A typical day at school ended with a thrilling helicopter ride for four Riverlands School pupils yesterday.

Tess Powick, 8, Becky Waters, 9, David Judd, 12, and Jamie MacKenzie, 13, had no idea their teachers had chosen them to go for a scenic ride with Marlborough Helicopters until they were on their way to the Omaka Aerodrome yesterday afternoon.

Half an hour later, they were swooping above the Wairau Valley and waving to their schoolmates from the air.

Tess Powick was fizzing when she landed after the 12-minute flight.

"I could see the Warehouse," she said.

"It was so tiny and the cars were like little toys.

"It was so funny when we flew over our school, everyone was like little dots waving at us."

The flight had been donated by Marlborough Helicopters to raffle off at the Marlborough Truck and Trade Show in October.

The proceeds of the show went to Riverlands School.

The raffle winner was Jason Wathne, of Fluid Power Solutions, who decided the children would get more of a buzz out of the flight and donated it back to the school.

Principal Dave Parsons said it was tricky choosing four children from a roll of 230.

The four children were picked because they had good attendance records, worked hard all year, and demonstrated good citizenship skills and resilience.

- The Marlborough Express

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