Rescue Pilot

The daring adventures of a New Zealand search and rescue pilot.

'Somewhere, up ahead, a person is bleeding, but you have to put that out of your mind. Your job is negotiating with time and space. You have your clock, that person has their own, and in the end, whether the rate at which your clock is clicking matches theirs is out of your control.'

John Funnell is one of New Zealand's longest serving search and rescue pilots. Often referred to as a 'search and rescue daredevil', John has just retired after an incredible 49 years flying search and rescue helicopters. He is perhaps best-known for the 800-kilometre mission to save a scientist attacked by a shark on the remote sub-Antarctic Campbell Island, when he set off into the night knowing the distance was twice that of the helicopter's normal fuel range.

Clocking an incredible 19,000 hours of flight time, John is a hero to hundreds of victims all over New Zealand. What's more, he's a natural-born story-teller, and his stories in Rescue Pilot are utterly gripping.