Queenstown 05 Approach

This is the famous instrument approach to New Zealands Queenstown airport, RWY 05, and it didn’t disappoint on my first try after recently getting a sub. In fact the scenery of NZ I’ve seen so far would be enough to justify an annual sub on its own, IMO!

The arrival STAR and approach are both in the flight plan database, so it didn’t take long to generate a FP from Invercargill that would leave me safely near the threshold. With winds favouring the opposite end I thought I’d have to abandon the attempt and figure out a way to get to the other direction, but once down over the lake the tailwind was around 7kts, so I pressed on.

I used the Dash 8 in Quantas colours, with a short cruise at 15000ft before starting the arrival, which is a backards P shape loooping around the three arms of the lake… This was the Casual server, and the southern reaches of NZ are very devoid of IF pilots, so I invite you to come down here and fly!

I hope you like the pics, and even better, fire up your app and fly the approach for yourself!

mcgregni / ZK-MCG

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Wow! Super cool! Great shots :)

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Thanks, I’m glad you saw them 👍

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Must have been an amazing flight, isn’t it? 😍😍

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I recently flew to Queenstown in IF too, it’s an amazing approach!

Great photos!

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Qantas Link Q400 at Queenstown 😬

Nice pics mate

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The Aussie pilots must have got lost… Thanks people for your responses!

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