NZFF

Fiordland is a great place to fly. I took Deane's Fletcher up for a spin this evening, starting at NZMF and just skimmed around the valleys and Fiords to the south, with no destination in mind.

The terrain is amazing, with all the inlets and mountains generating constant eye candy, and opportunities for low swoops and steep climbs. Adding some low level cloud adds some extra fun, and makes things a little more risky if you feel like a challenge

If you have the Red Baron Entertainment topo package installed, you will see numerous grass runway strips dotted around the place, often with some gradient of incline- that STOL planes like the Fletcher can handle easily. Also, empty patches of grass, next to the rivers and lakes edges make perfecting touchdown points, where you can stop and check your map, although it is also fun to leave the GPS alone, stay inside your VC and just get lost in the wilderness.

Lost is such a harsh term. I like to think of it more as geograpically embarrassed.

You're right Trolly it's a great place. For anyone interested in some real world info on flying in this area, get hold of a book called "The Venison Hunters" by Mike Bennett. Your local library will probably have a copy if you don't want to buy one.

It has maps showing the location of airstrips along with photos and the stories of the early days of venison recovery in NZ - both fixed wing and rotor.

Great tip, but US$45 from amazon (without shipping) isn't something I'm prepared to pay at the moment. How many maps are in the book? Could they be scanned and hosted?

Cheers,
Christian

Wow Christian don't go to Amazon. I could make a killing there on resales!!!

You can buy the book through bookshops in NZ for between $20-$25 new last time I looked.

I'm pretty sure copyright would prevent me scanning and posting them. The main map airstrip locations are printed on the inside covers.

Thanks, I'm in Melbourne unfortunately, but I'll keep my eyes open. Fair enough about the scanning.

Christian