Hirepool, as a sponsor to the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, was extended an opportunity to get up close and personal with the ARHT Westpac Rescue team. We took the opportunity to have some customers to enjoy the experience with us.

Thursday 17^th March. Although the start time was set for 7:00am, some clients were eager to get an early start, so were looking to park their cars at 6.15am. Daybreak was still half an hour away, so some orientation in the dark car park was the order of the morning.

We were welcomed to site by John Hooper and the team, who were busy getting the hangar set up to host a team of 13 guests for breakfast. The breakfast was a banquet of good kiwi tucker; bacon, eggs, sausages and a liberal dose of coffee, tea and orange juice.

These mornings are a way of getting the public and sponsors engaged with the ARHT operation. We were treated to some very colorful descriptions of missions, and were made aware of just how important the Rescue Helicopter is to Auckland and its nearest regional neighbours. Of equal importance was highlighting the energy and resource required to get the helicopter in the air, and when you start talking costs of $5,000.00 an hour, you get an understanding of just what it takes to be a member of this very successful & passionate team.

A brief interlude consisting of wolfing down some of the hearty breakfast fare, some light discussion around the helicopter, chopper challenge, and just a lot of good kiwi banter, was to be followed by a 10 min tour of the city in the Helicopter by the Junior Pilot. I must stress at this point that our Junior Pilot had over 20 years experience, so more than qualified to run missions and to carry our lot over the city.

To this point everyone had enjoyed the day immensely - Many thanks to the team at ARHT.