A short but challenging flight in New Zealand

[Rupert]

Regardless of the sim you use I have a short but very interesting flying challenge for sim folks to try. 

 

It's only 41 miles and I can't claim it was my idea, I copied it from a real world article in FLYING MAGAZINE. 

 

Using the light weight fixed wing aircraft of your choice takeoff from NZQN  in Queenstown (New Zealand of course) to land at NZMF.  (Milford Sound). 

 

HINT: I hugely suggest you select an aircraft with a pretty short takeoff and landing capability!!  A really good power to weight ratio also helps a ton!

 

It took me several attempts to land correctly in my Beechcraft Baron with "enable damage" turned on.  A "Carbon Cub" or some equivalent plane would have been a much better choice.   Having said that, using ORBX scenery with P3D, the views are certainly breathtaking!

 

Drop a note to tell us how it worked out for you.

 

Michael

[jgf]

Whoever posts first will be posting spoilers.  I can only say about NZMF ...."MF" is the operative term.  Only a moron would build a runway here, and only an idiot would fly to it;  but the world is full of both.  I did the flight in a Diamond Katana, though an autogyro would be ideal;  53 minutes to go 40 miles.  More later (must attend an online game now).

[Rupert]

40 minutes ago, jgf said:

Whoever posts first will be posting spoilers.  I can only say about NZMF ...."MF" is the operative term.  Only a moron would build a runway here, and only an idiot would fly to it;  but the world is full of both.  I did the flight in a Diamond Katana, though an autogyro would be ideal;  53 minutes to go 40 miles.  More later (must attend an online game now).

I look forward to the details!  Sam Weigel, a long time commercial airline Captain authored the article for FLYING.  He, his wife, and their local guides flew the trip in a pair of 180 hp Cessna 180's.   He stated that for a flight this risky they, the tour operators, always took two planes for safety.

 

And I agree.  Even "flying" a sim NZMF is a hand-full to deal with!!   And no, a Baron isn't the ideal plane either!   

 

 

[jgf]

Apparently this is a popular tourist area, I wonder if there's an extra fee for this flight as a thrill ride.  I see no way of approaching NZMF that wouldn't have a major "pucker factor" in RL.

 

Sitting at NZQN there's no indication of what you're in for. 

 

Climbing out isn't difficult, just stay between the mountains

 

GPS is your friend

 

Follow the valley ...unless you fancy climbing to 10k ft for a forty mile run

 

 

Somewhat inhospitable surroundings

 

Halfway there

 

Still following the valleys

 

Now it's either continue to the ocean and double back or ...over the mountains, I'm about 8200ft here

 

 

 

 

Almost there, NZMF is up that inlet

 

 

8 miles to go (paused for the screenshot, from the cockpit those walls seem about five feet away)

 

 

Threading the needle, 70kts, half flaps

 

 

There it is, 60kt, full flaps, and puckered so that half the seat cushion has disappeared

 

 

Down, once on the ground she'll stop on a dime ...thankfully

 

An alternate approach might be through the pass in the mountains, on the left, which somewhat line up with the runway;  but it would be completely blind til on this side, when suddenly there's the runway and a steep descent to it.

 

 

53 minutes for 40 miles

 

An interesting flight. 

 

But now I've spilled the beans.

[JSkorna]

C208 in MSFS2020. Not a problem if you follow the valley from the south. Stopped in time to make the runway exit. Beautiful scenery.

[loki]

56 minutes ago, jgf said:

Climbing out isn't difficult, just stay between the mountains

 

Easy to do when you can see the mountains. NZQN can get a little cloudy.

 

 

Can highly recommend a visit if you like mountains and outdoor adventures. They also filmed parts of the Lord of the Rings movies in the area.

 

[Melo965]

Queenstown (NZQN) to Milford Sound (NZMF)

 

For this challenge I decided to use a Spitfire IA in MSFS 2020.

 

Full disclosure, on my first landing attempt I bent the prop, but here is the successful flight.

 

Spitfire cockpit view at Queensland.

 

Takeoff on Runway 23.

 

Climbing out.

 

Continuing to climb out.  Decided on a direct route so lots of altitude to gain on climb out.  Not very hospitable terrain if my Merlin has a problem.

 

On the way, getting up near 10,000 ft.

 

About half way there now.

 

Some high mountains and lakes here.  One more major ridgeline left to cross.

 

Airport ahead at the far end of the valley.

 

Flaps and gear deployed.

 

Slowing down on approach.  Under 100 kts.

