Our Journey to Excellence: Ian Frazer

Early aviation experience

Ian Frazer began his true aviation career in Hamilton with Alexander Pacific Ltd, working on Iroquois and Sioux helicopters for the New Zealand Air Force. His work involved removing the engine and main transmission, all the fuel tanks, carrying out a full paint strip of the entire helicopter, replacing delaminated Honeycomb panels, repairing and manufacturing small brackets and fittings, painting, and countless hours of riveting panels back into place.

All the Iroquois helicopters, following repairs, were repainted in a three-colour camouflage scheme. On one occasion, when the main painter reported sick, Ian and two colleagues volunteered to complete the job. Ian manned the spray gun, one colleague mixed the paint, and another moved the stands—by 2 a.m., the job was finished, with excellent results!

Ian was also involved in repairing Hiller 12E MRBs, including paint stripping, repairing, painting, and static balancing. He was eventually invited to work in the component overhaul shop—a role that would define his career. He worked on components for the Hiller 12E, Hughes (MD) 500C and 500D, and Bell 47 helicopters. Notably, Alexander Pacific was among the first companies to import the R22 helicopter, and Ian contributed to its assembly.

A new chapter

In 1983, Ian left Alexander Pacific Ltd and, on 2 May 1983, joined Airwork (now Salus Aviation) under Chief Engineer/Manager for Helicopters Dean Yeoman, who had moved from APL in 1979 to start the helicopter engineering workshop at Airwork Ardmore. Component work continued on Hughes 500C and D models, and the team began work on AS350 components. Everything then was Aerospatiale, later becoming Eurocopter, now Airbus. Ian recalls, at that time, from memory, Airwork had nine engineers and four administration staff—a lot has changed since then.

In 1984, Ian worked on his first AS350, registration ZK-HST. His work was split between maintenance and component work, though he soon realized he preferred component overhaul work—a passion he continues to pursue, albeit now from behind a desk. Types worked on included the Hiller 12E, MD500 series, Bell 47, Bell 206, AS350, AS355, and BK117 helicopters. Maintenance in the hangar was handled by Jeff O’Sullivan, and in 1985, Russell Goulden took over the Helicopter Maintenance Manager role from Dean.

Building BK117 capability

The business acquired several BK117 helicopters in the late 1980s and early 1990s, marking the beginning of deeper in-house capability development. In 2002, Ian travelled to ZF in Germany with colleague Russell Goulden to complete specialised training on the main, tail, and intermediate gearboxes. On their return, they developed the tooling and worksheets required to support full disassembly, reassembly, and testing. Ian later returned to ZF in 2014 for refresher training alongside Ivan Mudrovcich. In 2023 Ian qualified as a Technical Instructor on the BK117 MGB after completing training at the KHI facility in Japan.

Since then, Salus Aviation’s BK117 main gearbox overhaul capability has gone from strength to strength, with Ian playing a key role in its development.

Today, that foundation continues as the focus shifts toward supporting the next generation of BK117 gearboxes, including the D2 and D3.

International highlights

Some of Ian’s career highlights include traveling internationally with the BK117 mast spacer kit. One trip to Papua New Guinea along with Jason Simmons and Sean Coleman, involved flying in a Twin Otter at 10,000 feet above the clouds, occasionally dropping through holes in the clouds so the pilots could see where they were - a necessary precaution, they were told, due to local attacks on navigation aids.

He also visited Taiwan, expecting to go to Taipei airport for the mast spacer inspection, instead he was put on a plane to a military airport an hour and a half south of Taipei, to an airport operated by the military where jet fighters were manned, armed and sitting under concrete bunkers ready to go to war with China if the need arose - photography strictly prohibited!

Two trips to Hamilton Island, Australia, were far less dramatic!

Licences and leadership

Ian earned his Major and Minor licences in 1992 and completed rating courses on the SA365, Bell 222, AS350, AS355, BK117 Arriel engine, and LTS 101. He became the Component Overhaul Shop Manager in 2000, a role he held until 2020, when he was appointed Chief Engineer under Peter Van Wyk, overseeing the overhaul, turbine, NDT, and hoist shops. His new role took on compliance, safety, and procedure duties.

Four decades of people and memories

In 40 years and counting, Ian has witnessed many colleagues come and go, with events from extremely exciting to the very sad, including the collision of a police helicopter with a light traffic control fixed wing aircraft over Auckland city. Ian personally knew those involved, including Alan Conners, the fixed wing pilot, who had worked for Ian in the component overhaul shop.

It was also at work that Ian met his wife, Anita, who at the time was Hugh Jones’ PA.

A lifelong passion for vintage aircraft

A passion for vintage aircraft runs in Ian’s family. His father, a Chief Engineer at a vintage aircraft flying museum in the UK, maintained aircraft ranging from the 1909 Blériot (the first aircraft to cross the English Channel in 1910) to the World War II Spitfire. School holidays and Summer flying days were unforgettable experiences.

In 1973, Ian’s family moved to New Zealand and his father became Curator of Aviation at MOTAT. At 14, Ian became a volunteer at MOTAT, restoring a DH Tiger Moth to static display—a project he completed at 21. The aircraft still hangs in the MOTAT Meola Road Aviation Hangar.

Today, Ian owns his own Tiger Moth and has been restoring it to flying condition—a project set to be completed on Thursday!

Ian was proudly awarded the AIANZ ServiceIQ Industry Award for Aviation Engineering in 2026, recognising his outstanding contribution to the aviation industry.