The Saxton Appeal Trust and family members hope to draw attention to their concerns over the severity of the men's sentences.
The trust is chaired by long-time Saxton friend Mike Hill, of Christchurch. Mr Hill owns a marine business and sells fishing gear. His co-trustees are helicopter pilots Toby Wallis, of Wanaka, and Richard Hayes, of Te Anau, and West Coast fisherman Peter Talley.
Lawyers for helicopter pilot Dave Saxton (62) and his son Morgan (30), also a helicopter pilot, are appealing their sentences and convictions and have applied for bail in the Court of Appeal in Wellington.
The men were convicted in October last year, after a two-month trial in the Christchurch District Court, and sentenced in February.
Dave Saxton was jailed for two years and nine months, for taking greenstone between October 1997 and September 2003, while Morgan was jailed for two years and six months.
As well as being ordered to pay $300,000 reparation for the greenstone, Dave Saxton now faces an application by the Crown for a forfeiture order in respect of his Haast farm.
The Saxtons' lawyer, Colin Withnall QC, of Dunedin, said yesterday he hoped the bail application would be heard within a few weeks.
The timetable for the forfeiture application and the conviction and sentence appeal was uncertain.
"I would like to think the appeals would be heard in three months, but I think that is pretty unrealistic,'' Mr Withnall said.
He confirmed there would be an application seeking an adjournment of the forfeiture hearing until the appeal had been determined.
Mr Withnall was not willing to discuss the appeal grounds, except to say there was a belief the sentencing judge had "got a number of things wrong, the sentence was unduly harsh and wrong in principle and failed to have any proper parity with the Hutton sentence''.
Makarora pilot Harvey Hutton (50), who is also represented by Mr Withnall, received an 18-month jail sentence in 2006 for stealing greenstone and was able to serve most of his sentence on home detention in Dunedin.
He has returned home to Makarora and begun an appeal against his conviction.
The length of the Saxtons' sentences means they are not eligible for home detention.
Mr Wallis said yesterday he could not take part in the aerial protest, starting at 11am at Wigram, because he had to work.
The trust hoped between eight and 10 helicopters would fly banners over Christchurch, he said.
