Whanganui air ambulance pilots respond to greater demand as business expands

Air Whanganui chief executive Dean Martin (left) with pilots Rhys Grimson and Heath Theron. Photo / Bevan Conley

Air Whanganui is expanding its premises due to increasing call-outs for air ambulance services from hospitals around the country.

Operations manager and chief pilot Brenton Knight said his most memorable flight had involved a baby being born mid-flight.

“We were taking the mother to Wellington but the baby arrived on the way - that sticks out as a pretty unforgettable incident.”

Knight said air ambulance pilots tried to remove the stress from emergency events they faced.

“Last night I flew to Wellington with a patient who was having a stroke, and there’s a short timeframe where you have to get them on the operating table to stop the effects of the stroke becoming permanent.

“You would never pick up at the time that we are feeling the pressure, everyone’s just doing their job as efficiently as possible.

“It’s only after an action-packed event that you’ll finally say: ‘How crazy was that?’”

Knight said his previous job as an airline pilot had not been nearly as rewarding as flying for the air ambulance.

“You’re not just flying people that are coming on to the plane and warming a seat from A to B.

“What you’re doing has value; the people we transport appreciate the service because it’s affected their lives dramatically.”

Construction is currently under way on a new $1.2-1.3 million hangar and office space for Air Whanganui.

Chief executive Dean Martin said the new hangar would allow for better patient care.

“From a patient point of view, having them outside in the wind and the rain doing transfers is not ideal, and this new facility will alleviate that because the patient transfers will be done under cover, which offers more privacy,” Martin said.

The business is also planning to start operating from New Plymouth but wants to purchase a new jet to provide a slightly faster service.

Annually, 500-600 passengers use the air ambulance service, and since October last year, the road vans Air Whanganui operates have transferred more than 1100 patients to hospitals.

Martin said he thought the higher demand for patient transfers by the air ambulance was related to Whanganui’s ageing population.

“Whanganui has a high percentage of elderly people living in the community, and I think that’s part of it; it’s also an expanding city, with the population growing by around 300 new residents each year.

“I think people are also becoming more adventurous, and that means there’s more accidents.”

Knight said there was a seasonal pattern to accidents witnessed by the air ambulance service.

“In the winter, you’ll get a lot of snowboarding and skiing accidents or injuries from rugby games, and then in summer, that’ll shift to water-based sports.”

Martin said Air Whanganui hoped to be moving into the new hangar space by the middle of August.

“I’ve been in the business for six and a half years. When I started, we were flying 40 hours a month; now we’re doing 150-180 hours, sometimes 200 hours, a month.”

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.