Flying the New Zealand Fiordland with Flyinn Tours

A pilot needs to get their license "validated" before being permitted to fly a New Zealand registered aircraft. The validation process started 2 months before the trip to New Zealand. I had to fill out a 1 page validation application and email copies of my American pilot's license, medical, recent logbook pages and passport photos to Flyinn.  I also had to acquire a new Restricted Radiotelephone Permit from the Federal Communications Commission. This was not required for flying in the United States, but is required overseas. Flyinn took care of all of the details. Validation is for a specific model of airplane. Flyinn uses Cessna 172's with Penn Yan Aero Super Hawk 180 hp engines.  I had experience with flying one at SkyWarriors in Pensacola.

During the overseas flights to Australia and New Zealand, I was able to review the pdf booklets from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on "Mountain Flying" and "In and Around Milford." I learned that it was best to fly on the upwind side of valleys, where the air was smoother, uplifting, and would give a smaller turn radius if needed. But this had to be balanced with the recommended right-of-way practice of flying on the righthand side of a valley. I wondered what happened when the upwind side was on the left and the turbulent lee side with it's downdrafts was on the right.  I figured I would find out with the Flyinn instructor.  Mountain saddles (dips between peaks) were passed at an angle in level flight to allow for a turn away if needed.

Before New Zealand, I thought I could manage flying in the mountains. I had done a lot of flying VFR and IFR up and down the Appalachians, having lived in Roanoke, Virginia for 4 years. Roanoke is in a bowl after all, surrounded on all sides by mountains. I had also done my share of flying in the Rocky Mountains, with VFR flights north of Denver, Colorado, as well as VFR and IFR in New Mexico, Arizona and California. I could handle low clouds that covered the mountain tops. I would just file an IFR flight plan, do the published instrument departure, fly above the peaks at the minimum enroute altitude, then do the published instrument approach. That would keep my airplane safely away from the hard stuff.

Flying close to the valley wall.

On day 1 of the 11 day Flyinn experience, instructor Pete Clulow introduced me to mountain flying, New Zealand style.  When the clouds are low enough to cover the mountain ridges, they use their maps to find a route through the valleys to their destination. They fly VFR, staying below the clouds.  And they fly along the valley walls, next to the hard stuff. The cloud cover and weather was a constantly changing factor. It seems that there is always somewhere in New Zealand where the weather interferes with VFR flying, and that somewhere changes from day to day.

Can't find a clear saddle to cross.

Route through Fiorland

On 3/22/17, after topping off the tanks with fuel, we discussed how we would cross the Fiordland and approach Milford Sound Airport. Nick and Craig took off first, heading west up the west arm of Lake Manapouri toward the power station. With a cloud ceiling of 4000 feet, we planned to cross the Wilmot Pass at 2200 feet. After Pete and I took off, we heard from Nick on the radio that the could not reach the pass due to clouds. Nick and Craig in ZK-TRS headed up the north arm of Lake Manapouri, and we followed in ZK-WAX.  From the north arm of the lake, we were able to climb to 4500 just under the cloud base and continue north, following the Freeman Burn, hoping to get to Fowler Pass, 3560. The clouds quickly dropped to 4000 as did we, and we had to turn back about 7.5 km from the north arm due to clouds. Here, Pete taught about hugging the right side of the valley so there would be enough space to turn 180. A danger was the absence of a horizon due to the surrounding mountains.  We followed another valley northwest for 4.5 km, circled a high valley about 2.5 kg southwest of Lake Herries, then saw a narrow clearing over a saddle in the Kepler Mountains.  Pete taught me about approaching the saddle at an angle, so what we could circle to safety if clouds blocked the path to the other side. We were then in a high valley which was the origin of the Iris Burn. We turned north to see if we could get through to the small lakes that were the beginning of the Delta Burn, but turned back southwest after seeing this route was blocked by clouds. We tracked downstream on Iris Burn, then noticed a saddle to the northeast was clear. We flew over the high mountain dips, north of Spire Peak and south of Mount Maury, then down the South Fiord until we could turn northwest over Lake Te Anau, up the Middle Fiord, then the northwest arm, over Lake Hankinson, then Lake Thompson, through the Henry Pass. Here, the cloud bases were higher and the mountain ridges were lower. We turned northeast at Lake Alice, crossing the George River, the Wild Natives River, and over Lake Graves. I climbed to 3500 feet and turned east up the Light River, over a saddle north of the Twin Sisters, and up Staircase Creek to look at Lake Quill and Southerland Falls. Pete took the controls for the tight turn over Lake Quill so Liz and I could look and photograph. From there, I began a hurried decent down Arthur River to 1000 feet traffic pattern altitude, arrived at the end of Milford Sound. With the airport in front of me, I turned right along the rock wall and entered a left downwind. Pete guided me as I entered the Cleddau River valley to turn base then final for the landing on runway 29. After the 1 hour, 10 minute flight. Pete told me that I was one of the few private pilots to land at Milford Sound Airport NZMF.

Milford Sound via Cleddau river valley

Passing Blight Sound.

We flew over the Tutu Brun, then down the South Fiord until we could turn northwest over Lake Te Anau, up the Middle Fiord, then the northwest arm, over Lake Hankinson, then Lake Thompson, through the Henry Pass. Here, the cloud bases were higher and the mountain ridges were lower. We turned northeast at Lake Alice, crossing the George River, the Wild Natives River, and over Lake Graves. I climbed to 3500 feet and turned east up the Light River, over a saddle north of the Twin Sisters, and up Staircase Creek to look at Lake Quill and Southerland Falls. Pete took the controls for the tight turn over Lake Quill so Liz and I could look and photograph. From there, I began a hurried decent down Arthur River to 1000 feet traffic pattern altitude, arrived at the end of Milford Sound. With the airport in front of me, I turned right along the rock wall and entered a left downwind. Pete guided me as I entered the Cleddau River valley to turn base then final for the landing on runway 29. After the 1 hour, 10 minute flight. Pete told me that I was one of the few private pilots to land at Milford Sound Airport NZMF.

Looking back on Milford Sound

We few throughout the south island of New Zealand with Flyinn from Tuesday 3/21/17 to Friday 3/31/17. During that time, I completed a New Zealand biennial flight review and mountain flight training. A complete day by day blog is available at http://www.doenlen.com/aus-nz/.