A Cook Islander in the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) made an emotional return to his tiny island home this month.
Sergeant Matatunoa Mata joined the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) on a mission to Ma’uke Island for Exercise Tropic Twilight – an operation funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The RNZAF logistics specialist touched down on Ma’uke – one of the easternmost islands in the Southern Cook Islands group – aboard a C-130J Hercules.
It was a historic moment for both RNZAF and Mata as the landing marked the first time a C-130J aircraft has landed on Ma’uke Island.
Sergeant Mata recalls seeing other RNZAF planes growing up, so it was an emotional affair being part of the crew landing the Hercules.
“It was a surreal feeling. I remember myself looking up and looking at the planes back in the day when they used to come over, and now I’m looking down on everyone as we flew over them… just sitting up there in the cockpit and waving to everyone.”
Mata has flown into war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq, and accompanied New Zealand prime ministers across Southeast Asia.
But touching down on Ma’uke, an island with a population of only 240, has been the most meaningful journey of his career so far.
“This trip definitely tops all the other destinations I’ve been to. And if I don’t get another opportunity to fly somewhere else in the world, then I’m happy.”
Born and raised in Ma’uke, Mata left the island at 16 to finish school in Auckland before joining RNZAF. Now 36, he said returning home in uniform was a full circle moment.
“There was only two people I wanted to meet, which was mum and dad. But then once I met them, the whole island wanted to meet me as well. The drums were going and they told me, ‘Well, you’ve done all this. You might as well dance.’ I broke into a dance, and everyone’s laughing and very cheerful.”
“For the whole day, I couldn’t stop smiling.”
The visit to Ma’uke is part of Exercise Tropic Twilight, a humanitarian and disaster resilience operation funded by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mata played a key role in the mission, helping plan and manage the aircraft’s cargo.
He said it is a job that takes precision.
“You can’t just load up whatever you feel like and expect it to fly, if you have too much on the tail end, then it’ll tip the aircraft on his ass. And if you have it too far forward, then it’ll tip the nose forward.
“So we plan all that, and then we hand it over to the load master, and if he’s happy, then he’ll put it into the computer. If he’s not happy, then we’ll have to recalculate or take stuff off to balance the aircraft.”
This year’s exercise involved more than 30 personnel from the New Zealand Army, including engineers, logistics and medical staff.
n TINA HAXTON is an RNZ Pacific journalist. The article has been edited for space.
