This series deals with themes of loss of life, grief, trauma, violence, and mental health. The content may not be suitable for younger listeners.

Kia ora, I'm Mitchell Alexander.

And I'm Alex Mason. Welcome to Season Two of Unclassified, a series where we bring you firsthand tales about extraordinary moments in the lives of members of the New Zealand Defence Force. Today we're joined by Flight Lieutenant Nicole Brooke to talk about her experience of navigating precarious search and rescue operations from the cockpit of an NH 90 helicopter.

The tricky part was there was no communications or the power was down. And that was one of the biggest challenges with why the first aircraft went out and to really get eyes on and see how bad it was because no one knew.

Flight Lieutenant Nicole Brooke is an NH 90 pilot from Palmerston North who's always had flying in her blood. Her father's heavy involvement with police search and rescue missions gave Nicole her first taste of what such a career could involve when she was 13. And since then, she hasn't looked back. After enlisting with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 2011, Nicole completed basic training and then pilot training before embarking on a flying career in New Zealand and abroad. In February 2023, as Cyclone Gabrielle began to leave a trail of destruction across the North Island of New Zealand, and Hawke's Bay residents were fearing for their lives amid rising floodwaters, which completely submerged some homes, three NH90 helicopters were deployed to the region to save them. Nicole was in chopper number three. Thanks for joining us today, Nicole.

Thanks for having me.

Can you take us back to that moment when you first flew into Hawke's Bay? As Cyclone Gabrielle was continuing to batter the region? What was that like for you? And what could you see?

Yeah, so it was incredibly eye opening for the entire crew. We launched out of Palmerston North or Ohakea, where the weather was relatively average there. And my husband who was actually in the first helicopter and our boss, in the second, had launched and called for extra helicopters. So from there, we weren't exactly sure what we were expecting. But enroute, I got a message from the second helicopter that we'd lost the auxiliary power to the navigation aids at the airport, that we were using to enter. So straight away from there, it was rather chaotic, and we had to work out how we were going to get into the region. And with a bit of advice from people that had got there initially, we managed to break visual. So that's get sight with the terrain. And we could just see houses fully submerged. It was something that we just couldn't comprehend. And the area was just completely swamped with water. Once we broke visual, we got a radio call from someone on the ground who was requesting a rescue they were they had some people stranded and we're trying to get a boat to them. But they thought they could hear us so they thought we'll see if you guys can help. As it was we quickly turned around to see if we could, but a boat was able to get to them before we did.

So when you first saw the terrain, how would you describe it?

Yeah, so it was very grey and gloomy. It's the typical sort of flooded, water colour, really brown and it was just everywhere, everywhere you could see. So we fly over there quite often for training and exercises or operations, and that was unrecognisable, there was just water everywhere. The big picture I've still got in my head was you could see the apex of quite a large, beautiful house as they are in the Hawke's Bay, and it was just completely submerged.

And what was going through your head at that point, seeing that stark difference to the landscape that you'd fallen across many times before?

Yes, at that point, I think we initially just thought, right oh, here we go. Like we're here to help. What can we do? And it was just a fact of we work out right? How do we get in safely and then working our way to rescue the people that's required?

So you're obviously in charge of flying the NH-90. How many other crew were in the aircraft? And what are the roles in a situation like that?

Yeah, so normally let operate with a crew of four, gusting five so that's two pilots, one Captain, one copilot, and two helicopter loadmasters. For this sort of job, we would have a medic on board as well. However, everyone is we only general have one crew on standby. So the medic was in the first aircraft. So we had extra helicopter loadmasters and pilots in the crew, I had six. So I had an extra person to go down the wire or the hoist and I had an extra pilot in the helicopter, up the front, to help with everything that was going on.

In terms of what was happening on the ground or amongst the water, as the weather worsened rivers burst causing that significant jump in flood levels and people were literally fighting for their lives. They were trying to get to higher ground or onto any higher surface that they could to escape. Can you talk us through some of the situations that you found people in and what you did to save them?

