Rescue crewman hangs up helmet after three decades

SARA HOLLYMAN

After 34 years of being in the sky, Paul ‘Ernie’ Bryant is hanging up his helmet as a rescue helicopter crewman.

Having notched up more than 4100 flights, he is considered the most experienced crewman in the country.

Ernie says he knew from a young age that he was going to be in aviation.

“I was one of those kids right from the word go, planes, helicopters were always going to be it.”

While going through high school his goal was to join the Air Force. “It didn’t matter whether I was making cups of tea or flying a jet, that was where I was going to go and that’s exactly what I did.”

Having started flying privately, his first solo flight was just three days after his 17th birthday.

He joined the Air Force straight out of school and spent four years learning a ground trade before applying to be an airman aircrew. With 15 applications put forward, he was one of only two who made it through.

He trained on fixed-wing planes that did everything from moving people and cars around to paratrooping and air dropping. The next four years took him on a range of journeys including a peacekeeping tour to Somalia, before cross-training to the heli- copter side of the Air Force. He then took an opportunity working for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter in Auckland before later heading to Nelson where he has worked on the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter ever since.

“It was never not going to happen, but it never happened the way I thought it would,” he says.

“When I came to Nelson they had just got the BK117 helicopter and they wanted somebody with experience to be able to train the guys here.”

He says it was the best of both worlds as he still had a core role of being a crewman - managing scene safety, assisting pilots and medics etc. as well as the other side - doing all the training.

In November 2022, Ernie flew his 4000th flight.

“I’m up around the 4100 and something now. We’re pretty sure I’m the first crewman to whistle through the 4000 helicopter missions. That wasn’t a goal, it just sort of happened.”

While he finds it hard to pick a most memorable mission over his 34 years, he says flying to the White Island eruption and assisting after the Kaikōura earthquake are two that have stayed with him. Night vision goggles are the biggest technology change he’s seen, but safety is the biggest improvement overall.

Ernie says he’s looking forward to not having to get up when it’s raining and go out on missions, and feels like he is leaving his role in safe hands.

“You look at the team and think ‘if I was sick, would I want you turning up?’ And yeah, I would.”

Ernie says he considers his career both fulfilling and successful.

“I just knew that deep down in my core was to be in aviation and to get myself in the air.

The hardest thing I have at the moment is to look back with a bit of pride.”

He says seizing the opportunities when they presented has meant his career worked out well.

“I’ve had the opportunity to do this. And a lot of people don’t. I don’t like the word lucky, but I was fortunate. I had to work at it, I had to pass everything, I had to jump through all the hoops. You never stop learning.

“And I am proud of what I’ve done.”

He says he doesn’t know what he’s going to do with his spare time yet.

“I’m not going to retire, retire, but I’m retired from the aviation industry. So, I’m not going to fly again, professionally, that’s all over for me. It just felt right to go out at the top of the game. I’m going to chill out for a little bit and see what comes along.”

Ernie has a piece of advice for someone who knows in their heart where they want to be.

“Someone reading this will be another me and they need to follow that. Not so much the dream but they need to follow that path.”