Page 6 - Volume 12 Number 6

24/7/365 out of its two bases covering the greater part of South Island and the Chatham Islands. It employs a full-time team of 12 pilots, 25 intensive care flight nurses who are supported by intensive care doctors and senior medical officers, and a small, dedicated neonatal and midwife team. The flight service transports an average of 1,500 patients annually.
Perfect Aircraft for Critical Missions
New Zealand’s South Island consists of about 58,000 square miles and a population of approximately 1.1 million people, making it the 12th largest island in the world by area. The island is classified by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority as 80 percent “mountainous terrain.” Several of the mountain ranges
New Zealand Flying Doctor Service’s Super King Air 200C and C90B in front of their new facility in Christchurch. (RUPERT MACLACHLAN)
have peaks of over 5,000 feet and the Southern Alps and Mt Cook reach up to 12,300 feet.
In 2009 when the NZFDS was operating a Cessna Conquest and a Cessna 421 Golden Eagle, an increase in patient numbers and expanding service area pushed the decision to acquire a King Air to allow for a second stretcher and meet their flight condition needs. The company was fortunate to purchase the Super King Air 200C from the Royal Flying Doctors of Australia, as it already had a large cargo door and the medical stretcher system installed. The Conquest now serves as a backup to the 200C and the Cessna 421 was relocated
The GCH Aviation Group is an umbrella brand representing parent company Garden City Helicopters, based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and many associated aviation operations extending throughout New Zealand and into the South Pacific. The collective group offers certified flight training, tourism and charter flights, commercial services, air rescue and ambulance operations through its fleet of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
Parent company Garden City Helicopters was established in 1983 as a coastal helicopter rescue service and a scenic flight tourist operator. As those areas grew, and there was a need in other areas of aviation, Garden City Helicopters started expanding by adding other aviation service groups including the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service.
Garden City Helicopters is widely respected as a premier helicopter operator in New Zealand, so it only made sense to introduce a brand name for all of the separate entities to operate under. GCH Aviation was introduced in order to present a professional, cohesive and quality-focused service to
its customers with the following mission statement:
GCH Aviation Group aims to provide a professional service tailored to meet the wants and needs of our individual clients.
Operating with very experienced pilots we wish to maintain our excellent flight safety record and pass on our high standards to trainee pilots who graduate from our program.
We wish to remain progressive and innovative to keep pace with a changing external environment and introduce diversification within the realms of our core operations.
Our organisation is a high-profile company and we wish to maintain our image and credibility built up over the last 30 years.
Ruddenklau concluded by saying, “Safety is the paramount consideration for all of GCH Aviation’s operations. The vast experience of the pilots, regular training, familiarity of equipment and extensive and continual exposure to the extreme terrain covered by our network, ensures that our safety record is maintained.”
The GCH Evolution
4 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JUNE 2018