Absolutely. So we turned up into the region, and just quickly tried to piece together where to go. And we tracked towards Napier. But enroute, it was Hastings in the Pakowai area that needed the rescuing. So there were a whole heap of civilian helicopters as well, I think potentially up to 12, if not more, who were there along with the Surf Lifesaving RHIBs, and civilians in kayaks and jet skis, and it was we're all on the same radio frequency. So it was just communications about right, we need to go to this area. The tricky part was there was no communications, all the power was down. So the way that we'd normally get our tasking information was really compromised. And that was one of the biggest challenges which was why the first aircraft went and to really get eyes on and see how bad it was, because no one knew. And then it was just a case of right we need to go to the Pakowai area, which I had no idea where that was, because all of a sudden our communication's down, I don't have cellular data to Google. But I had a pilot in the back, was our extra help, and he was local to the area. And he could recognise the service stations roofs that you can see, sort of thing and a roundabout that was submerged. And he managed to vector us on to the area, which is where we started rescuing the seasonal workers, which there's been a bit of coverage about them in the news. And there are a whole heap of civilian helicopters there as well. And it was just a case of once they had pulled people off the roofs, we went and did what we could do to rescue people. And it was just a continuous track chain to get these people off the roof.

And what was it like for you when you're seeing these people on these roofs? Clearly fearing for their lives, what goes through your head at that stage?

We just think right, what's the safest and quickest way that we can help these people with the NH 90? We're a big helicopter, and we create a lot of downwash. So I'm also concerned about not putting people in danger by trying to rescue them. So we're thinking what heights we need to be at, where we position, where's the wind? Are there any people nearby? So there were people at kind of waist deep and water nearby trying to help they didn't want to affect them. There were also pets on the roofs. And they don't have a lot of potential awareness of helicopters, and I didn't want them to fall off. So the big thing is just trying to work out the best and safest way to help them. The other great thing to see was a lot of the civilian helicopters were ex-Air Force pilots or they've worked with us. So they knew the best place for the NH-90 and we were able to work together. That's the best job for a smaller helicopter. And that's the best job for us.

And had you ever come across a situation like this before? They're sort of almost mass evacuations off rooftops?

No, not at all.

How difficult is it to maintain a stable aircraft in a such a volatile situation like that high pressure environment, particularly when you know that there are people's lives on the line.

So our we're really lucky with our aircraft. It's a perfect platform for this, which I think we've highlighted a few times, unfortunately, in disaster relief. So the aircraft is super stable, it's very comfortable to fly. We've got automation to help us out as well. However, it is just hands on at that point because we're really busy with all the other aircraft that were around. But we're very, very lucky with the NH90 and it's stability.

How did those people react when you and your crew were able to winch them up to safety out of that danger zone?

Yeah, so they the initial ones at Pakowai, I think they were, they were relatively alright, because there were so many helicopters there. But it definitely having that once they're onboard, everyone sort of broke down. I think they I don't I think it was fight or flight at that point. And once they got on the helicopter, they were able to kind of relax and realise the sheer just disaster that had happened.

And on that, what was it like for you personally, when you're, you know, managing this, this environment, the high stress and then seeing that, how do you sort of deal with it?

At the time it you just kind of keep going with the job because it was a massive job to be done and we weren't sure what was going to evolve with the night, it was getting darker. I think I got in mid afternoon. The first helicopter got in before just before midday, and we were in a tiny region in the Hawke's Bay there was also, further up, well you know the area of the disaster. And we just weren't sure exactly how how long we needed to be there or how many people needed rescuing. The tricky part at that point is working out the priority of the rescues. So we were lucky in that it didn't appear that the waters were rising at that point. So we were able to just work through with the other helicopters that were there. The best way to do it to a point where and at certain point boats were the best option. And we went further afield. I had to recce some of the substations to work out what the damage was. And it was very clear that was completely submerged, so we were like okay, we're not going to get power back for a while. And then we got a little bit more tasking coming in once we could see that the people were getting rescued by boats quite effectively. And then we started to move tonnes of medical supplies when it became clear that the hospitals were cut off and losing power as well.

Just before we get on to that other work that you were involved in as part of that response. You mentioned before some of these pets that were on the roofs, can you tell us about whether you were able to save any animals and how that played out?

Yeah, absolutely. I'm stoked that we were able to save the animals. There was it was heartbreaking to see a lot of the stock around. I remember an image of a horse standing pretty, pretty deep in water. But our crew were talking about it more like the waters going down. If the horse just stands there, it'll be alright. So we're happy with that. But then the dogs and cats, we rescued a lot of dogs and cats, I think 27 potentially over the period.

That would have been a different type of passenger to have onboard the helicopter?

Yeah, it was it was great that that it was quite interesting to see the animals with quite relieved to be on board. And normally when we operate with dogs, they don't really like the helicopters. So I do remember that being quite interesting to observe. I think they potentially were feeding off their their owners' emotions, and maybe the relief once they got on board the helicopter.

