A risky job: The Kiwi pilot who is putting his life on the line on Mt Everest.

Kiwi pilot Jason Laing (below) talks about his role in a multi-national search-and-rescue helicopter squad whose job involves trying to save the climbers who are injured on the world’s highest mountain. James Rampton reports.

If you asked me what I do on a normal day, I would reply, “I sit around on the sofa watching TV programmes and then occasionally write about them”.

If, on the other hand, you asked the New Zealand high-altitude helicopter pilot Jason Laing what he does on a normal day, he would reply, “I fly my B3 helicopter 23,000 feet up Mt Everest and rescue climbers who are trapped and in mortal danger on the slopes of the world’s highest mountain.”

Jason, 48, is part of an elite Everest Mountain rescue squad, which comprises highly skilled pilots who work in the world’s deadliest place to fly helicopters.

Their work is the subject of Everest Rescue, a breath-taking six-part series, which screens on the Discovery Channel this week.

As the programme’s executive producer David Harrison puts it, “The work these pilots do defies belief. Our series shows just how brave and selfless they are.”

During the 2015 earthquake in which thousands of lives were lost and the subsequent avalanche that claimed 22 lives on Everest, the team undertook heroic work saving many, many lives. This courageous band of brothers is once again taking to the Himalayan skies.

In the documentary, Jason, who lives in Kathmandu with his partner and baby, gets an emergency call to rescue 20 climbers who are trapped on an unstable glacier in a remote area four vertical miles above sea level.

It is truly hair-raising.

In an upmarket hotel in London, which is light years away from the hardship of Mt Everest, Jason sits down to explain to TV Guide just what motivates him to take on one of the world’s most perilous jobs.

“I’ve always been looking for challenges, things off the beaten track. If I get a call, it doesn’t matter what I’m doing, I have to drop everything.

“At dinner parties, people say to me, ‘Ooo, your job is so dangerous’. My answer to that is, ‘I plan to come home every day. I have a family.’ I don’t think the missions are dangerous – they are all very well calculated.

“We’re in control and we make the decisions. In a life-and-death situation, you go into a mode of shutting emotions out.

“It’s hard enough to fly under those circumstances. So I try not to get wrapped up in emotions.

“You have to remain focused. And we can always say no and turn around. You just have to be extremely careful. Otherwise, you’re asking for trouble.”

Jason, who has been in Everest for the past seven seasons, was awarded the Helicopter Association International Pilot of the Year 2016 for his rescue and recovery efforts at the 2014 Nepalese ice falls and after the 2015 earthquake.

For all that, he says that, “I don’t see myself as a hero. I don’t even like that word. I just do my job and chip away. It is draining, but it’s also satisfying because we’re helping.”

The pilot, who spends the off-season with his family in Queenstown, underlines that Mt Everest retains an iconic status.

“Everest is the highest spot on Earth. It literally stands out. If you do something on Everest, it is recognised globally. If you ask

people around the globe about Nepal, they’ll say, ‘Where’s that?’ But everyone has heard of Everest.”

Jason, who was the first Western pilot to fly helicopters in Kathmandu, adds that, “New Zealand has a very long history with Everest because of Sir Edmund Hillary.

“After he climbed the mountain, he went on to help the Nepalese with hospitals and education. I’m now a member of the

“In a life-and-death situation, you go into a mode of shutting emotions out ... I try not to get wrapped up in emotions.” – Jason Laing

Himalaya Trust, which supports hospitals and education programmes in the area. We look after 20-plus schools.”

The pilot is delighted to be involved with Everest Rescue.

“This documentary tells the truth – it’s not mocked up. It shows that we are at the coal face. It’s great that will be exposed. Everest

Rescue will bring our work to the world and show people exactly what we do. I think it has all the elements to be a very successful series.”

Jason closes by returning to the subject of what drives astonishingly brave pilots like him.

“People love challenges. We want to test ourselves and push ourselves to the limits. That’s what makes us human.”