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The Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter service employs the pilots with additional crew members made available on a contract basis from St John Ambulance, Palmerston North Hospital and NZ Police.
Medical transfers between hospitals require flight nurses (top photo).
A ten member team from the units of Critical Care, Intensive Care and the Emergency Department make up
a 24/7 on-call flight nurse roster. Midwives and doctors are
available as required, depending on the mission type.
On all accident work the air rescue service utilises paramedics from St John Ambulance to respond to emergencies in the field. These paramedics are readily available to respond to accidents and emergencies in the pre-hospital environment.
Search and rescue missions require the use of trained Police members. They often operate the long-line and winch and are very good observers in searches.
In all cases the medical and paramedic crew are specifically trained to perform their duties in and around the helicopter, and in most cases will be trained in familiarisation, long-line and winching.
Fergus MacLachlan
Base Manager & Pilot
Fergus grew up on a farm in rural Te Kuiti before going on to study engineering. The carefree kiwi then worked in Scotland before he decided to follow his dream of flying helicopters.
He began his flight training at Ardmore in Auckland, and once qualified, he gained employment in Florida as a flight instructor.
Fergus then joined ERA Helicopters in the Gulf of Mexico where he flew for three years transporting people and supplies out to oil rigs and ‘avoiding Hurricanes’.
Some time spent at ERA’s Alaska division meant working in extreme conditions. “We flew at night, in snow storms and even flew IFR while long lining at night,” explains Fergus. His next adventure was to the Grand Canyon flying scenic flights for tourists.
But five months later another opportunity arose - Fergus spotted an ad for a rescue helicopter pilot back in New Zealand. “This was the perfect opportunity to give something back. I felt it was time to do something completely different and this was my opportunity to serve the community.”
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Clayton Girven
Pilot
Clayton Girven admits that he too ‘has always been passionate about the aviation industry'. He spent his school years in Palmerston North before serving six years in the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps including three operational tours to Bosnia, Herzegovina and East Timor.
During Clayton’s last year in the military he began his flight training and completed his first solo operation at the Taionui Aerodrome in Feilding. Clayton has since flown helicopters in the agricultural sector and tuna spotting from Taiwanese fishing boats in the South Pacific.
Clayton then got a job as a power line pilot in Australia. This was a challenging and dangerous job that involved precision live line and long line flying, and inspecting of all types of power line construction.
“My wife and I are very happy to be back in New Zealand and back in Palmerston North - where it all began. I am also very lucky to have such a great team and wealth of experience from the crews,” says Clayton.
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