The pilots are touring the world in their two Robinson R-66 helicopters, which will clock up 50,000km flying from Moscow to Wanaka and back.
They arrived on Thursday and are due to head home today.
They initially flew east across Siberia to Japan, then south through the Philippines and Indonesia to Australia, before island-hopping to Kerikeri, Auckland, Hobbiton and Wanaka.
Tolkien is big in Russia, Evgeny Kabanov explained to the Otago Daily Times while relaxing at Wanaka Helicopters.
The four Muscovites - an office supplies business owner, a trader, an engineer and a real estate agent - are private pilots who fly as a hobby.
Sometimes they fly to the Mediterranean, sometimes to the far reaches of Scandinavia.
This time it was to the place they believed was as far away from home as they could fly.
Wanaka was also on their list of places to visit because of Wanaka Helicopters' renown in the world of Robinson helicopters and its expertise in mountain flying.
Milford Sound, Mt Aspiring and Mt Cook were on their itinerary yesterday.
The helicopters, both with jet turbine rather than piston engines, and with double the normal fuel capacity, had performed extremely well, Mr Kabanov said.
The group's only problems since leaving Moscow on September 16 were with the bureaucracy in Japan that caused a two-week delay and a typhoon that delayed them a day.
Mr Kabanov said the most difficult part for the pilots had been the mental stress of flying far from land.
During the 900km leg from Lord Howe Island to Norfolk Island, between Australia and New Zealand, the pilots wore thermal suits in case they were forced to land in the sea.
The helicopters were also equipped with inflatable rafts and rope ladders.
If one helicopter had to put down in the sea, the crew could climb the ladder to the other.
Mr Kabanov said only 16 pilots had ever flown a helicopter around the world.
The group's return leg will take them through Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey.
