Rescue Helicopter Trust Checks In For Another Year

It’s been 12-years since the Coromandel Rescue Helicopter Trust took off, now after its recent annual general meeting, chairman John Stephenson and his trustees are looking at what lies ahead.

With a focus on providing ground facilities to support rescue helicopter operations, the trust is also in the business of raising money to ensure on-going rescue helicopter operations into the Coromandel Peninsula.

Significant local funding support over the past 12 years has enabled the trust to provide a hangar and crew accommodation facilities at the Whitianga airfield.

   John Stephenson

The facility was further enhanced this year to assist helicopter operations and patient handling, the trust achieving this with assistance from Pub Charity and the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust which is the primary provider of the rescue helicopter service.

John describes the trust over the past 12-month as being quite lucky when it comes to funding, mentioning the support of key sponsors and the many people from local communities who make a regular flow of unsolicited donations.

“It is a life-blood, and we are always looking for more whether it be from sponsors, groups or individuals,” he said.

“It is quite comforting to see how generous our communities and the public are.”

The rescue helicopter does not receive direct government funding, missions are part paid by the Accident Compensation Commission, the other half requires funding raised by the rescue helicopter trusts.

And a quick reality check, the average cost for an hour-long mission for the helicopter and crew is around $8000.00 – this does not include all the support costs behind that.

Average annual mission numbers for the Coromandel Peninsula are around 180 which means the annual helicopter airtime is nearly $1.5 million.

The establishment of the Whitianga base has meant that crews and a machine are based on the Coromandel Peninsula during peak holiday periods – this year involved a six-week period.

A further positive attraction is the location of a 30,000-litre fuel storage area along side the hangar, this ensuring long distance flights can be operated off the Coromandel Peninsula coast knowing there is an available fuel source.

As the Coromandel Trust does not operate helicopters, as the primary provider the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust uses its three machines located at Ardmore Airport. These are supported by rescue helicopters located in both Hamilton and Tauranga.

John said Trustee representation covered the Coromandel Peninsula, Trustees would welcome the opportunity to meet with individuals or groups to discuss the importance of the rescue helicopter service to the local and wider communities.

Details regarding the Trust and funding can be found at the website – coromandelrescue.org.nz.