This week we return to the South Island, and are immediately back amongst the towering Southern Alps with an autumnal tour of Molesworth Station.
Leaving Paraparaumu we follow the coastline south before continuing directly across Cook Strait to follow the Awatere Valley inland to Molesworth Station. From there we follow the head-waters of the Wairau River north to Tophouse and then continue north to the week's destination, Nelson.
Unfortunately there is a real lack of airports in the northern part of the South Island in FS9 so in order to keep on our way, this flight is a long one: nearly 200nm. Those pilots wishing to make the whole trip will need to be underway from as soon after our 7pm start time as possible.
Departure Time: Thursday 26th March 2009 19:00NZDT
Flight Time: 1.5 to 2.0hrs
Route:
- Leave Paraparaumu (NZPP) heading south along the coast.
- Cross Cook Strait to the south of the Blenheim area. (Faster aircraft may wish to perform a touch and go at Omaka (NZOM) while waiting for the rest of the group.)
- Follow the river to the head of the Awatere Valley.
- Cross the mountains to the west and then follow the Wairau River north to Tophouse. (Pilots with FSX might like to perform a touch and go at Nelson Lakes (NZLE): unfortunately this airport is not included in the FS9 default scenery.)
- Dogleg to the west and continue north to Nelson (NZNS)
If you don't know where you're going follow another pilot who looks like he does!
Late-comers: Late-comers or pilots not wanting to come for the full flight can join us from Omaka. Alternatively, a shorter variation of this route (dashed orange on the route map) skips the Molesworth section and follows the lower Wairau River inland to Tophouse, however it does bypass the most scenic and mountainous section of the flight.
Private Voice Channel:General pilot-to-pilot voice chat during this will be available on rw1.vatpac.org/vatnzflightclub.
(Use the Private Voice Chat in SB or the Company Frequency feature in FSInn to tune this server.)
For further enjoyment of this flight I recommend you have the following,
- Red Baron New Zealand Land Class
- Geographx 75m Mesh or 20m Mesh (payware)
- Roads and Rivers of New Zealand (payware)
If you have any further questions please reply to this thread or PM me,
Nick