Grahame Hall from the Rotorua Trust (centre) with BayTrust Rescue Helicopter pilots Barry Vincent (left) and Art Kowalski last week. Photo/Stephen Parker
A boost in funding for Rotorua's BayTrust Rescue Helicopter may now come in handy after the aircraft crash-landed at the weekend.
Last week the Rotorua Trust announced it had given the local charity a $120,000 cash injection.
The funding includes a one-off $70,000 donation on top of the annual $50,000
the trust grants to the charitable organisation. It costs about $1 million to keep the helicopter available and in the past year the service has experienced a huge growth in callouts.
On Saturday night the helicopter crash-landed while approaching Taupo Hospital's helipad. The Civil Aviation Authority and the trust are investigating the cause of the crash, in which no one was seriously injured.
Philips Search and Rescue Trust secretary David Wickham, who oversees five helicopter bases, could not be reached for comment yesterday about whether the money would go towards costs relating to the crash. However, he said last week financial contributions from the community were vital as the Government funds only 50 per cent of operational costs.
