On a rescue mission

There's an ancient Zen saying ... 'Before enlightenment chop wood, fetch water. After enlightenment, chop wood, fetch water ...' It could apply to Stuart Rumbal.

The young Kerikeri man has done all the right things to fly choppers. He attained his private pilot licence four years ago, went on to acquire his commercial licence, did his instructor rating and taught for two years. Except - and this is the hard part - jobs for pilots with this qualification level are few and far between in New Zealand.

Three months ago (with a bit of luck and a large dose of competence) he landed a plumb flying job with the Northland Emergency Services Trust (NEST) based in Whangarei and fortuitously right next door to the St John's Ambulance base with their advanced paramedics. He's the 'boy' starting from the bottom again and entirely without complaint.

"It's almost bypassing a whole stage. As a low-hour pilot you can't get this opportunity anywhere else in New Zealand. It accelerates you and in a year's time I can look for a good-paying job elsewhere."

He'd be happy to stay because he's Northland born-and-bred but the raison d'etre of this apprenticeship scheme is to allow others to come through too. His boss, Chief Pilot Pete Turnbull, says the emergency medical service (EMS) industry is growing rapidly. In Australia alone the demand for trained pilots will double within the next few year so after his year here, Stuart's flying world will open up.

The Trust was established 25 years ago to provide a dedicated rescue and air ambulance service for Northland and runs a fleet of three Sikorsky helicopters that now rescue or ferry around 1,000 people a year. Accidents and heart attacks are still the major causes for chopper deployment but in September they rescued Daniel Snelling who was attempting to tramp the length of New Zealand but got lost in the Puketi Forest. With GPS information from his locator beacon, the NEST crew lowered a man down into the tree canopy and practically landed on top of guy, the reckoning was that accurate.

This exactness is possible because NEST's choppers are all-weather machines, flying on instruments (IFR) as opposed to the rest of New Zealand's rescue helicopter fleet which fly visually (VFR). Other pilots more or less have to stick their heads out the window to see where they're going and it's IFR that Stuart is currently learning, apart from floor sweeping and coffee making.

It costs around $5 million annually to run the Whangarei fleet, nine staff and one office person. Northlanders contribute $8 per ratepayer and the rest is topped up from donations and sponsorship. Northpower and Top Energy are the major sponsors and for the 2012 fund raising appeal they will match donations dollar-for-dollar up to a ceiling of $150,000. There are some who suggest NEST is more fiscally efficient than Auckland's rescue helicopter service and while that could be a provincial viewpoint there are others who say the figures stack up.

In the meantime and after domestic activities, Stuart will check the weather, complete a pre-flight mechanical check and note anything unusual - like a fireworks display in November where they had to fly above exploding incendiary devices - and check what airports are closed. That's if the phone doesn't go which, when we're talking, it does.

The co-pilot jumps up, climbs into his flying suit and goes through those lists again before kicking the tyres and lighting the fires as the Yanks might phrase it. It takes half an hour to ferry a patient from Whangarei to Auckland Hospital - arguably less time than it takes an ambulance in Auckland to go around the block on terra firma.

The north's huge coastline and dense forests present formidable terrain yet the IFR-capable S76s with their extra fuel tanks afford the best range and speed of any civil emergency service helicopters in New Zealand so we are by no means isolated. Before you know it, Stuart Rumbal will be back in Northland if not to chop wood, then to fetch water for the coffee.