. He will help if he can and may be able to broker a deal for you. You will need to get checked out by someone in NZ and he can do that for you.

Cheers
ET

[mark one eyeball]

Oh I wanna do Self Fly Hire in NZ too
Current on my UK/EASA Licence
R44
I am going there next year for holiday
where should I find that sfh company?

[Redland]

Did some flying in New Zealand in Feb this year from Wanaka Helicopters in the south island. I wanted to do SFH but was told that it was not possible on my EASA PPL. I was a bit annoyed but did six hours of duel, and given the terrain and conditions I would not have been up to it on my own anyway.

Some of the best flying I have done, the southern Alps are spectacular, and having someone who knew the local area was a huge benefit showed me some amazing places to land. Cant recommend it enough.

[flyinkiwi]

More information about converting your license can be found here:

http://www.caa.govt.nz/pilots/Flight_Crew_Recognition_Info.pdf

[Sir Korsky]

I remember many years ago, walking into the NZ CAA to get a NZ license conversion. I was asked to take a seat. After 30 mins or so, I was invited to collect my license with a " sorry to keep you waiting "

[flyinkiwi]

Sadly those days are long gone. Today is the age of user pays, and pays, and pays, and pays... :ugh:

[RVDT]

You can actually get a validation for six months.

Google NZCAA FFS!

14. Applicants seeking a NZ validation permit are required to have flight experience that is at least
equivalent to that prescribed for the appropriate level of NZ licence. That is, for a validation
that grants PPL privileges, applicants must have the equivalent of all the NZ PPL minimum
flight experience requirements, including dual instrument instruction, PPL weather and terrain
awareness and so on. The same principles apply at CPL and ATPL level.

If you look in the NZ AIP GEN 3.3 (available online) check out the designated "mountainous terrain."

Unless you do mountainous terrain awareness training you won't be going far in the South Island.

Then again doing the training will probably be a good experience that you would be hard to find anywhere else as convenient.

[206 jock]

I should have said that like Redland, I took an instructor along - I'm very glad I did as he showed me stuff (both scenic and with the helicopter) that would have been outside of my comfort zone without him.