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Everybody needs a spruce up once in a while -
even rescue helicopters.
The Whangarei-based Northland Electricity Rescue Helicopter will be
off duty this week while it gets a much-needed new paint job. But just
getting the helicopter into Whangarei's Morgan's Auto Painters required
careful planning.
The helicopter landed precisely in the middle of Port Rd yesterday
morning - missing powerlines and mangroves on each side of the road by
metres. From there it was rolled off the road and its rotor blades, each
worth about NZ$152,000, carefully removed so it would fit inside the
workshop.
Northland Emergency Services trust chief pilot Pete Turnbull said all
members of the rescue crew had spent every spare moment for the past
month using a heat gun and scrapers to remove signs stubbornly stuck to
the side of the 1979 Sikorsky S76 helicopter.
He said the paint job is both cosmetic and to protect against the
salty conditions in which many rescues occurred. Mr Turnbull said
two aircraft engineers from Auckland would spend the week overseeing the
work.
"It's quite an exciting time...As soon as the paint is dry it'll
be required back in service," he said. Morgan Auto Painters'
co-owner Wayne Tupe said although he had painted cars, trucks and planes
before; having to do a helicopter was a first.
Mr Tupe said it would take about 3 days to prepare the aircraft's
body before it was put in a heated spray booth on site - the biggest in
Northland - to be given its white, red and green finish. He said they
had "dropped the price considerably" to support the rescue
helicopter.
The paint itself, worth about $3500 to $5000, was donated by Resene
Santano, and would receive a teflon coating to help keep the helicopter
clean.
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