Chopper callouts are running at record levels

Northland Emergency Services Trust helicopters have responded to 405 requests for assistance in the first half of 2015. Photo / Supplied

A Northland farmer "pretty lucky" to survive a motorbike accident was one of hundreds rescued in the Northland rescue helicopter service's busiest six months on record.

Ben Berridge, 22, was airlifted with a internal bleeding on January 31- the busiest month since the rescue service started in 1988 with up to eight callouts a day.

In the first six months of this year, Northland Emergency Services Trust (NEST) helicopters responded to 405 requests for assistance, up from 389 last year.

While motorbiking with a friend near Poutu, Mr Berridge took a sand dune too fast, falling off and flying 6m in the air with the bike landing on his back.

"I can still remember flying through the air thinking 'I've really had a mare here'," Mr Berridge said.

Initially, he thought he was fine but his blood pressure started dropping and an ambulance was called whose paramedic the called the helicopter which took him to hospital.

"That was a big call by them and a bloody good one too," Mr Berridge said.

He underwent surgery for a split aorta and returned home five days later. A surgeon told him 50 per cent of people in his situation would have died on the beach, while 25 per cent would have died on the way to hospital.

Mr Berridge was back working on the Waikiekie dairy farm he manages and playing rugby by mid-March. He said everybody involved in his treatment was "bloody awesome".

NEST chief pilot Peter Turnbull said although only half way through the year, they were on track to top last year's flight record of 800 missions and more than 1100 flight hours.

"Our team of pilots and St John paramedics are working around the clock to provide a dedicated air ambulance service to Northland," he said. "Our on-call team is up in the air about three hours per day."

Last year, there were 389 callouts in the first six months, while five years ago there were 300.

January was the busiest month ever with 84 callouts including a near drowning, a dog attack, four multi-system traumas and four strokes. NEST general manager Vanessa Furze said they did not know exactly what the reason was for the increase in callouts.

"It is possible the rise in callouts could be due to an increase in population over summer," she said. Injuries tended to increase then with accidents in sports and leisure activities.