NZ Flying

[dstone]

Hi Guys,

i am travelling to NZ in July and want to find out of i can do some flying on a Farm during my time there. PPL in a R22 and R44.

Can anyone help?

cheers

David

[conflict alert]

Can you be more specific...are you wanting to fly around NZ or are you going to stay at someone's farm who owns a helicopter and you just want to play on their farm?

[dstone]

Hi again,

Apologies for not being specific.

I basically want to do some flying and if i can do this while working on a farm, ie rounding up sheep, cattle etc,in a Robbie, happy days!

i am also looking to fly some hours around NZ if possible

Hope that helps

again, all replies will be much appreciated

DST

[QDMQDMQDM]

You need to post thsi on Rotorheads.

[heliglide]

Just back from NZ where did one tourist type flight in MD 500. Nice ship.
I did some fixed wing flying with Air Wakatipu out of Queenstown which were a nice outfit. I would recommend them if you want ot fixed wing touring.

As regards rotary based on farm rounding up sheep and cattle you are probably better off in Australia. From what I could see NZ heli fleet were or are either used ferrying tourists around the sights or with deer hunting/fishing down in Fjordland.

There is an operator on North Island
http://www.helinorth.co.nz that do work with forestry and agriculture but it does appear they do not use them rounding up cattle/sheep.

I know of one operation http://www.flyinn.co.nz/ , using fixed wing, that offer touring in South Island and you get to stay on a working farm. I have a feeling they night just give you a quad and a sheepdog to gather the flock.

[conflict alert]

Hey Dude, you can get a job anytime on a farm if you have 4 legs and respond to a whistle if your interested in rounding up. As to doing it in a robbie.......forget it, its not cost effective for most cockys and therefore I have never seen any jobs for flying cattle hustlers. Plenty of Ag flying but you have to start from beer bosun. As to flying around NZ just on holiday, I'm pretty sure there is a process to be followed ie. you can't just come over and fly. Things change daily with CAA so your best bet is to ring or serch (CAA NZ) and see whats involved. Good luck

[FlyAnotherDay]

NZ is a superb place to fly, with fantastic mountains - and requires mountain training as part of the Kiwi PPL(H). If Never never land doesn't have much in the way of mountains, you could probably do worse than some mountain training in NZ, which I did a few years ago ago & only needed a Biannual Flight Review on top of my UK PPL to get a Kiwi PPL - in this thread (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1093097#post1093097).

There's a looooong thread about NZ training and job propects here (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72154).

[heliglide]

Not sure about heli hire in NZ.
From what I saw most operations are for either grabbing tourists and ferrying them about showing them the sites or sling work.
I also know if hiring fixed wing on South Island (e.g Queenstown) they will not let you go wandering arund the mountains on your own, unless you have lots of experience both of mountain flying and the area.
They will give you instructor to babysit you. Same applies to the farm based touring operation.
Trust me those mountains are big and the valleys are deep, so it's not somewhere you want to get lost in low cloud. You need to know your valleys and escape routes. Also having an idea of the local weather is important, the pass into Milford closed right behind us and if you don't know where you are going it can be embarassing. Ok you might say a lot easier in helicopter but helicopter meeting mountainside is not good either.