 

Down to 70 kts and getting close.

 

My original intention was to take a few more pictures during the landing, but getting down in one piece took priority! 

 

Full stop landing accomplished.

 

This view shows how much runway I needed for the landing.

 

Parked at Milford Sound (NZMF) near a yellow Cessna.

 

Thanks for a fun challenge. 

 

[ViperPilot2]

Queenstown (NZQN) to Milford Sound (NZMF).

FS2004.

Aerosoft DHC-2 Beaver. Climbed to the top at 6,500', then dropped down bush pilot style to the runway... sort of. Took me about 35 min. @ 95 kts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice Challenge! More, please!

[Rupert]

15 hours ago, Melo965 said:

Queenstown (NZQN) to Milford Sound (NZMF)

 

For this challenge I decided to use a Spitfire IA in MSFS 2020.

 

Full disclosure, on my first landing attempt I bent the prop, but here is the successful flight.

 

Spitfire cockpit view at Queensland.

 

Takeoff on Runway 23.

 

Climbing out.

 

Continuing to climb out.  Decided on a direct route so lots of altitude to gain on climb out.  Not very hospitable terrain if my Merlin has a problem.

 

On the way, getting up near 10,000 ft.

 

About half way there now.

 

Some high mountains and lakes here.  One more major ridgeline left to cross.

 

Airport ahead at the far end of the valley.

 

Flaps and gear deployed.

 

Slowing down on approach.  Under 100 kts.

 

Down to 70 kts and getting close.

 

My original intention was to take a few more pictures during the landing, but getting down in one piece took priority! 

 

Full stop landing accomplished.

 

This view shows how much runway I needed for the landing.

 

Parked at Milford Sound (NZMF) near a yellow Cessna.

 

Thanks for a fun challenge. 

 

Yes, I have the "Battle of Britain Spitfire" and it's very easy to bend the prop.  It's much closer to the deck than any RW single engine fixed wing's prop that I ever flew.

[Rupert]

I'm glad several of you enjoyed this short challenge!  Hopefully there will be more to come!  And yes, I'm already scouring my old history to find another challenge as well.  Though the next one probably won't have as much challenge per minute as this one did.

 

Michael

 

Hey RW and sim pilots, I'm sure you have some fond memories.  Please post them for the rest of us to try! 

[taoftedal]

I made it!  Can't say my flying was as beautiful as the scenery.  Good thing that C-185 is as back-country rugged as the terrain.  Thanks Rupert!

 

[defaid]

The Auster AOP-9  doesn't fly quite like some of those STOL that can arrive & depart across the runway but it's pretty good. It's also a good plane for sightseeing -- high wing, low speed and good visibility -- as you's expect in an army Air Observation Post. I can't do better than to quote Mr Summers, Alex Kimbell's instructor in his autobiographical Think Like A Bird:

 

"You'll find her light on the controls and very agile. Look; see these droop when you lower the flaps, to decrease the aspect ratio of the wing. That's quite neat and you'll find you'll be able to fly in and out of the most impossible places... Most aeroplanes are designed to fly in the air, but this one was designed to fly near the ground. But she takes such a time to get anywhere."

 

It's the only slow plane I really enjoy flying and honestly I don't know why. It's probably through association with the book and possibly because it has its own clattery engine sounds with an explosive cartridge start.

 

In my mind I'd planned a route very similar to the one @PhrogPhlyer took but leaving Lake Wakatipu by the next valley north and skirting the south side of Mount Bonpland, rejoining his line over Lake McKellar and following highway 94 to Milford Sound. I hadn't checked but expected MS to have drawn the Homer Tunnel overland as they have with the Mont Blanc tunnel in the European Alps.

 

The tunnel had collapsed.

 

I fixed a few cumulus for interest and chose to fly early morning in the winter, in the hope the mountains would have some snow on them, and the snow some low sunlight.

 

0700 hrs local.

Awaiting my turn.

 

Climbing out of Queenstown.

 

About to turn over Pig Island.

 

This looks like fun.

 

Rejoining PhrogPhlyer's route.

The valleys are still waking up.

 

Following the improbably located Milford Highway.

Mount Christina on the right?

 

Just when I thought all was lost...

 

... I spotted some extraordinary NZ civil engineering and flew through it.

It should have been the Homer Tunnel.

 

Then it was all downhill.

 

 

They might be Mount Tutoko and Mount Madeline.

 

Yeah. I don't think so.

I turned around for another lower, slower approach.

 

There's a very soft stall at around 37 kt.

