Plane Crash in Murchison Back Country

Written by crash survivor Gary Wright

Hi I’m Gary Wright and I’m trying to give back after I required the services of the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter.

I was a passenger in a light plane which crashed in the back and beyond of Murchison in August of 2022.

In my case, when the helicopter arrived at the crash scene the crew were quick to assess, and were professional and careful with all involved. The helicopter was well resourced and the crew were well trained. This all costs a huge amount of money.

The Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter is a nonprofit service that we need to support as a region. Although they receive some funding from the Government, they do rely on donations and fundraising from the community.

It’s a service I personally always knew was a good service … a service that I never thought I’d need … but the thing is you don’t know if you’ll need this service until the time comes and it’s there to save your life.

This last Christmas my business, Roadtrips Marlborough, ran Christmas lights evening tours with Santa, his Elves and the Grinch with 100% of the money going to the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter service. We were able to raise approximately $4,000. Then, after running a raffle in April of this year, with many local Marlborough businesses donating, we were able to raise an incredible total of $15,000!