As you mentioned just before search and rescue was just one of your tasks that you were involved in. Are you able to explain in a bit more detail what else you were asked to do?

Yeah, so initially, you get into the search and rescue and pretty much just people off roofs. We then moved into surveying the substation, getting some aerial footage of the the area around. So the substation was a big one that the government needed to get eyes on. And it was pretty clear that that was, as I mentioned, fully submerged. We then got images of bridges and roading just opportunistic before we moved into tasking of medical supplies, so that was taking between Napier and Hawke's Bay, a whole heap of medical supplies that they required.

I understand you're also involved with some family reunions as well. Yes,

Yes, yeah, this was in a couple of days later. So the first day was obviously just the rescue. The second day, we ended up doing rescues but not as time critical. So these are the areas that were fully cut off. And it was clear that they were gonna be cut off for a few weeks. And the heartbreaking thing about that was, was that people were up in their homes, and they've kind of banded together, power has been out, I guess they're trying to piece together what's happening, there's no, radio, I don't think there was radio, there's no news, there was nothing for them to really understand the sheer size of this disaster. So there were civilian helicopters that tracked up and they had to break the news door by door, that if they weren't self sufficient, or strongly recommended, that we evacuated them to safety. So we started doing that over the second, second and third day. And I'm not sure if it's the second or third day, but we were taking supplies into these cut off areas where the people had agreed that they needed to stay, whether family reasons or livestock, you could kind of understand why people needed to stay. They've got these beautiful farms that they need to keep going with fences destroyed. So they really needed to be there. So we took some supplies in and we had to wait a little bit and I wasn't quite sure, obviously comms was a bit average. But we managed to get two teenage boys on the helicopter. They just sat at the back while we did our tasking for a few hours, and then put them on headset. And I said, "are we taking you home by any chance?". And they said yes. Wow, you're quite resourceful to get a ride on a 90. That's great. And as we rocked up into the area, they discussed where their house was. And we landed right in the paddock, which I'm not sure if they thought we would. But what we could piece together was that their family hadn't heard from these kids. And they had no idea when they were going to come back. I think a lot of them were at boarding school. So the families, from talking to them, had trusted that it would all be alright. But they didn't have any communications with their kids. We landed and then we just saw parents running down from the top of the hill to their helicopter, almost like a movie style, Love Actually airport scene sort of thing. And they ran up and then their kids ran out and they hugged their parents after who knows what they've been through. So that was yeah, really, really cool to see them. That must have been pretty amazing to witness and be part of helping that reunion to happen. Yeah, definitely.

Yeah. They NH90s, they did more than 200 flying hours in two weeks during this response, which is, I understand, almost a month's worth of flying time. How did you manage to keep flying safely given the workload? And I imagine the fatigue that comes with that sort of intense tempo?

Yeah. So we're really lucky, we had an incredible maintenance team. It's unheard of that we had five of our aircraft deployed essentially to this cyclone. So we had one in Auckland at any one time, we had three in Napier, potentially a few more, different options. And we had one in our region, Ohakea, waiting potentially for that, to need rescuing. So, our maintainers worked incredibly hard. We had a heap of support with our fuel section, our security forces. We had the medical team, and everyone just pitched in and did what they needed to do. It's definitely the Kiwi way we saw that with civilians as well, nothing was out of the question. Everyone was just working to help people. It's, it's quite tricky sometimes our maintainers don't get to see the effect that we're doing. And they're putting in the real hard yards to get our aircraft on the line. But even they were stopped in the street and they met locals and they were able to help out which was really cool to see.

And for you personally, how wearying was that high tempo response?

Yeah, so at the time, none of us really realised. So we had a really good, once again, we've got a great exec team, and they quickly put in place a rotation system. So we were in the Hawke's Bay for an intense maybe three to five days, and then we'd tap back to Ohakea for a bit of respite. And so once we were over there, it was just day to day, we were just getting on with the job. And, and it was, it's great. We've got a huge network back here to help families going on back here as well. But we were able to just fully focus on the job in the Hawke's Bay. My husband and I, actually was Valentine's Day, and we landed and it was dark. And I think about midnight, we were able to talk about what he saw, what I saw. And I think that was really key that you needed to talk to someone because no one could actually comprehend the extent of what we had seen. We haven't been to a war zone, but a lot of people likened it to that, that just this destruction was next level. So we absolutely needed to talk about that to keep chugging along.

