BENTON, Aaron Douglas

Flight Lieutenant, Royal New Zealand Air Force

CITATION

New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration

Queen's Birthday Honours List 2012

Squadron Leader Benton (then in the rank of flight lieutenant) was serving with No 5 Squadron in September 2010, when a request

was received to prepare an aircraft for a winter aero-medical evacuation from Antarctica. As an experienced P-3K Orion instructor

pilot, he was called on to undertake this mission. The patient, an American working at McMurdo Station, was seriously ill and in

need of specialist medical care. The Orion left Christchurch to begin the mission on Sunday 12 September, with weather conditions

expected to deteriorate approximately four hours after the aircraft’s scheduled departure from Antarctica.  However over the space

of 15 minutes during the flight south, separate observations showed increasingly blizzard like conditions. He therefore made the

decision to turn back. After two days, the weather cleared and a successful landing was made. Faced with an outside temperature

of minus 47 degree Celsius, he had a number of factors relating to crew safety to consider when operating in such a harsh and

unfamiliar environment. Functions such as loading the patient, refuelling, starting, taxiing and take-off all had to be carefully

planned and executed, as well as contingencies for aircraft technical issues and emergencies. His planning and attention to detail

ensured that the aircraft and crew remained safe at all times, despite operating at the extremes of both human and equipment

performance.

KNOWN AWARDS

New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration

NOTES

Born

Died

Buried

THE PRO PATRIA PROJECT