Flight Path

This is not a hero story.

It's the story of a bloke who kept turning up.

From a nervous volunteer in a mismatched uniform to an Intensive Care Flight Paramedic, Carey Dobbs spent more than thirty years responding to other people's worst days. Road ambulances. Rescue helicopters. Aeromedical retrievals. Remote postings and disaster zones. Places where backup was a long way off and decisions had consequences.

Inspired by a near-death experience of a close friend - and the memories of others who walked similar paths - Flight Path is a frontline memoir about learning on the job, trusting your judgement under pressure, and figuring out how to keep going when the pager never really stops.

It's about mateship, black humour, fear, fatigue, and the quiet moments in between - the early-morning coffee, the long flights home, and the fine art of looking like you know what you're doing when you're making it up as you go.

Written with warmth, honesty, and a healthy dose of Kiwi humour, Flight Path is for anyone who's worked at the sharp end - or wondered what it really takes to keep saying yes to the next call.