Spent several hours tonight finally sorting out an article - with photos and video - about the SAREX I helped at a few weeks ago.

Check it out @ http://www.vhf.org.nz/content/search-and-rescue-exercise-tararuas.

A bit of a teaser as to the contents:

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Ironically despite my time working for the NZDF, that's the closest i've been to an operating Iroquois in many years... will be a little sad to see them go, good ol' workhorses that they are. Interesting to note that despite originating from the Vietnam War era, variants are still manufactured and sold. And there are hoards of variants...

But yeah, despite only being able to attend the SAREX on the Sunday I managed to get a lot out of it; it helped me make sure I hadn't forgotton any of the key skills required to run comms in a situation like that, got me up-close to an Iroquois and presented an opportunity to talk to the flight crew for several minutes, and also got me some exposure to some of the latest in comms equipment being deployed by SAR. Much thanks to ZL4JY for the opportunity, and to ZL2HD and the others who made me welcome.