Hank Sproull - A Hankering To Go Higher
Growing up in Te Anau from the age of two, Hank Sproull, who’s just celebrated 50 years in aviation, was fascinated by light aircraft and hangars from a very young age.
Tourism was in the blood with his dad operating a tourist launch on Lake Te Anau, but young Hank gravitated to the Te Anau Airstrip across the road from his primary school, hanging out with southern aviation greats like Bill Black, Gary Cruickshank and Ian Ritchie. “They took me flying in de Havilland Dominies, Cessna 180s and their Tiger Moth.” He would later learn to fly himself, as an aircraft engineer, in exchange for doing a maintenance overhaul on that Tiger Moth in Queenstown for Mount Cook Company director Owen Marshall, a World War II RNZAF flight instructor. Wakatipu Aero Club head instructor, the legendary Jim Jefferies, also taught Hank to fly privately and commercially.
The move to Queenstown for an aircraft engineering apprenticeship at Frankton Aerodrome in 1972 provided excellent grounding, gaining extensive qualifications to certify planes. Flying lessons took a back seat for a few years while Hank pursued his passion of Motocross which he excelled at. He reached the top echelon for New Zealand, also racing in the Mr Motocross Series in Australia in 1977, which led to meeting his Aussie wife of 44 years, Kerrie.
Hank gained his commercial pilot’s licence in 1986 while working as an aircraft engineer for Mount Cook, graduating to part-time flying on its flightseeing routes, working there for 27 years. Milford Sound, as now, was the jewel of the crown.
In 1997 Mount Cook sold out to THL/Real Journeys joint venture and Hank left, teaming up with local farmer Dave Bunn, who had an Air Operators Certificate. With one Cessna each, they formed Air Milford in 1998, with Hank and Kerrie buying the Bunns out in 2000. “It was very hard going in the early days. We had to come up with a formula to beat the established operators.” They threw in small boat cruises at Milford, bush walks, coffee, tea and muffins, personalised service. It worked. The Japanese, Americans and Australians loved it.
With just a team of four they bought the first Cessna Caravan turboprop aircraft in 2005. “Nobody else in the area had one so we were pioneers.” However, it was a calculated punt, having to secure a loan of $1.25m from UDC Finance. It was hard work trying to pay that back for the first two years but Hank says in the first year business doubled with that aeroplane.
Always an opportunist, Hank put on special flights from Queenstown out off the coast of Dunedin to see the massive spectacle of icebergs in November 2006, and the Kiwis and Aussies flocked on board. “That was a real shot in our arm.”
In 2013 they bought a second Caravan with youngest son Antony, by then qualified, flying it home with ferry pilots from Greece. Air Milford now flies four of these quiet, environmentally sustainable 14-seaters, equipped with state-of-the-art systems and has never looked back.
It’s not surprising that Hank’s eldest son Simon also builds jet engines for Airbus in Christchurch.
Hank and Kerrie once flew all around New Zealand and Australia privately and have travelled extensively in the United States and beyond.
Motorbikes, e-bikes and music continue to be a huge part of Hank’s life. He and Kerrie enjoyed three, 24,000km Harley tours around the States with Dennis Deavoll’s Motorsickle Tours.
Hank says he’s been blessed to have an accident-free company. However, he’s had a couple of close calls flying with others at the controls – one out in bear country in Alaska where the pilot crash landed in bush on a remote riverbed, another crashing into the Shotover River on Branches Station. The Alaskan guys flying in to rescue them were all armed with rifles to shoot the bears that Hank had been assured were unlikely to come around.
Ironically though he’s more concerned about dangling 2438m above the ground in a Palm Springs 20-seat gondola, as he had to once with the family in the US, than he is being in control of a plane.
With 25 years’ volunteer service in the Frankton Fire Brigade from 1980, Hank’s seen many a tragedy he’d rather forget, particularly motor vehicle accidents. There were fun times too like the practise drill nights at Queenstown Airport when firefighter Geoffrey Toms put his foot on a freshly doused 44-gallon drum that had just been alight with jet fuel. “It rolled over sending flames igniting up his leg. We doused him down extra well. He wasn’t happy,” grins Hank.
Air Milford’s always had a big heart, generously donating trips for all manner of causes, digging deep when a lift is needed. Staff have enjoyed Christmas parties, flown into Martin’s Bay where Hank provided entertainment on his trusty guitar. Hank’s been spicing up the music for years at St Andrew’s Church and livened up the hangar at his 50 years flying celebration in October with Chuck Berry’s hit ‘My Ding-a-Ling’. “That LP was thrashed when I flatted at the ‘Academy of Fine Living’ in Stewart Street with Barry Small and Gordon Baker.”
