John Funnell MBE is one of New Zealand's best-known and longest-serving helicopter pilots. One of the pioneers of helicopter search and rescue, John has been involved with countless high-profile rescues and mercy missions over the past 49 years, including the Rena salvage and the disastrous Boxing Day tsunami in Banda Aceh in 2004. He received the New Zealand Bravery Medal for his daring rescue in 1992 of a MetService employee critically injured in a shark attack on remote Campbell Island, some 700km south of New Zealand. John lives in Taupo.
