Flying couple hope to be NZ's first 'Earthrounders'

Sandra and Barry Payne get ready to start their round-the-world flight at Kerikeri airport at dawn on Tuesday. Photo / Supplied

A couple who took off from Kerikeri airport this week hope to be the first New Zealanders to fly around the world in a light aircraft.

Barry and Sandra Payne hope to be the country's first ''Earthrounders'', a term for pilots who circumnavigate the planet in a plane weighing less then 7000kg.

They took off on Tuesday morning in a single-engine, four-seater Piper Comanche, registration mark ZK-BAZ, landing at Gold Coast Airport in Queensland seven hours later.

They expect to get back to Kerikeri in October after about 57,000km and 700 hours of flying.

The trip marks 50 years since Barry Payne had his first solo flight, in a Harvard 1058 from Wigram air base. In a nod to that anniversary the couple, who hail from Taupō and call themselves the Bazflyers, have planned the circumnavigation in 50 flights.

Barry Payne. Photo / Supplied

Payne said it was also 50 years since the only other attempt by a Kiwi to fly a light plane around the Earth, starting and finishing in New Zealand.

In 1969 Cliff Tait flew solo around the world but he was not recognised as an Earthrounder because his aircraft was shipped from Japan to Vancouver.

Planning for the trip, which included flights, fuel and immigration, started more than a year ago and had been aided by an experienced Earthrounder.

From the Gold Coast their route will take them via Japan and Russia to Alaska; then to the world's biggest air show at Oshkosh in the US; back to Canada, then via Greenland and Iceland to the UK; through Europe, the Middle East, India and Malaysia to Western Australia; and finally back to Kerikeri.

Sandra Payne. Photo / Supplied

Both are qualified pilots with thousands of hours of flying time between them. They will be documenting their trip at bazflyer.com.