Waimarino helicopter pilot kept busy

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 46, 8 May 1984, Page 5

Waimarino helicopter pilot kept busy

In the past few months we've had occasion to report on a number of stories involving the pilot of a Wanganui Aero Work helicopter who seems to be here, there and everywhere. She provided joy rides at the Desert Fair, she lit controlled burn-offs in Winstone's Afforestation blocks between Raetihi and Pipiriki, she flew the investigating team from Lands & Survey and the Parks Board into remote areas of the proposed Wanganui River Park and only last week we reported she had located and lifted out another helicopter pilot who had crashed in dense bush west of the Wanganui River. During the seven months she has been in the Waimarino 25year old Lisa Patterson has already become a well-known and popular identity. The Wanganui Aero Work's Bell 'Jet Ranger' helicopter she flies is a familiar sight both in the skies over the Waimarino, above forest and farmland and among the mountains and the bush as well as on the ground at local fairs and agricultural , shows. Lisa arrived in the Waimarino in mid-October from Fiji where she had spent the three previous years on a variety of work including off-shore oil exploration, rescue and ambulance work between the islands, ferrying materials for a hydro scheme as well as a range of charter flights, and photography.

The off-shore oil exploration in particular was very demanding work requiring skilfull handling of two helicopters — the other was flown by her employer John Harding of Rangitikei Air Seryices" — in a formation that had to maintain constant height and direction while the underwater seismic surveys were conducted. The Harding brothers — John and Richmond — were herfirst employers and this is her fifth year working for them — both with Rangitikei Air Services and Wanganui Aero Work. Before going to Fiji three years ago she was based in Taihape so she was familiar with the Waimarino area before she returned to New Zealand last year.

Born in Wellington, Lisa Patterson did her initial training in a fixed-wing aircraft in Wanganui in 1976 and first qualified for her 'wings' in a Fletcher top-dressing aircraft. She still maintains her fixedwing ratings and commercial pilot's licences but most of her flying these days is in helicopters. Lisa is rated to fly any of Wanganui Aero Work's aircraft including the Fletcher 400 topdressing plane, the Hiller 12E, the Hughes 500D and the Bell 'Jet Ranger' helicopters as well as any other singled-engined charter aircraft. And her wealth of experience in a variety of helicopter work is little short of phenomenal. She has taken part in search and rescue work, top dressing, seeding, spraying, firelightipg and fire fighting, supply dropping, laying fence poles and wire stringing, fish spotting (off Fiji), joy rides and hunting trips, surveying and aerial photography. In this latter category Lisa flew the helicopter from which the aerial shots were taken for the feature films 'Love Boat' and 'Savage Islands' which were both filmed in Fiji.