Hercules retirement flights added: February 3rd, February 4th

[Orion]

No 40. Squadron will farewell the workhorse of the skies with ... additional flypasts over North Island's West Coast and South Island towns on Monday 3rd February and Tuesday 4th February 2025.

Below are the locations and times for upcoming C-130H Hercules retirement flypasts.

Disclaimer: All timings are subject to change based on weather (clouds, winds, precipitation), local traffic and ATC requirements. Some stated times and locations may not be met due to circumstances outside of our control. While we will endeavour to adhere to the timings below, there may be discrepancies on either side of the listed times.

Monday 3rd February 2025
Location Time
Whenuapai (takeoff) 1250
Auckland City 1252
Port Waikato 1304
Raglan 1311
New Plymouth 1337
Hawera 1357
Whanganui 1408
Ohakea 1415
Palmerston North 1419
Paraparaumu 1431
Porirua 1436
Nelson 1459
Murchison 1513
Westport 1523
Greymouth 1540
Fox Glacier 1603
Aoraki/Mt Cook 1606
Twizel 1617
Omarama 1621
Hawea 1631
Wanaka 1632
Alexandra 1645
Cromwell 1649
Queenstown 1655
Te Anau 1711
Tuatapere 1724
Riverton 1731
Invercargill (land) 1735


Tuesday 4th February 2025
Location Time
Invercargill (takeoff) 1045
Gore 1054
Nugget Point 1108
Balclutha 1112
Dunedin Airport 1120
Dunedin City 1123
Oamaru 1138
Timaru 1155
Geraldine 1200
Ashburton 1207
Darfield 1215
Burnham 1219
Christchurch Airport 1222
Christchurch City 1225
Hamner Springs 1243
Kaikoura 1300
Trentham 1328
Wellington City 1332
Woodbourne (land) 1344


Locations and timings may be added or removed, check back for the latest details.

NZDFMil: Hercules retirement flights added

[Simon Culling]

These are huge planes - saw one coming into land at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire many moons ago. They were a stalwart of the RAF for half a century, but I think they were retired in 2023. Not sure what they have been replaced with.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Sadly the Hercules didn't fly over Geraldine because of clagg.
I wanted to be out there to salute them as they flew over, for the service they have done over the years, but nevermind