First flight across Cook Strait

First Cook Strait flight

Euan Dickson (left) C. H. Hewlett (center) J. E. Moore (right)
Operator	Canterbury Aviation Company
Aircraft properties
Aircraft type	Avro 504K
Occupants	3
Passengers	C.H. HewlettJ.E. Moore
Crew	Euan Dickson
Flight timeline
Takeoff date	25 August 1920
Takeoff site	Sockburn Aerodrome, Christchurch, South Island
Landing site	Trentham Racecourse, Upper Hutt, North Island

An approximate infographic of the flight path

The first successful flight across New Zealand’s Cook Strait was completed on 25 August 1920 by Captain Euan Dickson of the Canterbury Aviation Company,^[1][2] alongside C.H. Hewlett and J.E. Moore. Flying a 110‑hp Le Rhone Avro 504K,^[3] Dickson departed Sockburn Aerodrome, Christchurch at approximately 7:00 a.m. The aircraft made an unscheduled stop near Kaikōura due to strong northeasterly winds, then continued via Blenheim before crossing the Cook Strait. It landed at Trentham Racecourse in Upper Hutt around 2:10 p.m., with a total elapsed time of just over seven hours and an estimated flying time of about 4 hours and 40 minutes. Three days later, the same crew completed the first return flight from north to south. The flight carried the country’s first official inter‑island air mail and represented the first successful inter-island crossing by airplane in New Zealand.

Significance

The flight was the first successful crossing of New Zealand’s Cook Strait and carried the country’s first official inter-island air mail, it is also often noted in historical records of New Zealand aviation.^[1]

See also

• List of Cook Strait crossings by air

References

1. "First flight across Cook Strait". NZ History. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
2. "A Pioneer New Zealand Flight". The Aeroplane. Vol. XIX, no. 20. London: The Aeroplane and General Publishing Ltd. November 17, 1920. p. 802.
3. "First flight & air mail across Cook Strait on 25 August 1920". Digital NZ. Retrieved 10 January 2026.