[Nz2003] Queenstown

[Edmund A. Hintz]

Cheers,

    We had been scheduled for a Monday ride on a fixed-wing out to
Milford Sound; we decided the bus trip was too long (12 hours) and
elected for the flight. It's expensive, but what the hell-helicopter is
beyond expensive, into obscene, much to my chagrin. However, weather
plays a part, and we got grounded. So instead we decided to take the LOTR
flight. It was quite fun actually. We took a Piper Cherokee 6, and
besides the fly-overs of locations we got a grass landing at one of the
sites where they filmed a bunch. It was used as the boundary between
Rohan and Fangorn, some of the Lothlorien and Rivendell footage, and
Isengard. Also, the mountains in the background were used for the opening
sequence of TTT, and some of the trees were the inspiration for the Ents.
It's hard to see some of it, they did a lot of mix and match with
scenery; taking pieces from one locale and matching them with backgrounds
from another, but you can make it out with a bit of imagination. Easier
to see shots were the crossing where the fellowship parts (Frodo and Sam
to the east, Aragorn Legolas and Gimli to the west to get Pippin and
Merry), and the Anduin river, though more perspective was used to make a
short section of river look huge and long (low, slow helicopter flying
makes a little river look huge). Parth Galen, Nen Hithoel, Amon Lhaw, the
Argonath, and Amon Hen were flybys. We also got a look at the location
for the Fields of Cormallen, though we won't get to see those on the
screen until ROTK hits. Turned out we were doing it with a Brit, who also
happened to be just about done with her PPL, just needs the final flight
test. Since our pilot had 2 students on board, we all had a bit more fun
than usual, talking about using the terrain for lift and general aviation
stuff. In fact, we got a bonus landing out of it, no relation to LOTR but
a great spot to take a looksee. The takeoff was quite fun as well, a
downhill run with a drop at the end, so you go rushing towards the abyss
and go airborne just before the end. It's worked out well, I've been
promoting the use of a small fixed wing to Sam for some time, and she's
been reluctant, but after the flight she's realized the utility of them.
Perhaps once I get my rotor and fixed wing PPLs out of the way we can get
a little family plane. It'd be useful in CA, but even moreso if we end up
moving down here. This place is brilliant for aviation. Photos for this
trip are below:

http://www.hintz.org/photos/public/3-24/

    Our second day the weather was clear, so we got to take the run to
Milford Sound. We got a CFI (Tim Clarke) and a Cessna 172 from Air
Wakatipu, and headed on out. Sam didn't much care for the 172, thought it
was too small; figures she'd decide she likes a Piper Cherokee 6. Damned
expensive tastes that girl has... ;-) Anyway, since it was just the 3 of
us plus CFI I got to do a fair bit of the flying, which was rather
fantastic. The scenery is of course spectacular, the word "grandeur" is
insufficient and inadequate for description, and flying through it just
made it that much more fun. This was only my 3rd hr in a fixed wing, the
other 2 were last summer, but my helicopter training is paying huge
dividends for my fixed wing skills. My first 2 times I had a fair bit of
trouble keeping it in balance, rudder control was fairly lame, but I was
spot on this time. Not surprising given the sensitivity and importance of
the pedals in the helicopter. I can already see that once I've mastered
the rotorcraft the fixed wing will be a piece of cake. 

    Mountain flying is something I never get to do, despite the relative
proximity of the Bay Area to the Sierras. Trainer helicopters simply
don't have the range or speed to go that far, I seldom get more than 10-
15 miles from the airport, and that's not even close to sufficient to get
good mountain flying in. Using the terrain for lift was quite awesome;
we'd go into an area at about 500ft/min ascent, hit a thermal, and with
no change in controls we'd be doing anywhere from 1k to 2k ft/min.
Brilliant. This would be an awesome place to be a CFI or student pilot.
As it turned out, the flight to Milford was the highlight of the trip.
Milford itself, while spectacular, was hurt by the lack of water. They're
in a bit of a drought down here so what are normally waterfalls were just
dry bits of rock. To further bring things down we had the Disney-like
atmosphere of tourists crowding for a viewing spot-Sam and Hunter had a
nice place to sit at the front of the boat, about 2 feet from the
railing, and people kept stepping in front of them and getting pissy when
we asked them to move-never mind that we'd been there the whole trip
while they were downstairs stuffing their faces with food. Sam finally
had to give up and stand at the railing; nobody seems to mind if you
stand at the railing itself, but if you leave any space between you and
the railing they seem to think it's their god-given right to take it.
Ignorami. Anyway, lack of water and annoying tourists made the boat trip
a bit of a let-down for us. Would've been better to come out, rent a
helicopter(there was a local operator we didn't know about, fixed wing to
there then chopper for the tour would be both grand and affordable), blow
through, and get back. If we move down here, we'll come back and do a
helicopter tour when there's been some good rainfall, that would be the
way to do it. Leave the boats to the unwashed masses.

Milford/flight pics:

http://www.hintz.org/photos/public/3-25/

A few Hunter pics from the period-one rest on the grass of "Rohan" and
another couple on the boat to Milford:

https://www.hintz.org/photos/private/3-25-people/


Regards,

Ed Hintz
ed@hintz.org