A German tourist has become the first person to fly a powered paraglider over Mount Cook.

Gerry Mayr, 42, took off at 11am from the Fox Glacier airstrip and landed at Mount Cook airfield about 1.20pm, his support crew Tim Haller said.

Mr Haller said Mr Mayr got up to about 13,000 off feet to cross the peak of Mount Cook.

"The flight up was pretty smooth," said Mr Heller, "but he hit some pretty severe turbulance in the lee of the hills coming down. It was a bit like being in a tumble dryer and he was falling 500 feet a minute. That's like falling like a stone."

He said Mr Mayr had a few problems with language on the radio he was carrying but otherwise it was a successful trip.

The idea for the unusual trip occurred to Mr Mayr in Germany while he looked at photos of the New Zealand mountain scenery.