Airport/Airfield Grass Mowing and Control

The Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand was back in a tractor on August 28th, when he presided as Guest of Honour at the official handover ceremony of Auckland Airport’s world-first super-fast airport mower. City Parks Services, the airport’s maintenance contractor, had found the wet boggy conditions at much of the Mangere site (which is close to sea level) often defeated conventional mowing equipment, especially with such a vast area, large parts of which are only accessible for brief periods due to planes taking off and landing. In response, Pukekohe-based, NZ-owned Fieldmaster, the country’s leading manufacturer of agricultural mowers, slashers and toppers, developed a machine which can cut over 60,000 square metres per hour and do so with the same ground pressure as a man (approx 7 Psi).

The Deputy Prime Minister spoke in a line-up that included Auckland Airport Chief Executive Adrian Littlewood, City Parks Services Operations Manager Mike Tucker and Fieldmaster Director Paul Ayers. Following the blessing of the machine with a karakia, the DPM had a trial at the machine controls, then attended the reception hosted by Auckland Airport.

Grass control is a fundamental part of airport habitat management worldwide, which is critical to aviation safety by helping to prevent bird strike. Cutting the grass with the right frequency, to the right height, plays a vital role in keeping birds away from the runway.  Following onsite trialling the machine has been accepted into full-time service by City Parks, and Auckland Airport is delighted with the quality of cut and all-weather availability of the machine.  “We are a 24 hour operation, with over 400 planes using our runway every day, meaning that large parts of the airfield are only accessible for brief periods of time.  This means that finding the time to mow 200,000 square metres of grass is a feat unto itself and requires some very time-efficient equipment” stated Littlewood.

The machine uses a (patent applied for) ground-following system to control the three carbon-fibre decks as it cuts at twenty kilometres an hour, three or four times faster than traditional equipment. The core power unit is a lightweight Austrian mountain tractor which the DPM was eager to drive after a long time at a desk rather than controlling machinery. With the support of Callahan Innovation, the government’s R&D funding body, Fieldmaster developed a hydraulic cutting system which could handle the speed, high cut height and need to finely shred the cut particles.

Fieldmaster is owned by New Zealand investment syndicate Challenge Partners which invests in NZ businesses supporting our productive or extractive industries. “This was a problem no one else in the world could solve, and from here in Pukekohe, we built a machine that did what no-one thought could be done.” Ayers said.  Two other operators have already requested quotes for the machine and Fieldmaster and Callahan Innovation anticipate a healthy export market, creating jobs for New Zealanders, supporting our balance of payments and showing Kiwi ingenuity to the world.