From whence it came.....
Ned, that was a good clarification to make. I had certainly read your post from the perspective that you were seeking comment and feedback more than endorsement of the companies that you had listed.
I think a point that might be important to make to those from other parts of the globe, including our close neighbours on the big island to the West, is from whence the helo industry in NZ grew (there are parallels to this country's EMS sector and I will deal with that next).
From the days of the late, great Bill Reid, the NZ helo industry grew on the back of primary production. That was predominantly ag work ie spraying, fertiliser, fencing and firelighting (for clearing scrub off big blocks) Companies sprung up in the sixties and thrived in the seventies - Wisharts, James Aviation, Marine Helicopers, Wanganui Aero Work.
I remember WaW coming to an A&P (Agricultural & Pastoral show)in Taumarunui (heartland Central North Island) in the late 70s/early 80s with an Hiller 12E, H269, H36 & B206 - That was a big turn out for a little town.
From 60s through into the 80's there were utility companies which had a core business of Ag Work with some other things on the side. Helicopters NZ used to a great deal more Ag work than it has done in recent years. It diversified and survived.
A lot of those pilots were farmers or sons of farmers - there are too many to name. Much of the helicopter industry was an extension, albeit a very cool one in a young lads eyes, of their rural upbringing. These were can do pragmatic poeple. To my mind that is the genesis of what people in other parts of the world, who have come into the sector through other vectors, consider NZs cavalier approach to helicopter flying. In retrospect there is probably some merit to those views. However, it was also a bit of a metaphor for a young nations can do, fix it with No 8 wire, attitude.
Then came the deer recovery phase which saw the best and the worst of helicopter aviation the world has ever seen packed into a few short years. eg H369s needing 50 hour checks almost every weekend. Wild times, lucrative times also deadly times.
Again it was a heady time based on primary production. NZ has always been good at that. Lots of meat & wool producing sheep to the acre. (As opposed to outback Oz where they have lots of acres to the sheep & at the comparative time the UK where 30 sheep which attracted so much in the way of subsidies created a profitable farm) In terms of deer, for a while we made a fortune out of an introduced pest.
The only unions and awards in that sector were in the freezing works that processed the meat.
The EMS sector in NZ has really had a similar upbringing. Firstly it grew out of Ag/utility machines being used when required to do rescue work. Often a case of drop the spray gear and scream off to meet an ambulance somewhere. They were all services that were add-ons to Commercial operations. Peter Button, Capital Helicopters, Wellington, Dennis Hartley, Heliwing, East Cape, Bill Black, et el.
The forerunner to Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust had been around for a while, at least in the summer, growing out of the Surf LIfesaving scene on Aucklands treacherous West Coast beaches. That started in 1970 using a Hiller and a static line to pull people out of the surf.
As other services started to grow a little more sophisticated, the odd dedicated rescue helicopter started to appear.
By the late 80s and 90s when some community funding started to appear, mainly in the form of the Lotteries Commission, trusts started to appear. The Lotteries Grants Board - General Committee would not fund commercial operations, only community organisations. Then money from non-casino gaming machines (pokies or one-armed bandits) started to pour out into the community.
At the same time the fundraising arms of these organisations got more organised and sophisticated. More trusts and services appeared around the country.
Now, I think the key point that is being missed by our Australian counterparts in particular, is that while all of thise was going on there was no over-arching Government poilcy and no dedicated funding. There was and still is precious little Government funding.
There are no contracts for service for the provision of SAR/EMS/HEMS in New Zealand like there are in the UK, or various states in Australia. We have community funded organisations that get some funding from the Government.
Yes there are contracts with ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) for accident recovery work. But that is on a fee for service basis and covers less than half the total cost of the job. The rest has to be raised form coorporate sponsors and fundraising form the public.
Yes there are contracts with various regional health boards for inter-hospital transfer work. Again what is paid does not cover the full cost of the flight.
These together, and with a little bit of Police paid for SAR work, add up to between just 25-25% of the total cost of these operations.
There is certainly no Government funding for standing or operational costs.
The public of the communities where these services operate from are the major stakeholders of those services. Do we have too many? I believe the answer is yes!
Have some made it into a business and not a community based rescue service? Again I believe the answer is yes. But there was nothing stopping them from doing this.
There was an attempt to remedy that a year or two ago with an ACC sponsorsored project called the National Air Ambulance Strategy (NAAS) That was appalling handled by ACC and reprehensibly hijacked and eventually deep-sixed via an emotive media campaign which was largely befert of facts. This campaign was orchestrated by some operators on the basis of little more than their naked self insterest.
My goodness I have rambled. To sum up then! We have had a helo sector and then a rescue helo sector which was grown from a can do kiwi attitude. It has been left to grown on its own with no over-arching national framework or policy. It is proving to be incredibly difficult to now reign in and bring some sensibleness to it. The horse has bolted if like.
This probably needs more editing and refining, but I have spent far too long on it and I too have to bolt. So I will throw it out there for comment.
TK