Business Rural Winter 2021

80 | Setbacks open new skies for couple Virginia Wright I t’s just as well the Matt and Tammy Newton and their family are good at adapting to whatever gets thrown their way given what they’ve faced in the last few years. They’re the owners of Precision Helicopters Ltd. with several helicopters spread across three bases in Taranaki, Piopio and Hokitika. The Hokitika base is their most recent and is where they’ve put down roots, and while the arrival of Covid has meant a change in their business plan as they pivot to meet the new challenge, it hasn’t dimmed their enthusiasm for the new home they bought part way between Hokitika and Ross. “It’s a beautiful little farm and we’ve moved everything down here,” says Matt. “My son Gabriel, who’s 22 and also a helicopter pilot, came down and he’s married a local and is building in the meantime until Covid settles down. My other son Kinley is down here driving a digger – he’s 18. My daughter Lilly’s a pilot too. She’s 24 and she helps me run the business with Tammy, so we’re putting roots down for sure.” Precision Helicopters Limited has been going for 18 years. “I built the company on the back of agriculture and oil and gas surveyings,” explains Matt, “so traditionally we’ve provided the helicopter support for companies looking for oil and gas.” Their move to the West Coast a few years ago was precipitated by the end of any permits being granted to those companies for further exploration around what was then their home base in Taranaki, which spelled the end of that side of the business. “So we had surplus equipment and we decided to give tourism a go and took one of the machines down to Hokitika.” RURAL SERVICES » Precision Helicopters: Matt & Tammy Newton Their move south to Hokitika, to set up at the end of the no-exit road that takes people deep into the wild beauty of the Whitcomb Valley, didn’t just happen on a whim. Some time prior to the oil and gas side of their business collapsing the Newtons had been approached by Hokitika farmers Alvin and Kaye Godfrey, who were applying for resource consent to put in a helipad on their property. “I said that we’d help them with all the techni- cal stuff to do with aviation if we could have first option on it if the consent was successful,” says Matt. “They put their heart and soul into it and in the end they got a resource consent despite a lot of pushback, so It’s a long term joint venture with them I guess you’d say. “I’ve been flying helicopters all my life and I’ve always wanted an opportunity to fly in the Alps,”Matt explains. “It’s just the most magnificent place, the scenery just blows my mind. The lush- ness of it with such a high rainfall - it’s incredible flying in the mountains there after rain - it’s so fresh and green it’s just magnetic.” With six glaciers within reach of the end of the road by chopper, offering a clear view down the Rakaia valley towards the Canterbury Plains, the patch they work in is no exception. The Newtons have wasted no time making new friends in the community. “Tammy and I love the diversity, they all seem to get on really well even though they’re really dif- ferent, and we all work together. We support each other and it’s a great, welcoming community.” With the new tourism business in year two and just looking like it was going to be sustainable, Covid struck. “So now we’re having to diversify back to our roots I guess,“ says Matt, “so we’re trying to duplicate what we’ve got in our Taranaki base with all the diversity you get working with agriculture: top-dressing and spraying, and carrying bee-hives and so on, as well as working with the Department of Conservation. “We’ve had to buy a lot of very expensive acces- sories like spraying equipment, fertilizer buckets, and so on, so that was a pretty interesting chat with the bank,” he says with a laugh. “But without all of that my helicopters are useless to me – it’s like a tractor without a plough, you can’t do the work.” With flying well and truly in the family’s blood on both sides, with Matt’s father and Tammy’s father and grandfather all having flown planes in their day, including in the two world wars, it’s fair to say they’re all looking forward to the tourism side of the business opening up again so that all the Newton pilots can get back in the air. “We’ve had to buy a lot of very expensive accessories like spraying equipment, fertilizer buckets, and so on, so that was a pretty interesting chat with the bank. But without all of that my helicopters are useless to me – it’s like a tractor without a plough, you can’t do the work.” Precision Helicopters Matt Newton has relocated to Hokitika with his family after the axing of permits for oil and gas exploration at their former home base in Taranaki.