Celebrating the Air Rescue Crew and Air Rescue Ambassadors The Trust recently hosted a breakfast, to celebrate the festive season but also to thank the Rescue Crew and Ambassadors for their support throughout the year. Air Rescue patients, Josie and Andrew were awarded with certificates of appreciation for their tremendous support and willingness to tell […]

New BK-117 on the West Coast! Greymouth put on a superb day to celebrate the ROA Mining Rescue launch of the new BK-117 helicopter, at the Greymouth Air Rescue Hangar on 3 December. In her speech Christine Prince, Chief Executive of the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust, expressed her excitement over the long-awaited addition […]

Thank You Freemasons The Trust is grateful to Freemasons St Albans Lodge No 2597 for their recent gift to support Christchurch’s Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service. Senior Lodge members recently visited the GCH Aviation Air Centre, to present crew with a donation of $5,000 – which will support a capital project. Pictured are (L-R) Ron Sutherland, […]

Road Accident Remembrance Day 2020 The Road Traffic Accident Trauma Charitable Trust hold an annual Road Accident Remembrance Day. This year it was on Sat 28th November in North Hagley Park, just next to Lake Victoria. The day is about acknowledging survivors and those who have tragically lost their lives, recognising and thanking those involved […]

Christchurch Hospital helipad heralds new era for rescue helicopter patients Christchurch’s new helipad began operation today with its first patients arriving directly via the Rescue Helicopter. With landing space for two helicopters on top of the new Waipapa hospital building, it is the only helipad in New Zealand which will have a clinical support unit […]

Business Support Crew Update On behalf of the pilots, paramedics, and the crew of the Canterbury and West Coast Rescue Helicopters, I want to thank all of our business supporters for your unwavering support and continued generosity in 2020. It has been an extraordinary year, yet despite the challenges and uncertainty, you continue to make […]

New Zealand Flying Doctor Service launches new plane on 25th anniversary The New Zealand Flying Doctor Service has come a long way since first taking to the skies 25 years ago, and today in Christchurch it officially unveiled a new specialist medical aircraft to add much-needed critical care capacity. One of the first high profile […]

Farmlands Agfest 2020 It was great to attend Agfest 2020, Greymouth’s biannual field day.  It was  also a pleasure to meet and chat with the local community and supporters of the ROA Mining Rescue Helicopter.  A special thanks to Dave Smith & Richard Roberts from Greymouth Mitre 10 Mega for hosting us and to the […]

Introducing Danny Schroder and Chris Weir Danny recently joined the Air Rescue Trust and currently works as the head of event attraction and planning at Vbase in Canterbury. Danny has worked in a variety of locations across Australia and New Zealand and gained his Bachelor of Commerce and Graduate Diploma at Victoria University of Wellington. […]