Just picking up on that family element, you're often called out last minute and can be away from home for long periods. How does your family handle that, and the fact that you're sometimes in quite dangerous situations?

Yeah, so really, really lucky. I've got my parents in Palmerston North. So they're quite helpful if we get caught out short notice, they will sort out our dogs, we've got dog, and sheep and goats, as well as some cats. So there's a little bit of stuff that has to happen behind the scenes. But luckily, I got called out. My husband was already over there. And I just rang mum as I was going to pack my bag and said, can you please sort out the animals. We have an amazing kennels and they seem to stand up whenever it's needed. It does seem to happen a bit, where we call on them short notice. But then everyone's on the squadron and on the base has got family, sorry, I need to say that again - everyone on the base would help out as required. So I've called on my workmates, I've called on my friends and my parents to help.

And it must be, it must make a huge difference having a husband who does the same thing as you, just you both understand what each other's going through.

Yeah, definitely. It has way more pros than it has cons definitely.

Good to know. At any moment, did you both or yourself even just personally get a chance to reflect on what you had achieved with this response?

We didn't really realise it until I read kind of finished, it was about three weeks, I think where we were in the region. And it was, we were just working towards that after the fact we sort of pieced together the statistics of what was done in that time. And that was that was quite good to reflect on.

You've said about never being in a situation like that before and seeing that level of destruction. How did the work that you did during that Cyclone Gabrielle response compared to other search and rescue throughout your career?

So I was involved in that the floods in Christchurch I think in 2021 where we rescued three people. So very similar conditions however, that was night time. And it was obviously only three but they were quite tricky rescues and then this this was just a much greater scale. And the destruction here was heartbreaking. This is the first time that I've spoken to the victims or that many victims and kind of got their stories and and I think it just played on everyone's mind. Like, we live in a similar area, it could happen to us. And you could see how people would band together and you kind of put yourselves in their shoes. And it was quite heartbreaking to see.

An offshore deployment that you're involved in in 2019 was responding to the deadly bushfires in Australia. At least 34 people were killed during that. What part did you play in that response?

Yeah, so we took three helicopters to Australia, we based at in Narra, near Sydney, and we were there to provide any support they required. But essentially, we were taking in supplies via our underslung load, or taking in teams to recce the fire or contain the fire. So we saw some huge damage, there was once again a hard thing to comprehend from New Zealand, seeing it on the news. And then when you actually saw it in real life, you realise how hard it is for the people of Australia dealing with that?

What was that like, being in the air? What could you see around you?

Yeah, so pretty much we were flying, you could just see, everywhere you could see was charred. It was you could see how fast the fire went through. I also saw a unfortunate family where we took police to where a Firenado had gone in. And I've never even comprehended what a Firenado was. But you could see the destruction, you could see vehicles strewn across their farmland. And we ended up having to take some fuel for generators near a fire. And yeah, that air is thick and smoky and it's almost like nighttime. So it was pretty crazy.

How difficult is it to fly in those sort of conditions?

Yeah, it's pretty difficult. We've got a lot of skills, I guess, up our sleeve, especially with the aircraft, so we can fly on instruments. But it was the thing that was challenging about the fires, it was so changeable, one minute, you'd be in clear air. And then next, you'd be in some smoke,...

Is that quite scary?

Once again, I think you just focus on flying, we've got the tools and the kit and the crew and you trust each other and the aircraft. And you are sort of in control at that point, putting the aircraft where you want it to be. But it's definitely scary to think how fast it can change. And it gave me an insight as to why people try and protect their properties, and how it can go pear shaped so fast. And it's a really hard decision. I don't know what I would do if I was in the shoes.

Nicole, thank you very much for your time today. We really appreciate it. We'll end with one final reflection. What's one experience in your Air Force career so far that you think will stay with you? And why is that?

That's a tricky one. I have done some incredible things. And I would say to this point, it would be this Cyclone Gabrielle for sure. That was really rewarding. And it was awesome to see everyone not just the air crew come together. We needed a huge amount of support. Everyone just pitched in, civilians as well. And it was awesome to see everyone working together for the common goal.

This podcast is a production of the New Zealand Defence Force. We're your hosts Mitchell Alexander and Alex Mason. We'd like to thank our guests for sharing their stories. If you need to talk to someone, you'll find details for support services in the show notes. We welcome your feedback on this podcast. contact us via email podcast@nzdf.mil.nz - haere ra.