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Meet Rupert

What’s the ideal job for a pilot and St John medic? A job at the NZ Flying Doctor Service!

We chat to Captain Rupert about finding that dream job, and the dream place to live.

How long have you been flying for the NZ Flying Doctor Service for?

I’ve been with the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service for nearly 11 years. I worked for five years in Christchurch before moving to work for the service in Nelson. We love the lifestyle up here. Being so close to the beach and the mountains is incredible and, as a family, we make the most of the hiking and mountain bike trails.

Tell us about your career before joining the Service.

I started my flying career at the Canterbury Aero Club before moving to Queenstown where I flew aerobatic flights in a Pitts Special biplane. After a few years of that I started a role doing scenic and charter flights out of Queenstown to Milford Sound. I then took a few years off flying when my eldest child was born – that’s when I had a bit of a change of focus and started working for St John Ambulance as an Emergency Medical Technician.

After a few years with St John, I saw the job at the NZ Flying Doctor Service – it was an awesome opportunity to combine my two passions into one role.

How does your experience at St John help you in your role today?

It’s not a requirement to have any medical background to be a pilot for the NZ Flying Doctor Service, but I find it really valuable to have an understanding of what’s wrong with the patient. I can also understand some of the medical lingo the flight nurse’s use!

Another benefit is that my time at St John gave me experience working closely with patients and their families. It’s really important to me to make each flight as smooth and comfortable as possible for our patients and the crew.

What do you love about the job?

Lots! I love working as part of the small team we have here in Nelson and the daily interactions we share with the medical crew, patients, and their relatives. I also like turning up to work and not knowing what we’re doing each day or where we’re going!

What is unique about the Nelson service?

In Nelson it’s a nurse-only service, not an ICU retrieval service like Christchurch. Generally, we do more flights, but of a shorter duration than the Christchurch crew throughout a normal day.

The main routes we fly are between Blenheim, Wellington, and Christchurch.
But hands down my favourite place is Nelson – it’s a beautiful spot and nothing beats flying in or out of here on a nice day.

What keeps you busy outside of work?
We have two boys, a vizsla dog and we love the outdoors. We enjoy trail running, mountain biking, skiing and kayaking – and it’s all here on our doorstep. Nelson offers an awesome lifestyle, it’s so accessible to everything we love and an awesome place to raise a family.