Warbird Wednesday – New Zealand Jet Run 
Wednesday 07/10/26
NEW SUMMER TIME — 10:30 UTC
Warbird Wednesday is now departing at our new Summer time of 10:30 UTC.
This week we’re swapping props for early jets and heading across the Tasman to New Zealand, taking on a fast and spectacular run from the bottom of the North Island through some of the finest mountain scenery the South Island has to offer.
With two legs, two military fields, two touch & goes and plenty of low-level twists and turns between the mountains, this should be a cracking night of flying.
Flight Details
Server: South East Asia
Start Time: 10:30 UTC — NEW SUMMER TIME
Location: New Zealand – bottom of the North Island and most of the South Island
Target Speed: 450 knots / 835 km/h GS
Twisty Sections: Expect around 350–400 knots / 650–740 km/h
Required Altitude: 12,000 ft / 3,650 m should clear the terrain along the route
Local Sim Time: 8:30am departure
Suggested Aircraft: Jet fighters from the late 1940s and early 1950s — F-86 Sabre, MiG-15, DH Venom, Dassault Ouragan, or something similar.
Leg 1 — 381 NM
Ohakea (Military) (NZOH) → Hokitika (NZHK)
Touch & Go: Woodbourne (Military) (NZWB)
Coffee Break: Hokitika (NZHK)
Leg 2 — 373 NM
Hokitika (NZHK) → Queenstown (NZQN)
Touch & Go: Milford Sound (NZMF)
Sim Settings
Please set your local sim time for an 8:30am departure.
Live historic weather is preferred unless conditions are bad enough to impact the enjoyment of the flight.
Under Assistances, please set:
G-Tolerance: Fighter Pilot
G-Suits: Enabled
You’ll probably appreciate both of those once we get into the mountains!
The Flight
As we continue to wait for the release of the 2024-native Spitfire package from Flying Iron, I’ve cooked up another jet flight for the Warbird Wednesday faithful.
This week we’re heading to the Land of the Long White Cloud — Aotearoa, New Zealand — because when you want somewhere to throw early jets through valleys and around mountains, it’s pretty hard to beat.
We begin at Ohakea (Military) (NZOH), near the bottom of the North Island — Te Ika-a-Māui.
After departure we’ll buzz Palmerston North, keeping an eye out for Mt. Cleese, before heading into the Tararua Range.
We’ll follow the ranges south towards the Hutt Valley before taking in the sights of the nation’s capital, Wellington. From there it’s a quick dash across Cook Strait and into the spectacular Marlborough Sounds, passing Arapaoa Island along the way.
Welcome to the South Island
After making landfall around Picton, we’re officially on the South Island — Te Waipounamu.
What better way to celebrate than with a quick touch & go at RNZAF Base Woodbourne, shown in the sim as Woodbourne (Military) (NZWB).
Then we turn southwest and the mountain flying begins in earnest.
We’ll work our way through the terrain before coming out to check out the Taramakau Road-Rail Bridge POI, then head for Hokitika (NZHK) and a well-earned coffee break.
Leg 2 – Into the Serious Mountains
Coffee finished, aircraft refuelled and pilots sufficiently caffeinated, it’s time to head back inland.
And this is where New Zealand really starts showing off.
We’ll visit some epic peaks, including Tititea / Mount Aspiring, rising to 9,951 ft / 3,033 m, followed by the big one — Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand’s tallest mountain at 12,218 ft / 3,724 m.
From there we’ll head towards Fiordland National Park for our second touch & go of the flight at one of the world’s most spectacular aviation destinations:
Milford Sound (NZMF).
Once everyone is back in the air, there’s just one more run through the mountains before we arrive at our final destination:
Queenstown (NZQN)
By the time we park up, we’ll have covered around 754 NM of New Zealand, crossed Cook Strait, visited both main islands, tackled some serious mountain terrain and hopefully still have all the important pieces attached to our aircraft.
Fly With Massive Simulations
Warbird Wednesday is a group flight, so don’t worry if you’re not an expert formation pilot or can’t hold exactly 450 knots. Pick something appropriate, jump on the server and come fly with us.
And if you’re not already part of the community, come and join Australia’s largest online flight sim community:
Massive Simulations 32
Discord: Massive Simulations 32
Regular group flights, events and plenty of fellow flight sim pilots to fly with.
