Step Into History

Your flight begins at Tauranga Airport, in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty.

Here you’ll meet your pilot and be introduced to the aircraft — Liberté, a Yakovlev Yak-7B fighter.

This is where the experience begins.

Before the Flight

Before stepping into the cockpit, your pilot introduces you to the aircraft and how the experience works.

You’ll learn about the fighter, the controls, and what to expect once the aircraft lifts into the air.

You can also decide what kind of flight you’d like.

Some guests prefer a scenic experience, taking in the coastline and landscape of the Bay of Plenty.

Others choose to explore the aircraft’s more dynamic side, including aerobatic manoeuvres.

The choice is yours — and you can change your mind at any point.

Into the Cockpit

Climbing into the cockpit of Liberté is an experience in itself.

The canopy closes.
The engine starts.
The fighter begins to move.

Moments later the fighter accelerates down the runway.

More than 1,000 horsepower pulls the aircraft forward before it lifts cleanly into the sky.

The Bay of Plenty From the Air

Within minutes, the coastline opens out below.

Long stretches of white sand line the shore.

The flight often passes over Mount Maunganui, one of New Zealand’s most recognisable coastal landmarks.

Surfers gather along the breaks below.

In the harbour, cruise ships regularly arrive carrying thousands of visitors — the Port of Tauranga is one of New Zealand’s busiest cruise destinations.

From the cockpit of a fighter aircraft, the view is something very few people ever experience.

The Flight

Once airborne, the flight begins to take on its own rhythm.

You might spend time simply taking in the coastline from the cockpit.

Or you may decide you’d like to feel more of what the fighter can do.

Because Liberté has dual controls, the experience can evolve naturally during the flight.

If you feel comfortable, you can interact with the aircraft through the controls and experience how the fighter responds in the air.

Flight Time

Flights are typically 20–40 minutes in the air.

But the experience is more than just the flight.

From arriving at the airfield, meeting the pilot and stepping into the cockpit, the full experience usually takes around two hours.

It’s a chance not just to fly in a historic aircraft — but to spend time with one.

After Landing

Back on the ground, the aircraft settles into silence again.

The canopy opens.

And you step out of the cockpit having experienced something very few people ever will.

A WWII fighter aircraft, still flying.

Transition

Before your flight, there is one more important thing to understand.

How the aircraft is operated and the pilots who fly it.

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