A rescue helicopter attending an accidental locator beacon alarm in Canterbury was called into action for real moments later when a paraglider crashed nearby.
MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF
A Coastguard Nelson crew trains at Port Nelson with the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter crew using the rescue helicopter s winch.
The Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter service is 30 this year. Samantha Gee looks at its life-changing role over the past three decades. Tipped out of his kayak, with waves breaking over his head, Alan McDermott knew time was no longer on his side. He had been in the water for close to an hour after the weather changed unexpectedly on what had been an otherwise uneventful morning kayak in Golden Bay.
MARTIN DE RUYTER/Stuff
Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter crew member Paul “Ernie” Bryant with the rescue helicopter s Breeze winch.
A light plane has crashed in a farm paddock near Glentui in North Canterbury.
A light aeroplane from a Canterbury club snapped a power line before crashing into a farm paddock and ending up on its nose, leaving the two men on board in hospital. Emergency services were called to the Glentui area of the Waimakariri district, north-west of Christchurch, at about 11.35am on Wednesday. Two members of the Canterbury Recreational Aircraft Club aboard the plane were injured, one seriously and another moderately.
Did you witness the crash? Email reporters@press.co.nz A spokesman for Garden City Helicopters, which operates the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, said the aircraft was sitting upright on its nose when crews arrived.