 

Landing long with a 5 kt headwind.

 

Good enough. Full stop.

 

Parked in time for breakfast.

 

57 minute flight.

[ViperPilot2]

Defaid likes the Austers, I'm partial to de Havilland products; the Puss, Leopard or Hornet Moth. In any event, those 30's airplanes are awesome for slow sightseeing like our recent Challenges! 

[PhrogPhlyer]

I’ve never had an opportunity to fly around New Zealand. This flight allowed me to enjoy the rugged majesty of this region. A fun and challenging day. I planned on flying between 800 and 1200 feet above the terrain to allow for an up close and personal experience.

 

On the ramp. Queenstown Airport NZQN.

 

Lined up for takeoff. A clear day with a light breeze. Excellent for low and slow.

 

Climbing out. Lake Wakatipu spreads before me. The small islands are the Lake Willow Islets.

 

Continuing down Lake Wakatipu. Will turn right after Mount Creighton. First glimpse of the ruggedness that’s ahead of me.

 

Keeping Pig Island and Pigeon Island off my right, I head towards the Caples River valley. I’ll turn left when I get there and then head up the Greenstone River.

 

The area where the Carples and Greenstone rivers converge seasonally flood and become Elfin Bay. Looks more like a lake to me.

 

Continuing north along the Greenstone River. Steele Creek flows in from the right.  Even for its age, I am amazed at the reality of the scenery that FSX can offer, especially as you get away from urbanized areas. See a comparison with a screenshot taken from Google Earth.

 

Following Marian Creek, I approach Lake Marian.

 

Running out of valley I need to start climbing.

 

5000 feet over the dual Lakes, Marriana and  Marrianette.

 

Over Gertrude Saddle and it’s all downhill from here. First, I fly down the Gulliver River into the Cleddou Valley. Then continue along the Cleddou River.

 

Finally, Milford Sound airport NZMF is off the nose.

 

Lining up for runway 29, being pushed by a brisk right crosswind coming off the Milford Sound.

 

Over the fence.

 

Almost touching down. I’ll hold the 30 deg. Right crab all the way to landing. This model Ercoupe has no rudders, so can’t land ‘wing down-top rudder.’ The landing gear is stressed for landing in the crab, and then pivoting straight down the runway.

 

Shut down, canopy open, feeling the fresh breeze. That was one beautiful flight.

[defaid]

On 5/10/2024 at 7:23 PM, Rupert said:

I'm glad several of you enjoyed this short challenge!

 

Competitions are a lot of fun but in between them, this is the ideal type for me: moderately challenging route & flying, good scenery and short enough that I didn't have to work at a storyline.

 

Yesterday I checked it out on a map and downloaded an addon Milford Sound. Today I just got in and flew.

 

D

[ViperPilot2]

1 hour ago, defaid said:

 

Competitions are a lot of fun but in between them, this is the ideal type for me: moderately challenging route & flying, good scenery and short enough that I didn't have to work at a storyline.

 

Yesterday I checked it out on a map and downloaded an addon Milford Sound. Today I just got in and flew.

 

D

 

Don't think of them as "competitions" in the traditional sense; these are more 'challenges' in that they might present a challenge for the participant (s).

 

Maybe they should be called 'participations' since the goal is to get folks to participate! 

[ianhr]

Fun little run! I just had to try it in the A2A Mustang. 10 minutes 48 seconds.

[defaid]

6 hours ago, ianhr said:

Fun little run!

 

Through Orbx scenery?

 

Some years ago when I had P3d, I installed the Orbx Pacific northwest scenery and it was unarguably the best thing in the sim.

[Rupert]

15 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

 

Don't think of them as "competitions" in the traditional sense; these are more 'challenges' in that they might present a challenge for the participant (s).

 

Maybe they should be called 'participations' since the goal is to get folks to participate! 

True,

 

Having said that, we're entering either way.   Perhaps Challenges?

[Rupert]

5 hours ago, defaid said:

 

Through Orbx scenery?

 

Some years ago when I had P3d, I installed the Orbx Pacific northwest scenery and it was unarguably the best thing in the sim.

I have ORBX for most of the world and find if I fly somewhere I don't already have it, I really miss it  Be careful though.  You'll quickly spend more than you thought you might!

[ianhr]

5 hours ago, defaid said:

 

Through Orbx scenery?

 

Some years ago when I had P3d, I installed the Orbx Pacific northwest scenery and it was unarguably the best thing in the sim.

Correct! ORBX NZ South.

