Christmas

The festive season is nearly amongst us. I'm sure you are getting excited to spend time with your families, have a well-deserved break and enjoy some outdoor activities over the beautiful Hawke’s Bay Summer. As is the case for all emergency services, we will still be available for you and the rest of our community no matter what day or time. Our missions always increase over the Summer period and many people in our wonderful region will require our help in what could be one of the hardest days of their life. We will be there if you need us.  

Recently, I completed one of the hardest missions of my Helicopter Pilot Career. I have flown over 9600 hours, in New Zealand, Australia and all over Asia. A Rescue Helicopter Pilot must have at least 2000 hours to be able to gain this role. We are flying into a wide range of areas with all sorts of risks and we have to have the experience to deal with that. I pride myself on pushing my skills to the safest limit possible to ensure we can be there for whomever may need us.  

This particular job was called in on an extremely windy day. Two young trampers had got stuck on a ridge in the middle of the Ruahine Ranges and had called the police to say there was no safe way for them to get down and they were at serious risk of falling deep into the ravine if we didn't get there soon to save them. I checked the weather and thought we could get there but it wouldn't be easy. We circled the area to find exactly where they were and spotted them precariously on the edge of a small ledge on a rocky cliff face. They had thought they could climb up but got stuck and couldn't get any higher and certainly couldn't get back down again. We couldn't get too close as the wind from the rotors could’ve caused them to fall.  

Our incredible Paramedic on board, Heath, was winched down to a spot close by, by our highly experienced crewman Wayne. He managed to climb close to the two young trampers and hand over the winch, directing them to safely harness in so they could get pulled up to safety. One by one, the trampers and our crew, were all taken back up into the helicopter. I had to hold the helicopter steady in incredibly high winds. We were pushed to our limit, but without our collective skill, these two young trampers would’ve almost certainly fallen trying to get out and who knows what the end result could have been.  

I’m very proud of our crew, who pulled together with their amazing skill to ensure we were there for these two young people when they needed us. I’m very proud of our community of donors, like you, who made it possible for us to be there to save these people. Without you, we couldn't be there. Support from donors like you is what enabled two families to have their sons come home. 

As we head into our warmer season, I know we will be called to other missions like this, and we need your support to do this.You have been a wonderful supporter of ours and if you are in a position to donate today so we can continue to save lives like this in Hawke’s Bay, we would be so grateful.This mission alone cost around $8000 to complete. Rescue Helicopters are not cheap to run but they are the most effective in saving lives in many occasions. Every dollar helps and we would be so appreciative of any funds you could contribute today. 

Cheers,  

Hamish (Rambo) Ramsay 

Pilot  

Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter