96 | A lot of ambition and hard work pays off The fleet includes a Schweizer 300, three MD520N’s and B2 and B3 Airbus helicopters. Richard Loader From Heliventures NZ Ltd’s genesis a dozen years ago, armed with an MD520 Notar helicopter based in Oamaru, no work, a lot of ambition and a little bit of hope, the business has evolved as a successful agri/commercial operator providing a diverse range of services from the bottom to the very top of New Zealand. At the heart of the company are its founders, Craig and Nicki McMillan, but Craig is quick to point out that the success of the company is also about the amazing team working at its Oamaru and Twizel bases. “It is the people who work within the company that make the business what it is. They are enthusiastic and passionate about what we do and what our clients do. We have also had amazing support and loyalty from our clients over the years — they have been a huge part of our business.” Heliventures operates five helicopters out if its main base in Oamaru and one helicopter from its small base at Pukaki Airport near Twizel, in the heart of the MacKenzie Basin. The fleet includes a Schweizer 300, three MD520N’s and B2 and B3 Airbus helicopters. “These are multi-role helicopters,” says Craig. “We can be spraying a paddock in the morning, return to base and clean the helicopter, put the comfortable seats back in and be doing a VIP charter by lunch time. By the afternoon, we can take the seats back out and be fighting a fire.” As an aviation operator, Heliventures is classified within the industry as agricultural/commercial. Utilising specialised spraying equipment and fertiliser buckets, along with specialised GPS equipment developed by Dunedin company RURAL SERVICES » Heliventures NZ TracMap that provides proof of placement and accuracy of the application, farm/agricultural work accounts for 65% - 70% of what the team at Heliventures does. “Our work also involves a lot of government type contracts, some of which is still agriculturally based like river spraying, surveys, and we do a lot of pest control for MPI’s Wallaby control containment programme and Wilding Tree Control programme. We’re also doing a lot more commercial based work like transporting people and lifting equipment, be it for private clients or government agencies. We were heavily involved with the Kaikoura earthquake recovery, and we “Our work also involves a lot of government type contracts, some of which is still agriculturally based like river spraying, surveys, and we do a lot of pest control for MPI’s Wallaby control containment programme and Wilding Tree Control programme. We’re also doing a lot more commercial based work like transporting people and lifting equipment.”
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