The silver lining of a near-miss was the improved safety – and communication – between flight operators at Motueka aerodrome.

In March 2025, a Cabri helicopter and a fixed-wing Nelson Aviation College aircraft had a near-miss at Motueka aerodrome.

Both aircraft were on training flights – the Cabri instructor taking their student for 180-degree autorotations, and the NAC aircraft approaching from the nearby low-flying zone.

A few moments later, the NAC aircraft landed just ahead of the Cabri, which was on final.

“I aborted the operation at about 300 feet,” says the Cabri instructor, “and terminated on the eastern helipad away from the vector.

“It wasn’t a great situation.”

The bright side

Photo: CAA

Despite the possibility of conflict over the close call, engagement after the incident between NAC and the helicopter instructor has been very positive.

“I wanted to try to improve this so that it didn’t happen again,” the Cabri pilot says.

“I thought, ‘I’ll go and have a coffee and a chat with the guys’ – and they were all good. There was no blame or anything.

“We also set up some new procedures for our 180-degree autorotations and talked to our students about it.”

The Cabri instructor met NAC’s Safety Manager, Jackie Day, to discuss safety between the two types of operations.

In a follow-up meeting, the Cabri instructor briefed the college instructors and students about the various helicopter operations in the circuit.

“We went over all the emergency procedures we practise – things like low-approach simulated tail rotor emergencies and hydraulic failures,” he says.

Jackie says the improved communication has been a long time coming.

“There haven’t been many helicopter operations at Motueka for a while now. This means our current instructors and students are not that used to rotary operations.

“When helicopter operations ramped up in October last year, we held a meeting with our students on operating safely near rotary-wing aircraft.”

Jackie had asked her students if they knew where the helicopter pad was on the airfield.

Only half knew there was one.

“We thought, ‘Okay, this is a starting point’, and we’ve been monitoring this closely with our instructors and in safety briefings,” she says.

“The CAA’s Work Together, Stay Apart campaign visited us afterward and we discussed it again – that was really good.

“Awareness about helicopter operations has really improved among our students.”

The Cabri pilot says the response from the college was great.

“They’re very proactive with safety.

“We might have another break in operations and probably start up again in summer. And since, for me, it’s not just about improving safety, but wanting to be courteous to whoever else is using that airspace, I’ll head back over to Jackie and say, ‘Hey, we might just do another briefing'.”

Footnote

Main photo: Motueka aerodrome from iStock.com/LazingBee