Our Environmental Policy

Overview

A Yellow Eyed Penguin at Taiaroa

As we have the privilege of flying in one of the worlds most beautiful and pristine environments, our company decided that whatever we did, we needed to ensure that the environment we operated in was protected. One of the advantages of viewing our glorious wilderness from the air is that it has absolutely no physical impact upon it.

Except for some noise as the aircraft passes overhead, once the aircraft has gone there is nothing to tell that it has ever been there.

Consider the environmental impact a walking track has on our wilderness:

Trails have to be cut through the forest, toileting facilities have to be provided and serviced (As there are no roads this involves the use of aircraft to fly out the human and other waste, as it is impossible to dispose of it on site safely in our fragile environment.)
Bridges and walkways are constructed and maintained, again enabled mainly by use of aircraft to fly in materials.
Search and rescue facilities have to be provided as people continually need rescuing and evacuating when they get into trouble.

So as you can see there is quite a high environmental cost in fuel and other resources in just providing a track to walk through, in order to enjoy our national parks.

Aircraft Type and carbon footprint minimization

Our fuel-efficient GA8 Airvan

Glenorchy Air has replaced all except one of our aeroplanes with latest technology machines. Our GA 8 Airvan, an eight seater aeroplane, is the most technologically advanced aircraft of its type flying today. It has the smallest carbon footprint of any aircraft operating into Milford Sound from Queenstown or Wanaka. Its fuel burn is about 7.94 litres per passenger per hour flown:

A Cessna Caravan will burn about 14 litres per hour per passenger.

A Twin engine Britten Norman Islander will burn about 13 litres per hour per passenger.

A Squirrel helicopter will burn about 26.6 litres per hour per passenger.

A two litre car being driven from Queenstown to Milford and return with an average of two passengers will burn 30 litres of fuel per passenger.

We have a four, a six and an eight seater aeroplane. Whenever possible we make sure that every passenger seat is full when we fly to keep our carbon footprint to a minimum. Even though the route we fly to Milford Sound is slightly longer than those of the other operators who fly there from Queenstown, we keep the fuel burn to a minimum by flying the way in which we make the best use of prevailing winds. By flying our route to Milford in an anti-clockwise direction we reduce the flight time by 6 minutes thereby saving about 6 litres of fuel. This is because the prevailing winds favour this direction.

By using the GPS systems our new aircraft are equipped with, we can fly at heights and directions that allow us to reduce the effects of any headwinds to a minimum. All our pilots are trained in these techniques.

Glenorchy Air asks that customers try to be flexible with the particular time they need to fly, in order that we reduce the need to fly empty aircraft back from Milford Sound. We do this to reduce our carbon footprint. In almost every case the customers have decided to reschedule their departure time. Not shuttling aircraft has another environmental positive: It reduces the general amount (bucket) of noise generated in our airspace.

Engine handling

A smooth flight to Milford

The way in which a pilot handles the engine can increase or reduce the amount of fuel burnt per trip. All our pilots are trained to operate engines in the most efficient manner possible. By operating our engines at the highest allowable manifold pressure, as well as the lowest rpm setting for any particular power output, and making sure that the fuel to air ratio is on the lean side of optimum for the efficient burning of the fuel, we can obtain a significant saving of fuel. In the industry this is known as operating the engine lean of peak and over square.

Noise Reduction

We recognize aircraft noise as a problem and have developed procedures to minimize the noise of our aeroplanes.

We sold our noisiest aircraft (a Cessna 185) and replaced it with our new technology GA8 Airvan. This aircraft is much quieter than the one it replaced and carries two more passengers in comfort.
We replaced the two bladed propellor on our Cherokee 6 300 with a new technology three bladed propellor which has quietened this aircraft greatly. It is now one of the quietest aircraft flying to Milford Sound.
We have developed flight paths through our national parks that (where possible) avoid making excessive aircraft noise over the tracks and other noise sensitive areas. Some noise sensitive areas such as the Mackinnion Pass we avoid completely. During the summer months we avoid whenever possible the Gertrude and Homer passes. Where we do follow the line of a track we aim to fly at high level which reduces noise on the ground, or we descend along its axis at low RPM and low power which can make the aircraft unnoticeable against the natural background noise.

Recycling

Wherever possible we recycle waste.

Waste paper printed on one side is recycled by turning it into note pads for use in the office.
Cardboard waste is recycled through the cardboard recycling system provided by the airport.
Paper and plastic waste is recycled through the airport recycling system.
Passenger waste of which there is very little, is recycled through the Airport recycling systems.

Waste minimization

Wherever possible we use electronic data systems for our aviation documentation, banking, invoicing, communications and advertising. Our three web sites http://www.glenorchy.net.nz, http://www.trilogytrail.com and http://www.queenstown.net.nz provide a database in which potential customers can research our services and communicate with us.

Customer Feed Back

We encourage our clients to provide feedback regarding our services both via the medium of a visitors book and customer surveys from time to time. These survey forms include a section on suggestions on how we can improve environmental performance. If you would like to make a suggestion please contact us.