Bill King
5th Jan 2009, 14:14
I will be visting NZ shortly and in order to fly whilst there need to do a BFR. In UK this consists of an hour with an instructor in the air. Is NZ much the same or is more involved?
Sounds like you are you planning on doing a licence conversion/validation.
If that is the case then there is a bit more involved than just a flight of about 1 hour. Things like a logbook assessment and a thorough briefing on the AIP and law, with paper work being faxed to the CAA for the validation to be completed. Be aware that NZ requires flight time requirements that are not required for a UK PPL, e.g. 5 hours instrument flight time. These requirements can be a stumbling block when doing a validation. It's a while since I've done a validation, it would pay to touch base with the organisation where you intend to do it and check the details and ensure how much time to allow.
If it is just a BFR you need there is also ground work required in addition to the flight. There again make contact before hand to check things out.
Take a look here for places that can help you.
Welcome to Flying New Zealand (http://www.flyingnz.co.nz/)
From that website here are some places in the upper North Island that are close to Auckland where I guess you will fly into. There are other operators as well I don't have ready access to their URL's.
Auckland Aero Club - (http://www.aac.org.nz/)
The Waikato Aero Club (http://www.flywaikato.co.nz/)
North Shore Aero Club (http://www.nsac.co.nz/)
These places operate 7 days per week and will have aircraft that you can take away for an extended period of time normally with no minimum hire requirements.