About Us

The Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust was formed in 1992 to provide a rapid response helicopter rescue facility to deal with emergency situations in the province. While helicopters had previously been available for emergency call outs, they did not fulfil the role of an ambulance.

Initially, a helicopter was available on a semi-dedicated basis but the requirement for a machine to be more readily available which did not have to be called away from its current task became very apparent.

In 1999, the decision was made to provide a fully dedicated rescue ambulance service. This was made possible thanks to the foresight shown by the Taranaki Electricity Trust to become our major sponsor. A hangar was constructed at Taranaki Base Hospital and in 2003 the helicopter was upgraded to an AS 355 F1 Squirrel so that a bigger payload could be carried.

Since the arrival of a dedicated rescue helicopter at Taranaki Base Hospital, service and availability for all types of ambulance related missions have improved dramatically.

The Trust has had a helicopter in the air for fifteen years and is clocking approximately 200 flying hours on rescue missions per year. The demand for the service has steadily increased with the helicopter now flying up to four rescue flights each week - more than justifying the need for the Trust to own a suitably equipped EMS/rescue helicopter.

In June 2007 the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter decided it was time to purchase a helicopter and upgraded the Squirrel to the Agusta Westland Koala 119.

Vision

To be the leading community based air rescue service in Taranaki