Kiwis receive Humanitarian Service award at VAI Salute to Excellence Awards 2025

Salute to Excellence Humanitarian Service Award 2025 (Sponsor: POWER UP magazine)

AIANZ Member Helicopters Hawkes Bay, along with Rotorforce New Zealand, and No. 3 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force are collectively awarded the 2025 Salute to Excellence Humanitarian Service Award for their crucial roles during Cyclone Gabrielle’s devastation of New Zealand’s North Island in February 2023. Watch the video below.

From VAI Salute to Excellence 2025

Rotorforce New Zealand, Helicopters Hawkes Bay, and No. 3 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Hastings and Wellington, New Zealand

Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand’s North Island in mid-February 2023, leaving a wake of destruction not seen in a century. The Hawke’s Bay region on the east side of the island experienced the worst of the storm. Record flooding, mudslides, and powerful winds took out homes, bridges, power lines, and cell towers, leaving people stranded without means of communication.

Helicopter operator Rotorforce New Zealand, based at Hastings Aerodrome (NZHS) in Hawke’s Bay, contracts for the local electricity network. On Feb. 13, before the storm hit, CEO Joe Faram prepared his aircraft to respond to the coming weather event.

He didn’t have to wait long to deploy them.

Before sunrise on Feb. 14, the power company called Faram for help. Driving to the aerodrome, he realized the cyclone was worse than he’d anticipated: the airfield was surrounded by water. Before he could even launch his Airbus H125 B3, Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ), the country’s chief firefighting and emergency services body, called for an aircraft for recon flights.

“It was still raining, and there was poor visibility,” Faram recalls. “I only had to go 20 miles, but I struggled to recognize where I was. Everything was underwater, and landmarks were lost. It was unfolding right in front of us.”

Faram brought the FENZ team to his hangar. Meanwhile, unable to reach his other pilot on the phone, Faram flew out to retrieve him, returning to the airfield so he could launch in an MD 500 and join the rescue work. Faram then helped locate Jimmy Guerin, CEO of Helicopters Hawkes Bay, a commercial operator experienced in firefighting. Also based at Hastings Aerodrome, Guerin was able to deploy additional helicopters in the effort.

Across the region, people were stranded on their roofs. In some cases, the rushing water was up to the gutters.

The helicopters worked all day, lifting people to higher ground where police and ambulance services were waiting, or back to the safety of the airfield. With comms down, the helicopters also served as communications relays, picking up radio calls for help and calling them in to FENZ and local police.

Back at Faram’s hangar, FENZ set up base and was soon joined by an ambulance service. When the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) arrived around noon, Faram gave them space to operate as well.

The RNZAF brought three NH90 helicopters and immediately began rescues that required winches while the smaller aircraft continued rescuing and transporting victims. Many of the rescues were harrowing, requiring pilots to hover with one skid over the moving water.

“The Hawke’s Bay rescue was a true team effort,” says Chris Ross, commanding officer of the No. 3 Squadron of the RNZAF. “There were so many helicopters operating all in one relatively small area. Airborne coordination was critical for safe and efficient rescues. The work we safely did in those first few days was remarkable.”

All the aircraft flew until dark that first day, Feb. 14, together with rescuers using inflatable boats, saving an estimated 400 people. By the second day, aircraft were also transporting supplies, food, and medicine. Subsequent days’ work included repairs to power lines, cell networks, and roads. The overall air support went on for eight solid weeks.

“We do appreciate the recognition, but we did it because we were in a position where we could help,” Guerin says of the Humanitarian Service Award. “I’d like to think anyone would do the same.”