“Working in the rain is a bit of a pain. We were also limited in tools. We just had to do the best that we could with what we had. Without us the whole thing sort of falls over, so we have to keep them up in the air.”
Keeping a team of helicopters almost constantly airborne was no mean feat, said RNZAF Detachment Commander Squadron Leader Andy Scrase, who credited the maintainer crews for making it possible.
“This is probably the highest flying rate we have ever achieved. On other tasks, we get the odd eight-hour day of flying, but this is several aircraft doing a big day, every day.”
The feedback from the community around them had been great, he said.
“People have mown helipads into their lawns out in the isolated communities; someone put a big sign saying ‘thank you’ on the fence at the end of the runway.”
Scrase said what was achieved during the Cyclone Gabrielle response would not have been possible without the RNZAF’s maintainer crews, who made sure the helicopters were able to keep flying at such a rate.
McLachlan said all the extra flying hours meant the aircrafts’ scheduled services were also coming up fast.
“We usually do three 50-hour services a month, but next week we will have three 50-hour services going on back in the hangar.”
Over a seven-day period, three of NZDF’s NH-90 helicopters were in the sky for more than 120 hours in the wake of the cyclone, with crews flying nearly an entire month’s allocation of flying hours in a week.
McLachlan signed up to be a maintainer in 2017, having always wanted to be around aircraft when he was at school.
The experience of lending his specialist skills to help out during the cyclone relief efforts had been extremely rewarding, he said.
“We have had a lot of people stop us in the street and say ‘thank you’, and all the food being delivered to where we are operating from and the thank you letters … people really appreciate the support.”
