![\"RNZAF](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/NZ-NH90-3000-Hours-1-460x259.jpg\")
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An NH90 TTH helicopter of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) became the first of the type to complete 3,000 flight hours, the service said in a Sep. 7, 2026 release<\/a>. The service said the feat was achieved \u201cthis week\u201d and later mentioned \u201con Wednesday,\u201d although the official photos and Airbus\u2019 press release<\/a> mention Aug. 26, 2026 as the correct date (which by the way was on Wednesday).<\/p>\n The helicopter was conducting a \u201cnormal test flight between RNZAF Base Ohakea and the coastline,\u201d when the \u201cclock ticked over the 3,000-hour mark,\u201d the statement said. RNZAF Base Ohakea is the home of No. 3 Squadron, which operates the service\u2019s eight NH90s.<\/p>\n The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) No. 3 Squadron reached a very significant milestone. At the end of August 2026, aircraft TNZA002 officially became the world\u2019s first NH90 to surpass 3,000 flight hours. \u2014 Airbus Helicopters (@AirbusHeli) September 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The RNZAF NH90s have logged over 20,000 flying hours, a significant achievement for the service\u2019s small fleet and a type that has otherwise seen mostly poor service records with nearly all of its users \u2013 including neighbour Australia. The RNZAF has not only boasted impressive maintainability and availability records of its NH90s, as the type aircraft has also been on a long-distance flight record breaking spree since 2025 under Kiwi hands.<\/p>\n In September 2025<\/a> according to Defense News<\/em>, two RNZAF NH90s flew a two-day 1,765-mile distance over water between Australia and New Zealand. This feat surpassed another over-water record achieved just a month prior, when two RNZAF NH90s flew between two countries for the first time, journeying 453 nautical miles from Cairns in Australia to Papua New Guinea, the service reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n The press release quoted NH90 Flight Commander Squadron Leader Lachie Johnston, who credited the \u201csmall team\u201d of maintainers, supply chains and fleet planners who put in long days to keep the helicopters flying. The release also mentioned the team lead from Airbus for the NH90 program, Patrick Power, who \u201chas worked continuously on the platform since its introduction.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe squadron relies on detailed maintenance planning to ensure maximum economies and efficiencies to provide the highest number of flying hours for the airframes. The early members of the project team put systems in place that are still bearing fruit to this day,\u201d Johnston added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnston referred to the over water flight between Australia and New Zealand, when two RNZAF No. 3 Squadron NH90s flew the 1,765-mile journey via Norfolk Island. In the record-breaking journey, the two NH90s carried 1,100 lb (500 kg) of external fuel tanks, and flew from Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Amberley, near Brisbane.<\/p>\n The RNZAF release quoted one of the pilots, Flight Lieutenant Hayley Vincent, who said the two 500 kg external fuel made for a \u201cdifferent silhouette\u201d. An extra internal gas tank was also fitted, but that fuel was not required.<\/p>\n The unique flight was given an international Kiwi call-sign instead of the Warrior call-sign used for national flights. Both aircraft landed safely home at RNZAF Base Ohakea Sep. 30. The longest leg of the trip, 660 miles, took around four and a half hours.<\/p>\n The Squadron first trained for the feat with a \u201ca long-range flight from RNZAF Base Ohakea to Invercargill.\u201d Vincent said they generated a \u201cfuel graph\u201d to predict the amount of fuel burned at various waypoints with the aircraft weights, helping accurately track consumption during the flight.<\/p>\n Those calculations helped in the Australia to Papua New Guinea flight, where storms often gather in the afternoons around Port Moresby. Kiwi NH90s have been previously transported to Australia from the latter\u2019s C-17 Globemaster IIIs.<\/p>\n The RNZAF NH90s had also just concluded a successful deployment to Exercise Talisman Sabre in Australia, before they were sent to Papua New Guinea for the country\u2019s 50th Independence Day celebrations.<\/p>\n Fully operational since 2015, the NH90 helicopters completely replaced the Bell UH-1H Iroquois. The RNZAF operated 16-17 UH-1s, which were initially delivered between 1966 and 1976 as the UH-1D and were subsequently upgraded to the H variant in the 1970s.<\/p>\n The RNZAF also lists a series of multi-utility roles for the NH90, ranging from core military tactical combat support for other services like the Army, to civilian functionalities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe NH90\u2019s central role is to provide tactical air mobility operations for our Defence Force,\u201d said the press release. \u201cThis includes support to special operations, casualty evacuation, and movement of troops and equipment. Additionally, the NH90 provides a range of support services to government agencies including search and rescue, police operations, disaster relief, and counter-terrorism response.