About

Chief Pilot

Highland Helicopters chief pilot and company CEO Paul Williams has close to 5000 flying hours’ experience. About 2300 hours are in the agricultural sector. Paul’s experience includes agricultural spraying, bucket work, fire fighting, frost fighting, long-lining, high altitude operations and passenger transport. He also has experience flying Heli logging operations.

Isle of Man TT 400 lightweight class winner, 1998 & 1999

A young Paul, qualified as an A Grade mechanic, moved from Dunedin to Japan in 1994 to work for a major exporter of second-hand motorcycles. He spent the next six years as a professional rider, winning the Isle of Man TT 400 lightweight class in 1998 and 1999.

Stats:

1998 – Start position #2, First 400cc and 7th overall
1999 – Start position #1, First 400cc, Fastest qualifier and fastest race lap with a race time of 1hr 23m and 109.01mph average

The transition to helicopter pilot

Recognising motorbike racing was unlikely to carry him through his working life, Paul took his first trial helicopter flight in 1998. He used his racing prize money to fund his commercial pilots licence, which he gained in 2001.

Paul was on his way to America to fly helicopters, when 9/11 happened. He instead returned to New Zealand and, from 2002, spent five years as helicopter ground crew and an air transport pilot, before moving back into the pilot’s seat full time for five years, working in agriculture, commercial and air transport operations.

Papua New Guinea

From 2012 to 2014, Paul was a pilot for Hevilift in Papua New Guinea. Tasks included long-lining drill rigs and base supplies, air transport, plantation payroll drops and frequent medevac operations. It was in PNG that he honed his long-line skills.

Paul returned to New Zealand in 2014, working in agriculture and commercial operations, before he and his wife Kirsty established Highland Helicopters in 2016.

Long-lining in PNG

This clip shows Paul working at 9000ft DA (density altitude) positioning a 150ft line to pick up the top end of a drill rig mast during drill disassembly.

Watch video of Paul long-lining in PNG

Approach to flying

Paul was always a strategic racer – physically and mentally fit and calculating in his approach to a race. This high awareness of risk is a quality he has brought across to his career as a helicopter pilot.

Paul’s time in Papua New Guinea further cemented his focus on practical health and safety measures. His employer’s risk management processes were world-class and Highland Helicopters works to an equally robust and sensible health, safety and risk policy.

General Manager

Highland Helicopters co-owner Kirsty Williams is responsible for the “backroom” work that keeps the operation humming. Kirsty is the General Manager, Safety Manager and Office Administrator.

Kirsty also grew up in Dunedin – in Portobello on the Otago Peninsula. She studied at Otago University from 1990 to 1996, graduating with a Masters in Zoology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Wildlife Management.

After university, Kirsty volunteered in Namibia as a research assistant, before returning to Dunedin to work as an environmental consultant. In 2001, Kirsty became a qualified massage therapist. In recent years, she has focused on raising the couple’s children.

With the establishment of Highland Helicopters, Kirsty’s great people skills, high levels of organisation and attention to detail see her fill the business management and office support roles comfortably.