A Wellington air ambulance service is setting its sights high for the thousands of seriously ill and injured New Zealanders it expects to help over the next decade.
Life Flight has shelled out $7 million for three Beechcraft King Air turbo props used by the Royal Flying Doctors Service in New South Wales.
The aircraft are a major step up for the charity, which transports an average of 32 patients a week, ferrying them around the country for specialist medical treatment.
Life Flight pilot Luke Rohloff described the planes as "the Porsche of the skies".
"They handle very well, very capable aircraft, really nimble on the controls. Plenty of grunt, plenty of power, plenty of mongrel. They love to get up and boogie."
The planes are smaller than the two Jetstream 32s they are replacing, but Life Flight trustee and former flight nurse Karyn Hathaway said that's no bad thing.
"We can get into places like Wairoa, like Greymouth and airstrips in Northland which we weren't able to do previously, and that's critical because it's connecting up rural, regional communities to specialist care that they haven't had direct access to," Hathaway said.
Those flights in and out of smaller aerodromes alleviate the need for long ambulance journeys to meet the plane at larger airports.
A major gamechanger for Life Flight is the extra-wide loading bay at the rear of the aircraft, which allows a crane attachment to lift stretchers and incubators aboard without manual handling.
"This cargo door means we can transport patients of all shapes and sizes without having to be a wrestler or some kind of body builder to get them in and out," crew member Helena Tobin said.
The lift capacity of the crane mechanism, specially designed by the Royal Flying Doctors, is 300 kilograms.
Life Flight is appealing for the public's help to raise the final $500,000 it needs to pay for the planes. The rest of the money is coming from corporate and private donations, reserves, and the expected proceeds of the two Jetstreams which are now on the market.
Hathaway urged Kiwis to buy a flight for a person in need through the Life Flight website.
"It's like booking a flight on an airline but instead you are booking a lifesaving flight for a New Zealander," she explained.
Melissa and Sam Dews know only too well the importance of the service.
Their daughter, four-year-old Tilly, was flown from Wellington to Christchurch hours after being diagnosed with leukemia two years ago.
Tilly is now back at home and progressing well, but her parents said the urgent flight — less than 12 hours after she was diagnosed — to receive specialist paediatric cancer treatment was incredibly reassuring.
"It was scary and surreal seeing Tilly on the stretcher in the plane but we knew she was going to the best possible facility for specialist care," her parents said.
"Life Flight is a charity we love and appreciate and we will support it forever."
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