Parachute training unit turns 50

The Royal New Zealand Air Force's Parachute Training Support Unit joined with past and present associates of the unit at RNZAF Base Auckland to celebrate 50 years of unit operation.

Chief of Air Force Air Vice-Marshal (AVM) Mike Yardley says 'PTSU provides parachute training for New Zealand Defence Force personnel from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and the men and women of PTSU have done a great job over the past 50 years providing a range of training.


Air Force parachute training personnel jumping from a C-130H Hercules over RNZAF Base Auckland.

'Our Navy and Air Force aircrew personnel are trained to use parachutes in the event of an emergency, and the unit also provides a capability which allows our Army to deploy soldiers into areas by parachute.”

Mike says a good recent example of the usefulness of this capability is the Cyclone Pam disaster relief operation in Vanuatu where tandem parachute jumps were an option available to rapidly deploy members of the Joint Reconnaissance Team if airfields had been inaccessible.

'From basic conventional static line parachuting to specialised free fall and stand-off parachuting, PTSU covers the whole gambit of parachute training for the NZDF.

'As a world leader, the RNZAF's PTSU was the first military unit to introduce Ram Air or ‘square' parachutes into service, and the members of the unit work closely with other parachuting experts, and have recently returned from training in the United States.”

The members of the popular Kiwi Blue Parachute Display Team are drawn from the ranks of the unit and have performed all around the world including a memorable jump with Australia's Red Berets parachute team into the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Anzac Day 2008.

Prior to the establishment of the unit in the 1950s, the NZ Special Air Service undertook parachute training with British instructors in Singapore, and between 1960 and 1964 parachute training was undertaken in Australia and with the Auckland Parachute Club.

The PTSU anniversary coincides with 50 years of operational service by the Air Force's C-130H(NZ) Hercules which is the platform used for NZDF parachute operations.

You may also like....

0 comments

Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.