Cross the Ditch 7: Spring 2012
The Southern Hemisphere spring heralds fiesty weather and spectacular skies. This can only mean it's time once again to Cross the Ditch!
New for Cross the Ditch 7
-
Improved Wave Event
After its hugely popular debut last December, we're excited to bring back the Wave Event structure.
Every three hours of the event, all departures leave from one airport for a common destination. When the time's up, all new flights begin departing from the destination airport and head to the next location, and so on. This is designed to concentrate air traffic and maximise the multiplayer experience.
We've tweaked the format a bit to make things even better:
- This year there will be five three-hour waves. The extra hour will allow pilots to fly more waves in a row.
- We've also extended the length of ATC coverage at each airport so that all aircraft that depart inside the wave hours will have ATC coverage when they reach their destination.
- New Airport: Adelaide, South Australia
The longer wave lengths allow us to add another new Australian airport to the Cross the Ditch family: Adelaide, South Australia (YPAD/ADL). The tightly bunched wave routes in the latter half of this year's event should serve to concentrate traffic in the south-eastern corner of the Australia and the southern Tasman.
What's it all about?
For eighteen 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 three 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 eighteen hour event is timed to allow pilots from all over the world join the fun:
- UTC: Saturday 8th December 2012 19:00 - Sunday 9th December 2012 13:00
- AEDT: Sunday 9th December 2012 06:00 - Monday 10th December 2012 00:00
- NZDT: Sunday 9th December 2012 08:00 - Monday 10th December 2012 02:00
Waves
This season's event is organised in waves. Each airport will have a three 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 - 3.5hrs 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 eighteen hours!
The Waves for Cross the Ditch 7 - Spring 2012 are:
| Wave | Flight | UTC | AEDT | NZDT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auckland (NZAA) to Sydney (YSSY) | 1900-2200 | 0600-0900 | 0800-1100 |
| 2 | Sydney (YSSY) to Christchurch (NZCH) | 2200-0100 | 0900-1200 | 1100-1400 |
| 3 | Christchurch (NZCH) to Adelaide (YPAD) | 0100-0400 | 1200-1500 | 1400-1700 |
| 4 | Adelaide (YPAD) to Wellington (NZWN) | 0400-0700 | 1500-1800 | 1700-2000 |
| 5 | Wellington (NZWN) to Melbourne (YMML) | 0700-1000 | 1800-2100 | 2000-2300 |
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.
