KEY POINTS:
Matt Newton may not be a Top Gun. But flying sure has taken him a long way - from chasing for oil, to being Tom Cruise's private pilot.
The veteran helicopter pilot based in Urenui, 30km east of New Plymouth, was helping Hollywood scouts look for locations to film the Last Samurai in 2003-04. "I happened to walk into the production office when they decided to hire a pilot for flying Tom Cruise and his family around while he was staying in New Zealand," says Newton.
"I had a terrific time and it was an honour to show Tom around Taranaki and all my favourite spots."
These days, about 30 per cent of his work is related to the oil and gas sector, transporting drilling rigs to remote areas and helping survey lines across all terrains.
Another 30 per cent of the business is agriculture, about 5 per cent is tourism, and the remainder is in conservation.
Newton, wife Tammy and their company, Precision Helicopters, have been soaring on the region's economic updraft.
He first went into business in 1993 but, after 12 months making little headway, decided to go back to labour-only contracts.
A decade later, with the farming and energy sectors on the rise, he saw more likelihood of success and started out as a one-man-and-his-wife band, flying a Robinson R44.
Four years on, he owns four helicopters and employs three other pilots, four loadmasters, an office administrator and a maintenance controller.
Although he has worked around the world, including in Australia and Papua New Guinea, the Taranaki born-and-bred pilot can't imagine running a business anywhere else.
"Business isn't easy ... but there's plenty going on in Taranaki."
