Aerial Agricultural Services
Your Leading Agricultural Service Provider
Queenstown & Wanaka
Alpine Helicopters is comprised of a team of experienced pilots who provide a variety of agricultural services throughout the Southern Lakes region. We work closely with local councils, government departments, FENZ, roading contractors, horticulturalists, growers and farmers across the lower south.
Alpine Helicopters has an aviation heritage that dates back to 1963 when company founder Sir Tim Wallis pioneered the use of helicopters for backcountry access and heli skiing. Our local knowledge, as well as strong family traditions, makes Alpine Helicopters the ideal partner for all of your agricultural needs throughout the Southern Lakes, Central Otago, Fiordland and Mt Cook regions. While our main bases are located in Wanaka and Queenstown, we regularly operate remotely in nearby regions throughout New Zealand.
Our Services Include:
Spraying:
We can cater for high water volume requiring brush weeds to liquid fertilisers and low volume fungicide and insecticide applications. With a broad range of different nozzles we can cater for any application requirements. Utilising Tracmap GPS system with TracMap online, Alpine Helicopters can provide the client with proof of placement data as well as on-farm notifications and job completion alerts.
Fertiliser Application:
Fertiliser application by way of aircraft prevents damage to valuable crops and avoids soil compaction and cross-contamination between blocks and other farms. This gives farmers the ability to get more production out of steep inaccessible terrain, and cover crops and flatter terrain more efficiently. We have modern fertiliser application equipment that can be easily adjusted to deliver a broad range of application rates. Included in our dry product application offerings is a pivot steer loader with calibrated load cells enabling us to deliver an accurate load into the fertiliser bucket consistently and quickly.
Seeding:
Not unlike fertiliser application, seeding by way of helicopter allows an efficient means of covering large areas quickly and affordably. Perfect for steep terrain, wet conditions or worked ground. Applications can vary from a heavy sow rate to a light sow rate depending on product type, be it legumes or grass seed.
Wilding pine tree control:
Alpine Helicopters undertakes wilding pine control throughout the Otago, South Canterbury, McKenzie and Southland regions. The types of control methods implemented by Alpine Helicopters include Aerial Foliar Spray Application for large dense wilding conifer infestations in difficult to access terrain. Aerial Basal Bark Application which involves chemically ring barking trees using a wand to apply herbicide from a helicopter. It is the most efficient way to control scattered wildings in difficult access terrain or within high-value vegetation. Skid hopping is also utilised as a control measure where trained ground crews are dropped into remote areas with required tools to fell larger trees where chemicals can be less effective. We make use of our belly-mounted cargo pods to enable safe and quick access of tools and chainsaws.
Crop Protection
Fire lighting & control
Utilising Tracmap Online, our team provides a streamlined solution for mapping and job handling between pilots and clients promising transparency and efficiency.