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By Chalpat Sonti
Sitting in rainy old Invercargill dreaming of the good weather in Queenstown? Thinking how great it would be if you could rush up there for a round of golf? Well, help could be at hand from a group of northerners.
The Northland Emergency Services Trust has a Eurocopter BO-105 helicopter for sale.
One careful owner, low hours. Asking price: $800,000. But wait, there’s more.
The chopper is a fully kitted-out air ambulance.
Trust chairman John Bain said the helicopter was one of two owned by the community-owned trust.
It was being sold because the trust needed a bigger chopper. Built in the 1980s, the helicopter had flown about 5200 hours and, of course, was in good working order.
While it was primarily an air ambulance, it could easily be transformed into a corporate vehicle of convenience, Mr Bain said.
“All you do is take the stretchers out and put the leather seats back in. It’d be great to go from Invercargill to Queenstown to play some golf.”
But why sell it down south where the only fully funded round-the-clock air ambulance is based at Dunedin with Private operators on standby for Southland and Central Otago?
“I believe a community like yours can own a helicopter. We’ve only got 140,000 people (in Northland) and we’ve got two and we do it easily.”
The Northland Trust could help interested southerners set up a similar scheme if required.
He had fielded a couple of inquiries from interested southerners but no business had been done so far, Mr Bain said.
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