{"id":623873,"date":"2026-10-08T01:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T01:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/623873\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T01:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T01:26:10","slug":"us-c-17-globemaster-jets-plan-more-flights-over-new-zealand-for-military-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/623873\/","title":{"rendered":"US C-17 Globemaster jets plan more flights over New Zealand for military training"},"content":{"rendered":"

From \u014chakea, yesterday\u2019s flights were due to return to Auckland via the west coast.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow and Saturday, one C-17 is expected to fly at high altitude down the west coast of the South Island, through Milford Sound and Lake Te Anau and over Queenstown.<\/p>\n

It would then head north over the Southern Alps and turn west at Nelson before returning to Auckland, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Both C-17s are scheduled to fly from Auckland<\/a> to Base \u014chakea on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"OneOne of the Globemaster jets pictured during take-off at RNZAF Base Whenuapai today. Photo \/ Caleb Purcell\"TheThe military transport jets have excited planespotters across the country this week, including at Base Whenuapai where one was pictured taking off this morning. Photo \/ Caleb Purcell<\/p>\n

The RNZAF said the programme was weather-dependent and could change at short notice, and low-level flying would take place between 9am and 3pm. <\/p>\n

On Sunday the C-17s would return to Hawaii carrying two RNZAF NH90 helicopters, which will take part in a US<\/a> Army exercise, the NZDF spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The hard-to-miss aircraft have already captured the attention from planespotting Kiwis. <\/p>\n

\u201cAwesome sight,\u201d a Coromandel fan wrote on social media yesterday.<\/p>\n

\"MilitaryMilitary aircraft spotted in the skies above Albany as international training takes place across New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you could just clip a bit closer to Opito Bay hills tomorrow I\u2019ll be close enough to give the pilots a wave.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft fly alongside an RNZAF C-130J Hercules during training over the North Island yesterday.<\/p>\n

Another wrote on Facebook of their shock at the size of the planes they saw flying over Tauranga.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave me a hell of a fright when I was going over the flyover at Bayfair this morning. They were very big!\u201d<\/p>\n

What is a C-17 Globemaster?<\/p>\n

The C-17 is a four-engine military transport jet designed to carry troops, heavy equipment and supplies over long distances, according to Boeing\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

At 53m long with a wingspan of almost 52m, the aircraft can carry nearly 75 tonnes of cargo.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn Australian C-17 Globemaster aircraft taxis into position. Photo \/ Australian Defence Force<\/p>\n

Despite its size, it is designed to operate from short and basic airfields and can be refuelled while airborne.<\/p>\n

The aircraft are used for military operations and humanitarian and disaster-relief missions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From \u014chakea, yesterday\u2019s flights were due to return to Auckland via the west coast. Tomorrow and Saturday, one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9331,9526,306563,2841,6562,17628,2082,5760,306564,305,29529,1019,33843,807,15399,647,130,117,111,43,139,69,17286,1523,5202,2170,15412,9939,1865,8812,9938,3040,1533,80],"class_list":["post-623873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-chance","tag-another","tag-c17","tag-country","tag-flights","tag-flying","tag-for","tag-force","tag-globemaster","tag-have","tag-hoping","tag-international","tag-jets","tag-kiwis","tag-massive","tag-military","tag-more","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-operation","tag-over","tag-part","tag-plan","tag-spot","tag-states","tag-today","tag-training","tag-united","tag-us","tag-will","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}