Skydiving finally gets council green light
Skydive Mt Cook has been given the allclear by Mackenzie District Council’s planning department to land parachutes at Pukaki Airport.
‘‘We are super excited to start jumping and to start bringing people into the region,’’ Inflite CEO Adam Joyce said.
‘‘We know it is going to be an incredible experience. We have been up to height to check it out and the views are incredible.
We think, especially in those winter and shoulder seasons, this drop zone is going to be spectacular.’’
Skydive Mt Cook, which is owned and operated by Inflite, announced plans to set up a skydiving operation at the airport in May but had to put it’s launch on hold after the council planning department said it required a resource consent.
Inflite, which has skydiving operations in Franz Josef and Abel Tasman National Park, said it had never before required a resource consent to land parachutes at an airport because parachutes are classified as an aircraft.
‘‘We have been inundated with phone calls, with emails, with messages from the local community who are really, really positive and supportive of us and it’s been really heartwarming when we get those messages or see the comments on social media channels or on Stuff articles,’’ Joyce said.
They also received calls from competitors in the aviation tourism space voicing their support, he said.
To thank the community, Inflite is hosting a locals’ launch day on Saturday, October 26.
‘‘We’ll have special deals just for locals on skydives and scenic flights, a couple of bouncy castles, a free BBQ and just as importantly we’re going to make our pilots available,’’ Joyce said.
‘‘We’d like to try and inspire people to consider aviation careers in the future.
‘‘Going through this whole process has already started a conversation for us about what’s next and what else we can do and what other product we can do either ourselves or in partnership with other locals to create more things for people to do so more people will stay longer in the Mackenzie region.’’
Skydive Mt Cook will run all year offering tandem jumps from 9000 feet (30-second freefall), 12,000 ft (45-second freefall) and 15,000 ft (60-second freefall).