Flying in packages as you sleep

Ready to deliver: Captains Roger Williams, left, and Tim Sullivan in the Fokker F-27, which moves the region's courier packages overnight.

We may hear them coming, but their wives can smell them.

The 3am pilots at times carry a memorable load out of Blenheim, says Captain Tim Sullivan.

"We carry a lot of the locally produced garlic and when we get home our wives think we have been eating it. One and a half tonnes is a lot of garlic.

"You know when you're carrying fish as well."

Tim flies the trusty Fokker F-27 freight plane – colloquially known by residents as the mail plane – along with fellow captains Roger Williams, Jerry Chisum and First Officer Mike Hyson. They work for Express Couriers Ltd and deliver courier packages for the top of the South Island five nights a week.

The pilots work in pairs, flying three to four nights a week. They leave Blenheim about 9pm, dropping packages in Wellington, Auckland and Palmerston North, and land back in Blenheim with a fresh load at about 3am.

The plane carries 6 1/2 tonnes of cargo and businesses can charter any spare space leading to some interesting loads. Roger, an ex- air force pilot, fell in love with Marlborough while working at Woodbourne Air Force Base in 2001 and moved back to Renwick in 2008.

He was flying passenger planes, but moved to freight flying this year to have more time for his young family.

"I came here so I can be home after school," he said.

Tim has been flying planes since 1978 and moved to Marlborough nine years ago from the United States. He enjoys the area so much he is hoping to come back for weekends when his job moves to Auckland to fly a 737-300F in September.

Night flying required a lot of hard work, but from fellow pilots down to the crew refuelling the night flying community, all help each other along. Having no uniform was a big bonus, but they couldn't get too relaxed, Tim said.

"We did have a pilot that turned up once in jandals and I had to send him home."

Getting used to the night shifts was hard initially, but it was a lifestyle choice being free during daylight hours, he said.

"We may work nights, but we have seven days off every week and get paid for that."

They do their utmost to keep the packages on time and were only late a handful of times a year, said Roger.

"If your package is late, blame Auckland," Tim joked. In reality, the planes only stopped when it was unsafe and only three things ever made them late, he said.

"Weather, weather and weather".

Although the sound of their engines wakes some Blenheim residents at 3am, Roger said they cut their noise levels as much as possible, by flying at minimum power.

"Unfortunately that's the only time of the day we can fly if everyone wants their courier package today."

Although their plane, a 1985 model, was getting old, Tim said its age meant it could also be treat for residents who wake to it.

"The noise of that Rolls Royce Dart engine is a noise that won't be around much longer and it's a beautiful noise, a beautiful noise. When the wind is right you can hear us, but it's 90 seconds that you know you've got your package."

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz