RNZAF NH90s complete longest flights over water

Two No. 3 Squadron NH90 helicopters recently flew from Cairns, in Australia, to Papua New Guinea. 

The aircrews flew 453 nautical miles across the Coral Sea Basin to PNG’s capital, Port Moresby, the furthest the New Zealand NH90s have ever flown over water. 

The trip took just under four hours.

The flight followed a successful deployment to Exercise Talisman Sabre in Australia and the NH90s were than able to take part in PNG’s independence celebrations.

“It was an honour to be invited to take part in the PNG 50th Anniversary celebrations,” said Air Component Commander Air Commodore Andy Scott. 

“The timing of the event after Ex Talisman Sabre provided a fantastic opportunity for our Rotary Wing team to take part both in the celebrations and in supporting the transport of critical equipment out into the provinces.”

One of the pilots who flew the journey, Flight Lieutenant Hayley Vincent, said two 500kg external gas tanks were fitted, making for a “different silhouette”.

An extra internal gas tank was also fitted, but that fuel was not required. 

The unique flight was given an international Kiwi call-sign instead of the Warrior call-sign used for national flights.

Beforehand, a long-range flight from RNZAF Base Ohakea to Invercargill was carried out.

“A fuel graph was generated predicting the amount of fuel burned at various waypoints, taking into account aircraft weights and details, helping us keep an accurate track of fuel burn during the flight, with trends to help with decision making,” Flight Lieutenant Vincent said.

“It showed the expected departure fuel, the expected arrival fuel, and the minimum departure and arrival fuels, helping to calculate safe points for the aircraft to continue or turn around if necessary. Factors such as aircraft weight and extreme weather make a difference to safe decision points.” 

Those calculations were essential for the Australia-to-PNG flight, where storms often gather in the afternoons around Port Moresby. 

Flight Lieutenant Vincent said she felt “nervous excitement” at the start of the flight, but said there were detailed preparations. 

“When we got to Papua New Guinea, there were a lot of happy faces. People were very excited to be the first Kiwi NH90 aircrew to fly from one country to another.” 

“There was a celebration in the NH90 Helicopter when the crew saw PNG for the first time,’’ she said. 

“We saw land sooner than we thought we would, but the mountains there are massive. 

“The success of the mission highlights the utility of the aircraft with long-range tanks which provided further deployment options for moving around the region when Navy ships or partner aircraft like the C-17 Globemaster are unavailable,” Flight Lieutenant Vincent said. 

The crews have since returned to Australia and will continue to be based out of RAAF Townsville. Plans for the return of the aircraft to New Zealand are being finalised.