Babbling Brooke’s Travel Blog

After waking up nice and early in our Wānaka Airbnb, Matt and I packed up then began our drive that would take us to Mount Cook from the Eastern side of the Southern Alps. But before the long drive truly got underway, we had a very exciting stop to make.

We drove to the Wānaka airport and checked in for my very first flight lesson at U-fly! Designed to get folks introduced to flying, there were multiple options to choose from for a flight lesson, with varying lengths of flights and routes. 

Matt had found a U-Fly brochure the day prior at our Makarora hotel and they happened to have an opening for the very next morning. He knew how badly I wanted to take a lesson (I have numerous family members who are pilots). Additionally, Matt had also taken some flight lessons in college, back in Florida, and gave me the encouragement I needed to give it a go! 

I was a little nervous, but more-so nervous that I would really suck – which is kind of a ridiculous fear, since I had never done it before. Maybe fear of failing was why I hadn’t tried it before, but it was time to let that go and have some fun! 

We chose the 1 hour flight loop to see Mount Aspiring, and with a flight lesson booking, you get one passenger free so Matt got to have a scenic flight with the backseat row all to himself!

Once we checked in, we were led to a safety briefing area where we watched a video on basic safety for the upcoming lesson, such as: putting on a seatbelt, commands/instructions the pilots would give you (I.e. ‘you have controls’ and ‘I have controls’), and location of fire extinguishers etc.

After the video, we got to meet our pilot and instructor, Sherwin, and he took a us out to our plane: a Piper PA-28 Cherokee! Matt got in first, I was next, and then Sherwin. We boarded the aircraft via the wing. It was awesome! 

Inside the cockpit, Sherwin instructed me to push various buttons and also pump the throttle 6 times to pump gas from the wings into the engine before we started it up. He taxied us out to the airstrip, completed final pre-flight checks and then gave me instructions for take off. 

We taxied to the end of the runway then, as instructed, I pushed up on the throttle and we started cruising! We were off the ground in no time, climbing toward clear blue skies! 

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for an intro flight. Sherwin gave great instructions that were informative and made it not too overwhelming. I quickly found out just how responsive this plane was when maneuvering the flight controls. I also quickly learned that, unlike a car, turning a plane is exponential. When driving a car on a road along a curve, you turn the steering wheel until the turn is complete before straightening out. On this plane, one small roll to the left and the plane will keep turning left even after you straighten the controls again! I also learned that when making a turn, the plane naturally wants to dip the nose down so you actually turn and pull on the controls to keep the nose tilted up. It took some getting used to and I’m in absolutely no way an expert after just one flight, but it was so awesome to start to learn how it all works. 

We headed towards Mount aspiring, which was out in all her glory- glacier and snow capped peak shining in the sun! I tried to keep my hands super relaxed on the controls and, with Sherwin’s help, we flew right around the peak. It was insane! 

From there, we had some options and picked flying down near the glacier more. For this part, Sherwin 100% was doing everything as we circled inside a natural curve of the rock face along Mount aspiring below the peak. There were updrafts and it got a little bumpy. At one point we looked like we were just heading straight for the cliff face! It was exhilarating! 

After touring Mount Aspiring, we headed back towards Lake Wānaka and I got lots more practice maneuvering the plane and maintaining altitude as we flew around the small islands within the lake. 

Sherwin then asked if we wanted to do some steep turns and have some fun. Matt and I both answered resoundingly ‘yes’!

Resting my hands on the controls without actually doing anything, I felt him bank hard right and out the window, the world went sideways!  There was a split second where I took in the view before gravity came barreling at me and I felt the swoosh of blood in my head like a loop on a roller coaster. We did it again turning left- and at this point Matt and I were both cracking up and having a blast. I think our responses gave our pilot the green light for more fun tricks. Sherwin pulled up on the controllers, sending us up, up, up, to where it felt like the engine was going to sputter out before banking hard right (and therefore down). Next thing I knew it felt like we were in a free-fall looking right at the ground! Of course that only lasted a second or two but it was SO FUN! The last maneuver was climbing and experiencing a split-second of negative gravity as we floated up in our seats. I was in heaven. 

We headed back toward the airstrip and I kept hands on controls to feel how Sherwin was maneuvering the plane. I followed his instructions for landing and he tweaked things as he saw fit, and next thing I knew we were back on the ground! He let me taxi back to our parking spot using the foot pedals to turn the plane left or right- it was so weird not steering with my hands! 

Last step was turning off the plane. I pushed every button I was told to and then turned the key ‘off’ as the engine sputtered to a stop. Back outside the aircraft, Sherwin took pictures for us with the plane and I got a certificate for my log book with my first flight hour completed!  

I truly have not been able to stop thinking about this experience since! Beyond how cool it was to fly a plane, with Matt being a free passenger, getting to do fun maneuvers, and see the incredible scenery, this actually is a way better deal than a regular scenic flight if you ask me. It was incredible and SO worth every penny! 

After the flight, I sent a picture of me with the plane to my dad, who is a pilot, and he informed me the piper Cherokee was the same plane I flew on for my very first flight when I was only 3, way back when he was in flight school. 

It felt like a very full circle moment to see these pictures side by side 🥹

We still had a journey ahead of us up to Mount Cook, but that’s a story for another day! Follow along to see how we spend the last week of our 5 week trip in New Zealand!