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A Pilot’s View: Queenstown, New Zealand

Featured Replies

I have seen that video before and really love it.

Actually I would really like to replicate that approach into queenstown and would like to see if ASN or any weather addon can replicate those conditions when approaching using PMDG 737....

Bilal Asif Khan

Maybe if you could find out the date & time when that was filmed , you could go historical weather in asn, maybe??

PC SPECS:  WINDOWS 10 X64 , Intel Core i9 9900K @ 4.9GHz, RAM: 64GB DDR4 1800MHz, MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE AORUS ULTRA Z390,GPU: NVIDIA ROG STRIX ROG 3080TI 12GB

 

The weather is like that a lot in the winter. I fly in and out of there for some skiing, fantastic approach and I have come in on both approaches, the other approach is great too as you descend and come around the mountains as well. 

Matthew Kane

I'm Dyslexic, what's an error to you is not to me 

  • Moderator

It surely takes a great amount of faith in the avionics to do such an approach... :hi:

Fr. Bill    

AOPA Member: 07141481 AARP Member: 3209010556


     Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator

Starting in July they will be allowing night flights in and out of Queenstown for the first time. Up until now they could only land or depart during daylight hours

 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/76324957/queenstown-night-flights-rolling-out-in-july

 

Tourism in and out of Queenstown is now at an all time high so this is no surprise. Coming in at night and through the clouds will be a real challenge as you are not approaching the runway from either direction, you make a final turn before landing so this will be a challenge in IFR conditions

Matthew Kane

I'm Dyslexic, what's an error to you is not to me 

  • Moderator

Of course in regular time that final turn to starboard would not be nearly as "scary" as it appears in that sped-up video. Seeing that mountain so close and then dropping into the soup is pretty unnerving! :shok:

Fr. Bill    

AOPA Member: 07141481 AARP Member: 3209010556


     Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator

It is awesome watching them come in from the town. The place I stay in Queenstown is up the hill so we look down on the aircraft on approach and the bank to final. I can sit their all day and barbecue on the deck and watch that, oh yeah and the nature is great to look at too.

Matthew Kane

I'm Dyslexic, what's an error to you is not to me 

I agree with Fr. Bill that the speed-up does add a bit to the scare-factor, but still... This is one where you definitely have to trust your training and equipment.

 

FYI, this is an RNP (Required Navigation Performance) approach which requires special equipment and aircrew training.  Both plane and crew must be approved and authorized to fly it.  It is amazing what GPS in conjunction with ground-based equipment now allows.  In this case, everything right down to that last right turn to runway alignment is part of the approach procedure.  See: http://www.aip.net.nz/pdf/NZQN_45.1_45.2.pdf for the approach chart.  Note that this plate even requires a detailed inset to show the 4 fixes in the final segment.

 

Amazing stuff!

 

Scott

  • Moderator

I remember doing this flight (as a passenger) last October and the view out of the window was incredible as we broke out of the clouds surrounded by mountains, and it certainly tops my list of scenic real-life flights (Along with Bergen, Norway and Innsbruck, Austria).

 

As amazing as the approach and scenery was, I found Queenstown far too touristy for my liking, and was happy to get away and head south to Te Anau :)

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