New helicopter technology could make ‘difference between life, death’

Wānaka Rotary Club member George Scott (left) and Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter managing director Graeme Gale are grateful for the new IFR route. Photo / Gregor Richardson

New technology which will help rescue helicopters fly to Wānaka at night and in bad weather could be “the difference between life and death”.

An instrument flight rules (IFR) route has been created for the Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter Trust after a $39,000 donation from the Wānaka Rotary Club.

Managing director Graeme Gale said IFR routes were “like highways in the sky” for helicopter pilots.

They enabled an autopilot system that, by following a very specific route, allowed pilots to fly without needing to see their surroundings.

He believed the new technology would be life-changing for patients needing intensive care.

“Say they’ve had a major trauma accident or they’ve got an internal bleed where it’s absolutely, absolutely time critical, it’s going t to take three to four hours to transport that person on the road to the hospital.

“We can do it in an hour, so there’s a massive difference.”

Living in one of the furthest places from a base hospital, Wānaka Rotary Club member George Scott stressed the importance of funding such technology.

“That’s our lifeline.

“It’s the difference between life and death.

“There’s a lot of people in the community who don’t actually realise what it is and the significance of it for us in Wānaka.”

The new IFR route was one of many established around the bottom of the South Island.

But according to Gale, “no-one’s ever had helicopter IFR in and out of Central”.

“There’s a lot of flights that we go and do that we would never have been able to do before.

“It’s a massive deal for all of Central Otago.”