Dunedin man Brad Phipps said he was "blown away" by the sight.
• Southern lights seen on subantarctic flight
"Because it’s a natural phenomenon it can be hit and miss if you see anything, but we were very fortunate to have timed it just right, coming off the back of a Kp5 geomagnetic storm only 12 hours earlier," he said.
"Considering the flight was planned as early as October last year it’s amazing we got the activity we did, especially as we’re slowly sliding into a solar minimum."
About 150 people were on the flight to see the magnificent sight. Mr Phipps said he captured the image using a Sony a7S with a 20mm Sigma f1.4 lens set to 10,000 ISO and using two-second exposures.