[Bossspecops]

Noting that this flight was recommended to be flown with a higher power aircraft with good STOL characteristics I thought 'I have JUST the thing in my hangar!

 

 

Yes, the Westland Lysander that I  flew on the Route 66 rally. I've updated her a bit since the early Route 66 stages and she now carries a hefty belly tank and a ladder to persuade the pax to leave the warmth of the cabin when we reach our destination, wherever that may be.

 

Downloading the FSX scenery file for Milford Sound was a matter of moments, but I couldn't find an upgrade for Queenstown, but that didn't really matter as the default FSX scenery there is pretty good.

 

Locating the good 'ole Lysander at Queenstown went fine, and I powered up my Active Sky software for real weather, drew up an IFS flightplan as the cloudbase was quite low and I anticipated being IMC for at least some of the flight. 

 

BIG mistake, but see later.

 

Here I am on the ramp at Queenstown, no local traffic, just me, so I started up and hit the 'Shift-P' button so I could turn around and head for the threshold.

 

 

To my utter amazement one of the little push-back tractors over by the tower started up and raced over toward me to aid in the push-back! NOT a good idea with a single engined prop powered aeroplane as the tractor driver was likely to get his head cut off by the prop!

 

 

However both my Bristol Mercury engine and the tractor driver seemed to survive and I got out onto that looooooong runway and headed off to the west.

 

 

My FSTramp produced a rather strange SID for that Queenstown runway which involved a 270 degree turn to port, passing directly o'head the airport before setting course for Milford Sound, but who was I, a mere Brit, to argue such things, eh?

 

 

Having got airborne in a minute fraction of the Queenstown runway the Lysander was climbing as only a Lysander can, and I was on my way.

 

 

After a short while I passed over the field and headed off to the south for a short distance, still climbing to the safety height, noted as 8500 ft by FST.

 

 

But all the while I was being tossed about by horrendous wind gusts and the aircraft was climbing and diving almost at random, nothing that I could do with the stick seemed to have much effect, and pretty soon I was in the cloud.

 

 

And that was pretty much that. I didn't have a single glimpse of the apparently awesome scenery of the South Island and all the time I was being battered and bashed by the weather. There was a single major turn on the flightplan, and that was fairly close to Milford Sound and just before my planed start of descent, but I was till IMC at that time.

 

 

Descending over all those mountains was a mind numbing procedure and I was wondering if I should open the canopy in case I needed a quick exit after a crash landing! As it happened I popped out of the bottom of the cloud almost directly o'head Milford Sound field, but I was way too high and headed past the field by then.

 

 

I tried making some spiral descending turns but they left me well west of the field and heading AWAY from the runway, which wasn't too clever. Seeing that hefty rock ahead, I planned on passing it to the north and making a 180 deg turn around it to come around the west side of it and nicely lined up.

 

WRONG!

 

 

But the rock was just the pointed end of a hefty chain, and there was no gap west of it so I headed up the canyon in the pic until I found airspace wide enough to carry out a 180, which wasn't easy. Luckily the Lysander is a pretty nimble beast and made the turn ok, and I was headed back to my destination, but at a very low level.

 

 

Lining up was not easy and the gusts we re still bashing me about, even deep in the canyon here, and my first attempt was a total failure, I was WELL over to one side of the runway, so I opened up and went round again.

 

And I did that THREE times before I could plonk her down. And at last I landed, but waaaaaay down the runway.

 

 

Taxi-ing in was a slight problem as the Lysander wanted to weather-cock into the wind and only some hefty differential braking turned me off the runway and onto the ramp. I was VERY glad to shut down, I can tell you!

 

 

Of course the main problem was using real world weather, in the Real World I'd have never attempted a flight with the wind gusting like that and the cloud that low, so I may try it again but with some customised weather, bright sun, light breezes and either no clouds at all or a little cirrus at around 35000 ft. 

[defaid]

That tractor driver has bigger balls than the pilot.

[Bossspecops]

8 hours ago, defaid said:

That tractor driver has bigger balls than the pilot.

 

Even if he has got a big dent in his head! 

[Nels_Anderson]

I've been meaning to do some more flying in New Zealand, having seen some of its beautiful scenery in the past. So giving this trip a try seemed like a must.

 

Sorry, I didn't fly a fixed wing plane...I've been flying mostly helicopters lately so took the Bell JetRanger. Flying low through the valleys was a treat! Took me 43 minutes so no speed records set here.

 

Here's my flight:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, even a helicopter facility to tie down at