OVERSEAS PILOTS · QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND
You didn’t come this far to guess your way through the sky.
Arrive legal. Understand the local air. Make every flyable day count—with a clear route into Queenstown’s sites and training shaped around the pilot you already are.
LOCAL QUEENSTOWN KNOWLEDGE
COACHING BUILT AROUND YOUR LEVEL
CLEAR OFFICIAL VISITOR PATHWAY
BEAUTIFUL FLYING. AN UNFAMILIAR SYSTEM.
You know how to fly. New Zealand changes the questions.
The Southern Alps can look instantly inviting. But new airspace, access rules, high-latitude mountain weather and local site procedures mean your experience works best when it is paired with local context.
The aim is not to hold you back. It is to help you use your experience well.
01
Am I legal to fly?
New Zealand requires every visiting pilot to hold approved NZHGPA membership before taking off.
02
Where works today?
Alpine weather, valley winds and restricted airspace can make a familiar-looking day anything but familiar.
03
How do I make the trip count?
A local briefing gets you oriented. Purposeful coaching can send you home a more capable pilot.
CHOOSE THE SUPPORT YOUR TRIP NEEDS
One destination. Three useful ways to approach it.
You are not starting again. You are deciding how much value you want this trip to create.
JUST HERE TO FLY
Arrive legal. Get locally briefed. Fly with context.
Use the official visitor pathway, understand the Southern Lakes sites and connect with local pilots before choosing your launch.
+ NZHGPA visitor membership
+ Local site and airspace information
+ Southern Club flying guidance
LOCAL ORIENTATION + COACHING
Replace guesswork with a plan built around your flying.
Bring your existing experience. We’ll identify the local knowledge and technical work that will create the most value during your stay.
+ Honest skills conversation
+ Site-specific decision making
+ Coaching shaped around conditions
COME HOME A BETTER PILOT
Give your New Zealand trip a real progression goal.
Build a focused programme around canopy control, SIV, cross-country, PG3, competition, Gondola certification or a longer intensive.
+ Core technical training
+ Advanced and specialist pathways
+ Specific, usable skills—not just airtime
BEFORE YOU FLY IN NEW ZEALAND
Four steps between landing and launching.
Your overseas licence does not, by itself, make you legal to fly here. Complete the official process before you commit a good weather day to paperwork.
NZHGPA membership is mandatory.
Do not fly until your application is approved and your Pilot ID Number has been issued.
01
Complete the VFR study and exam
Learn the New Zealand airspace framework, pass the online exam and save your certificate.
02
Apply for the right membership
Less than four months: visitor membership. More than four months: full membership and rating conversion.
03
Submit clear, current documents
Provide your current national licence, relevant IPPI card and VFR certificate in English or with a translation.
04
Get the local briefing
Check the site, weather, airspace, access and landowner requirements with local pilots or a local school.
✦
Clean your flying equipment
New Zealand biosecurity is strict. Remove seeds, soil and insects from your wing, harness and equipment before departure.
⌁
Check your radio
Local pilot communication commonly uses UHF CB in the 476–477 MHz range. Do not assume a European or American VHF radio is legal here.
FLY THE PLACE, NOT JUST THE VIEW
Queenstown rewards good judgement.
High mountains, strong valley systems and busy controlled airspace sit close together here. Local knowledge is not an optional extra—it is part of the flight.
01
Coronet Peak
The main Wakatipu flying site, with a sensitive airspace ceiling and active commercial traffic nearby.
02
Skyline Gondola
A downtown mountain site with specific qualification, endorsement and accreditation requirements.
03
Crown Terrace
A local soaring site where the permitted flight area sits close to Queenstown’s main aircraft approach.
RETURN HOME WITH MORE THAN AIRTIME
Give the trip a progression goal.
Tell us how you fly now, where uncertainty appears and what you want to unlock. We’ll help you choose the training that makes the best use of your time and the conditions.
01
Canopy Dynamics
Build a precise understanding of pitch, roll, yaw, inputs and energy—the technical base beneath advanced flying.
02
Local Site + Gondola
Learn the topography, meteorology, procedures and judgement behind flying Queenstown’s local sites.
03
Cross-Country
Read the day, connect climbs, choose routes and manage the decisions that turn height into distance.
04
SIV + PG3
Develop practised responses, deeper wing understanding and the capabilities behind New Zealand’s advanced rating.
Also available: competition · acro fundamentals · single-skin · tandem pilot training · 30-day intensive
YOUR NEXT STEP CAN BE SPECIFIC
Tell us how you fly now. We’ll help shape what comes next.
01
Share your pilot picture
Your licence, home country, recent airtime, wing, dates and the part of flying you most want to improve.
02
Get a realistic plan
We identify the useful training sequence, flag any licence or site requirements and keep expectations grounded in weather.
03
Arrive ready
Your paperwork is underway, your priorities are clear and your first useful conversation has already happened.
“Not more manoeuvres for the sake of them. More understanding, better decisions and a calmer pilot when the air becomes demanding.”
THE INFINITY APPROACH
VISITING PILOT QUESTIONS
Know before you go.
Rules and site access can change. The linked NZHGPA and Southern Club information remains the authority.
YOUR TRIP. YOUR EXPERIENCE. YOUR NEXT LEVEL.
Come to New Zealand ready to fly—not ready to figure everything out.
Send us your dates and pilot background. We’ll help you identify the most useful next step.
We teach people to fly.
VISITING PILOTS
Queenstown · New Zealand
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