Airborne

In the decades after WWll, introduced deer had become major high country pests, and they were culled in their thousands. By the 1960s entrepreneurs were recovering the meat for export, then later live capturing animals for farming stock, using helicopters. This 1980 National Film Unit documentary follows pilots Norm Kensington and Doug Maxwell on a mission in Fiordland: flying low over imposing mountains, nabbing a deer with a net gun, then ferrying it down the valley hanging from the chopper. Directed by Chris Dillon, the wordless film is scored by Chris Cree Brown. 

I never thought I would get to 30 years old and then I never thought I’d get to 40. Then when you get to 40, you want to get to 50.

– Pilot Doug Maxwell, in a January 2017 North＆South article on deer culling

Key Cast & Crew

Chris Cree Brown

Composer

Chris Dillon

Director

Tom Williamson

Producer

Ross Chambers

Editor

David Keene

Sound

Bayly Watson

Camera