Coastguard air patrol set for new plane
At 43-years-old the Northland Coastguard Air Patrol airplane is nearing the end of its flying time.
The Cessna 182 model P airplane has a year’s flying time left, Coastguard Northland Air Patrol (NorthCAP) vice president Murray Miskelly says.
Miskelly says he has proposed to the Coastguard Northern Region Board three options: to source a new plane, purchase a second hand aircraft or to have the engine on the existing plane rebuilt. A decision has yet to be made on a replacement aircraft.
The fixed-wing aircraft is based in Kerikeri and used for search and locate missions for the entire Northland area.
Within 60 minutes of a call-torespond, Miskelly says the crew could be as far north as Cape Karikari or just approaching Whangarei.
Within an hour and 15 minutes, the aircraft could be at Cape Reinga, or at the southern borders of Whangarei.
While the aircraft has no capacity for rescuing, a crew of four, made up of a pilot, an inflight co-ordinator and two observers, can locate missing people or vessels and report their location to Coastguard boats, who initiate the rescues.
The air patrol has had the aircraft since 2007 where it is used on average twice a month for search missions, and twice a month for training purposes.
In the past ten years, the Coastguard Delta (CGD) aircraft has been involved in a number of high-profile and award winning searches.
These included three days searching for New Zealand father and daughter Alan Langdon, and Que, who travelled from the Kawhia Harbour in December on a 6.4m vessel, towards the Bay of Islands, before eventually being located in Australia.
Miskelly, a pilot, was awarded the Coastguard Air Patrol Volunteer of the Year in 2015 as well as the overall Coastguard Volunteer of the Year. In 2015, the Northland air patrol was also one of three Coastguard units to be awarded by the New Zealand Search and Rescue Council for their part in locating three fishermen missing off the Karikari Peninsula.
The organisation is also seeking new volunteers, with the chance to learn about first aid, radio communications and be a part of an ‘‘invaluable asset’’.
Interested potential volunteers should visit from 9.30am at their base at the Kerikeri airfield, on the first and third Sunday of the month.