It's not everyday you can get up close and personal with a NH90 Helicopter, but this week we got the chance. The New Zealand Air Force were helping DOC out by moving bags of gravel to Mt Robert for track maintenance and we were invited along to explore the NH90, watch it take off and learn a bit more about this mighty machine.
Some of the cool facts we learnt were:
- It takes 10 tonnes of downward force to lift the NH90 of the ground
- The NH90 can lift around 2,600kgs
- It has a four man crew, two pilots and two loadmasters
- It can fly at around 285km/hr and stay in the air for approx 3 hours before needing to refuel
- And top question of the day was confirming that yes machine guns can be mounted on the side