🇳🇿 Christchurch, New Zealand
Christchurch is a mid-sized city in New Zealand. Real-Earth coordinates -43.535°, 172.630°, population 363,200. Quiet airspace and open terrain a couple of minutes out — a forgiving place to learn the sticks before you take them somewhere tighter. Skydex flies the real Earth here — the elevation, coastline and city layout under the aircraft come from the same data the map does, and the sky is shared with everyone else flying it.
Seen on the water near Christchurch last 30 days, AIS via the Skydex feed
39 vessels on 28 days · 95 sightings (one vessel on one day) · type known for 30 of them.
Counted from the AIS positions the Skydex feed received here — sampled once a day in local daytime, plus whenever pilots fly here — not a port register. Ship tracking
Airports near Christchurch within 120 km, heard by the Skydex receiver network
- Christchurch International Airport (CHC) · 9 km · 550 flights in 30 days
Flights are airline flight numbers our receivers heard heading to or from the airport, once a day each — not runway movements. All airports
Activity in Christchurch
Flying conditions in Christchurch
Sunrise 05:59 · Sunset 20:28 · 14 h 28 m of daylight (local time)
Verdict weighs gusts, precipitation and cold — the things that actually decide whether a drone or a bird has a good time up there. Sunrise and sunset are computed from the city's coordinates, not forecast. Forecast issued 2026-11-11 03:03 UTC and refreshed live in your browser. Weather by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).
Flying weather in Christchurch through the year
November in Christchurch averages 15°C with winds around 24 km/h, and roughly 70% of days are good for flying — about 9 days see rain.
Fewest weather restrictions: May, February, March; June is the most restricted at 63% usable days. (That's about wind and rain, not comfort — check the temperatures below.)
| Month | Avg temp | Wind | Rain days | Good to fly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15.3°C | 22 km/h | 11 | 68% |
| February | 16.2°C | 20 km/h | 8 | 79% |
| March | 15°C | 21 km/h | 8 | 79% |
| April | 13.3°C | 20 km/h | 10 | 68% |
| May | 10.8°C | 17 km/h | 5 | 84% |
| June | 8.5°C | 18 km/h | 12 | 63% |
| July | 8°C | 17 km/h | 9 | 78% |
| August | 7.9°C | 20 km/h | 8 | 74% |
| September | 10.3°C | 24 km/h | 10 | 68% |
| October | 12.3°C | 25 km/h | 10 | 66% |
| November | 15°C | 24 km/h | 9 | 70% |
| December | 16.4°C | 23 km/h | 11 | 66% |
Based on ERA5 reanalysis. “Good to fly” counts days without strong wind, real rain or hard frost — the conditions that actually ground a drone.
Recent activity in Christchurch
🛩 Where to fly a drone in New Zealand →
What you can do here
- Fly Christchurch in an FPV drone or as a gull, from -43.535°, 172.630° — keyboard and mouse, a gamepad, or a real RC transmitter over USB.
- Check the weather first: live wind, gusts and cloud over the city, plus the month-by-month flyable-days table above.
- Watch real traffic — aircraft overhead and ships on the water come from live ADS-B and AIS feeds, not from a script.
- Meet other pilots in the same sky: city chat room, radio, and the walkie-talkie frequency for Christchurch.