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An Invercargill councillor is appalled Southland council's are not backing a helicopter rescue trust, but others say it is simply not the councils' core business.

Mountain Scene July 29, 2021 By TRACEY ROXBURGH and PHILIP CHANDLER One of Queenstown’s most experienced aviators is ‘‘dead against’’ a proposal to close Milford’s airstrip, while Queenstown mayor Jim Boult’s promising to work with operators to lobby for its retention. Milford Opportunities Project governance group boss Keith Turner unveiled plans yesterday — the result of four years’ work — which include a recommendation to close the Milford airstrip. In a statement, Turner says the group knows that’ll be ‘‘controversial’’ and will affect livelih...

Ex-high flyer now trucking along July 13, 2021 After well over 30 years in aviation — either paragliding, flying turboprops or pilot training — Rog Banks is back on terra firma. He talks to PHILIP CHANDLER about why he’s swapped planes for trucks, representing New Zealand in paragliding and why he’s happy living back in the Whakatipu Basin Arrowtowner Rog Banks admits Covid even did him a favour. When it hit last year, the 53-year-old was in India training pilots for the national airline. He used to work eight weeks on, four weeks off, giving him a chance to see his family at least tw...

“It’s a good effort.’’ He hoped the airstrip would also be fixed and thought it would not take too much work. In early February, about 1100mm of rain dumped down onto Fiordland, and State Highway 94 leading into Milford became impassable. That led to part of New Zealand’s largest aerial evacuation of people, with 500 people from Fiordland airlifted from the area to safety. The road repair work was carried out by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s Milford Alliance team. They will resume work on restoring the final 3km of road, from Girder Creek to the head of the Hollyford Tra...