Ravensdown pilot swaps fertiliser for water to douse Christchurch fires

Helping fight the devastating fires which tore through Christchurch hillsides this month claiming one pilot’s life and destroying at least a dozen homes was “work with a difference” for a Ravensdown pilot, Ben Robinson.

Robinson, 40, in his fifth season as a pilot for Ravensdown, and with 12 years flying experience, was ready for the call, he and ground crew Duncan Fraser quickly taking off the fertiliser box on his fixed wing PAC Cresco 750 and putting on a water tight fire door.

Ravensdown, the farmer-owned fertiliser co-operative, operates four planes in the South Island and 10 in the North Island, under the Aerowork brand.

Normally the pair are engaged in spreading dry fertiliser and seed for Ravensdown clients, but dropping water or fire retardant was a vital deviation from the norm when the February fires took hold above Christchurch.

“Duncan receives a lot of feedback about our work and it was clear that a lot of our shareholders who are farmers understood what we were doing, and were very keen to support us,” said Ben.

The crew, operating from its base in Rangiora received the call at midnight on Monday, 13th February when the fires were taking hold.

“It quickly became obvious that everyone who could help in the air was going to be needed.

“The Rural Fire Authorities called us and just before light we got the plane ready and were away. They found us an airstrip near Tai Tapu at first, then moved us to Christchurch International Airport.”

Carrying up to 2000 litres of water per trip, or 1600-1700 litres of fire retardant, Ben and Duncan flew about nine hours on Tuesday, 14th February, each trip taking about 15 minutes return.

In order to precisely drop their load on the burning hillsides, they took their directions from the air attack authority who talked to them flying in a helicopter above them.

“Visibility was not too bad, but later in the day the smoke became worse. We made at least 35-40 trips, and were joined by another Aerowork plane flown by Andrew Denniston from Masterton in the afternoon.”

On the first day Ben and Andrew’s roles included making a retardant barrier above the new Adventure Park, finishing their flights at about 8pm.

Born and bred in Ashburton, Ben said it was a real privilege to be able to help in Christchurch’s latest crisis.

Ravensdown’s Chief Executive, Greg Campbell, said all the staff were buzzing with the news that the company was involved in such positive actions during the unpredictable hours and days when the wind direction kept changing and the fire front kept advancing.

“We are all incredibly proud of the work done by Ben and Andrew and the teams involved.
Aerowork pilots are often called on to help with crisis situations across the country. This just happened to be one of the most visible to many of the staff below ground in the Christchurch office and superphosphate manufacturing plant in Hornby.

“We received so many messages of appreciation from people living on the hillsides and from people who knew someone who lived in the line of the fires.

“It made it all very worthwhile for us to be involved at a time of crisis.”

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