Cross the Ditch 19

Summer 2020

It's been a long long year, but on VATSIM there are some things you can still count on.

In the first weekend of December pilots from every corner of the globe will descend upon Australia and New Zealand to continue their undaunted quest 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 three to three-and-a-half 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:

• UTC: Saturday 5th December 2020 17:00 - Sunday 6th December 2020 13:00
• AEDT: Sunday 6th December 2020 04:00 - Monday 7th December 2020 00:00
• NZDT: Sunday 6th December 2020 06:00 - Monday 7th December 2020 02:00

Four airports, fully staffed

For this season's event, VATNZ and VATPAC are both staffing two airports from 6am to midnight local time. Pilots simply pick one of the airports and then fly to either of the two airports in the other division.

The result is eight routes simultaneously crossing the Tasman, with ATC coverage for all of them. This event will be Conga-line free!

It isn't possible to complete all eight routes in the one day, but shrewd pilots should be able to complete the Four Airport Challenge by operating a valid Cross the Ditch flight through all four airports during the event.

The Four Airports for Cross the Ditch 19 - Summer 2020 are:

• VATNZ - New Zealand
  • Queenstown (NZQN)
  • Wellington (NZWN)
• VATPAC - Australia
  • Gold Coast (YBCG)
  • Melbourne (YMML)

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