A Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) C130 Hercules aircraft made an emergency rescue flight to Antarctica last month. The aircraft departed from Christchurch on a 16-hour return journey in order to evacuate an American man who was suffering from cardiac problems.

Two New Zealand Defence Force medics and two civilian medical staff accompanied the flight to ...

A total of 12 pilots and engineers from the Palmerston North-based aviation company Helipro were presented with safety awards at a function at Parliament last month. The Gold and Silver Star awards, presented by the Aviation Industry Association (AIA), were for reaching 15 and 10 years respectively of incident-free flying.

Helipro’s CEO, Rick Lucas, said the awards ...

The New Zealand aviation industry celebrated a significant milestone recently, with the completion of the 1,000th aircraft to be manufactured in the Waikato region.

This celebration came nearly 50 years after the first plane rolled off the production line at Pacific Aerospace. Pacific Aerospace is the successor to James Aviation, which was a pioneering aviation company in New ...

By Rob Neil

More than 50 years ago, the world-class overhaul and maintenance facility now known as the Christchurch Engine Centre began life overhauling Pratt & Whitney Wasp series radial piston engines. Originally owned by NAC (later Air New Zealand), in April 2001, the company made a kind of “full-circle” serendipitous return to its Pratt & Whitney...

Christchurch Engine Centre

Rob Neil visits the engine overhaul facility operated by the Pratt & Whitney Air New Zealand Services partnership at Christchurch and talks to its General Manager, Bill Moeller, about the company’s success in a highly competitive global market.

Beacon Story - 121.5 vs 406

This article by Richard Greaney summarises the reasons why ...