Cross the Ditch 16

Winter 2019

Cross the Ditch 16

The days have grown short and winter has returned to Australasia.

From New Zealand's snow-covered South Island to the beaches of Australia's Gold Coast, from wild and windy Wellington to cosmopolitan Melbourne and bustling Sydney, aircraft everywhere are taking to the skies to Cross the Ditch!

What's it all about?

For twenty hours this December, the skies over the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand will be filled with aircraft all on a mission to Cross the Ditch.

An example of that typical down-under understatement, this "ditch" is over 1100nm wide. The flight routes all range from two-and-a-half to four hours flight time.

Throughout the event, the Oceania region's two divisions will be providing full gate-to-gate ATC coverage, in the Southern Hemisphere's premiere oceanic event.

This is a great opportunity to experience Oceanic flying without the need to commit to an eight-hour flight!

If you're new to Oceanic Flying, our reporting tool makes taking part a breeze.

Event Times

This twenty hour event is timed to allow pilots from all over the world to join the fun:

Waves

This season's event is organised in waves. Each airport will have a three-to-four hour departure window, during which time flights will be able to leave for the next destination. As the window closes, the departure window will open at the next destination.

Given each of the flights is 2.5 - 4hrs in length, the previous wave's flights will be arriving at the same airport as the next wave departs, maximising the amount of traffic at each airport.

NOTE: in order to ensure that you have ATC coverage throughout your flight, you MUST fly the wave route that is active at the time of your departure.

The individual routes are designed to ensure as much opposing traffic enroute as possible.

Each flight passes from one Oceania division to the other, and the result is six mini-flyins over the course of twenty hours!

The Waves for Cross the Ditch 16 - Winter 2019 are:

Wave Flight Departure Window
UTC AEST NZST
1 Christchurch (NZCH) to Sydney (YSSY) 1800-2030 0400-0630 0600-0830
2 Sydney (YSSY) to Queenstown (NZQN)
(B753/A321 and smaller)
2030-0000 0630-1000 0830-1200
2a Sydney (YSSY) to Christchurch (NZCH)
(Wide-body aircraft only)
2030-0000 0630-1000 0830-1200
3 Queenstown (NZQN) to Gold Coast (YBCG)
(B753/A321 and smaller)
2330-0300 0930-1300 1130-1500
3a Christchurch (NZCH) to Gold Coast (YBCG)
(Wide-body aircraft only)
2330-0300 0930-1300 1130-1500
4 Gold Coast (YBCG) to Wellington (NZWN) 0300-0630 1300-1630 1500-1830
5 Wellington (NZWN) to Melbourne (YMML) 0630-1000 1630-2000 1830-2200
Cross the Ditch 16 Route Map

Calling all Pilots and Controllers

Flight plans are available from the Flight Plans section.

Book your flights now from the Flight Bookings page. Bookings made on this site help us plan for the event, and will also show up in vroute.

Controllers wanting to get in on the action can also apply now at the event's ATC Applications page.

Cross the Ditch is brought to you by VATPAC and VATNZ VATNZ - VATSIM New Zealand VATPAC - VATSIM Australia/Pacific