A name denoting Nelson’s weather, a local national park, and the meaning of ‘precious’ as the plane, patients, and crew was chosen for the city’s New Zealand Flying Doctor Service plane.
The air ambulance was welcomed to its Nelson Airport base with a water arch salute and a blessing by Archdeacon Emeritus, Harvey Ruru, on 15 February, and its new name, Kahurangi, was unveiled.
A public competition was held for the new plane name which received about 100 submissions, and Nelsonian Naomi Johnson’s idea had soared.
“I thought that with the blue skies being Kahurangi [blue], Kahurangi National Park and then looking up the meaning of Kahurangi, the threefold message was appropriate for the naming of this precious plane,” she says.
“I was surprised and thrilled [my name was chosen]… and I hope that the plane has safe flights and looks after its precious cargo in every journey it takes.”
Harvey Ruru also noted the name Kahurangi was significant because it’s also a rare blue gemstone, and indicated the “treasured possessions” at Kahurangi National Park.
“The Flying Doctor Service look after this beautiful possession and the taonga that it is,” he says.
Kahurangi is a $3 million Beechcraft Super King Air B200 air ambulance and is the newest aeromedical plane in the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service fleet, which has two other Christchurch-based Beechcraft Super King Air B200C planes. The Nelson service will enable patients to be transported from the area to larger hospitals for treatment.
To the end of June 2023, the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service completed 1276 missions across New Zealand with just over 50 per cent of them from Nelson.