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n NEWS || Today we\u2019ve sent the first of our three @NZAirForce<\/a> NH90 helicopters on an @AusAirForce<\/a> C-17 Globemaster aircraft to undertake transport tasks to support @DeptDefence<\/a>\u2019s efforts in tackling the #AustralianBushfires<\/a>. \u2014 NZ Defence Force (@NZDefenceForce) January 6, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The latest release mentions HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster relief) deployments RNZAF NH90s have served in since 2011-2012, like the\u00a0 Kaik\u014dura earthquake and Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle.<\/p>\n In May 2026<\/a>, while reporting on seven of the No. 3 Squadron\u2019s eight NH90s flying over Manawat\u016b in a \u201crare formation flight,\u201d the RNZAF claimed its fleet clocked 18,250 flying hours and an availability rate of 70%. \u201cNo. 3 Squadron maintainers have an enviable international reputation of having the highest NH90 serviceability rate in the world,\u201d the service said.<\/p>\n It credited the successful flight to a combination of \u201chard work\u201d by the maintainers, and \u201cstars aligning\u201d with the coincidental availability of all the aircrew and the benching of only one aircraft for maintenance. The service also said its NH90 fleet is the first in the world to have received \u201cupdated software with improved navigation and radio features,\u201d which the maintainers \u201ccompleted well before deadline.\u201d<\/p>\n NEWS \u2014 NZ Defence Force (@NZDefenceForce) May 30, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The RNZAF in May 2025<\/a> listed the Saturn \u201csecure [\u2026] inter-aircraft communications system\u201d and a New Zealand Civil Aviation-compliant aircraft identification system called the ADS-B OUT, as components of the software and equipment upgrade. The entire upgrade for the full fleet of eight NH90s took four weeks, in what would have been three years, had they been transported to the NH Industries facilities in Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n The RNZAF went for an in-house maintenance at RNZAF Base Ohakea itself, while successfully \u201csecuring equipment from an Australian Defence Force\u2019s retired NH90.\u201d This meant \u201cmodifications to New Zealand\u2019s NH90 fleet could be done without grounding the fleet, allowing for the whole upgrade project of eight aircraft to be completed in just four weeks.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Australia, which operated 46 NH90 airframes designated the MRH-90 Taipan (Multi-Role Helicopter) since 2008, retired them a decade ahead of schedule. The helicopters faced recurring engine failures and maintenance issues. In August 2022, Canberra approved the purchase of 40 UH-60M Black Hawks to replace the Taipan.<\/p>\n Our @NZAirForce<\/a> NH90 helicopter crew transported Prime Minister @jacindaardern<\/a> to Ashburton this morning to assess the region\u2019s flooding, and to speak with local leaders.<\/p>\n Support from our Defence Force in the Canterbury communities is still ongoing.#Force4NZ<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/HfP6Tf7fly<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NZ Defence Force (@NZDefenceForce) June 1, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Other users like Norway<\/a>, Finland, Sweden<\/a> and Belgium too don\u2019t have a pleasant experience with their NH90s. France however remains a largely satisfied user, commencing the gradual induction of 18 NH90 Standard 2<\/a> helicopters, dedicated to special operations.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Royal New Zealand Air Force has achieved impressive availability rates with its NH90 fleet, and one of its helicopters has now become the first NH90 in the world to surpass 3,000 flight hours. An NH90 TTH helicopter of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) became the first of the type to complete 3,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nDive into the story! ![\"\ud83d\udc49\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f449.png\")
https:\/\/t.co\/nQ0m0HlYJc<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/sTTV5RJgC8<\/a><\/p>\nRNZAF NH90 records <\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/NZ-NH90-3000-Hours-2-706x388.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/NZ-NH90-3000-Hours-3-706x388.jpg\")
<\/a>RNZAF NH90s<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\n#Force4Good<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ilENR2CvFi<\/a><\/p>\nA maintenance success<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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![\"\ud83d\udce2\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f4e2.png\")
The crew of our @NZAirForce<\/a> NH90 helicopter rescued three people from floods in the Ashburton area overnight. A man was rescued from a tree surrounded by floodwater & an elderly couple were rescued from a car roof.<\/p>\n![\"\ud83d\udcf8\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f4f8.png\")
File photo#Force4NZ<\/a> #CanterburyFloods<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/9pQODRS0Vj<\/a><\/p>\n\n