Good night moon: RNZAF NH90 crews and police train near Lower Hutt

The scenario near Lower Hutt recently, was a person had been taken hostage and being held in an isolated rural location.  

The No. 3 Squadron helicopters, based about 140km north at RNZAF Base Ohakea, were requested to be on hand in case a rescue was necessary. The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) and Police often work closely on pre-planned operations in which NZDF support is requested for high risk situations.

“We flew to the Hutt Valley and as soon as we were at our holding point we got a radio call that, in scenario, we were needed to come in and rescue the hostage. This all happened about 9.15pm when it was dark,” pilot Flight Lieutenant Jamieson Taylor said.

The helicopters flew without lights and the aircrew used night vision goggles (NVG) and the moon to help navigate.

“We joked it was almost like flying during the day. The bright moon meant we could still use our peripheral vision, whereas often on dark nights when you’re flying under NVG, all you can see are the things through the goggles.

“The challenge is we’ve still got to scan the screens inside the helicopter. We’re looking through the NVGs for the view outside the helicopter, but then we’ve got to bring our eyes in to view all the instruments inside as well,” FLTLT Taylor said.

“Night flying is more difficult than day flying, then you add in the element that the moon is always different and sometimes you’ve got no moon.”

After arriving at the hostage’s location, police officers aboard each aircraft fast-roped out of them to the landing zone a short sprint from the building.

“The road we lowered the team to was gravel and we had a huge amount of dust kicked up from the downwash, so that was another challenge we had on the night.”

However, the dust also did an effective job of masking the rescue team as they ran to the target building, FLTLT Taylor said.

“They probably preferred being pelted by small stones and dust than being an easy target.”

The secluded location also threw up a few surprises for the pilots, with the terrain appearing different in planning images they had studied.

“There was a lot more undulating terrain than I realised. For sorties like that we do a huge amount of pre-planning, but you never know what it’s going to look like until you get there,” he said.

The challenges posed were always good to overcome and the training itself was helpful for pilots in both helicopters to upgrade the team’s air assault flying qualifications.

“It’s always good working with Police - they operate in quite a similar way to us. They like to get the work done and they are real problem-solvers. We’ve gotten to know each other over the years, which helps when it comes to the real thing,” FLTLT Taylor said.