Students from Dunstan High School and The Terrace School flocked to the Dunstan High field to get up close and personal with an $80 million Air Force helicopter which flew in from Dunedin to promote defence force career pathways.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force NH90 helicopter left Dunedin at 9.10am for the 20 minute flight to Alexandra. Upon landing four soldiers scoped out the landing zone and secured a defensive position for the air craft impressing onlookers.

View the helicopter flying above the school grounds. VIDEO: Anna Robb

Careers advisor for Dunstan High School Laura Bolton said she had around 30 year 11,12 and 13 students register an interest to look around inside the helicopter and ask questions of the soldiers, pilot, helicopter load masters and avionics and aircraft technicians.

"It's great to show the students what's available through the army or airforce.... you can sign up to the reserves, and complete your studies at university and even get paid for it," she said.

Top gun: Helicopter load master Jarrod Milligan answers students questions at the education session, and shows off the interior of the helicopter. PHOTO: Anna Robb

Currently configured to transport 12 people, the helicopter can be changed to transport 18 passengers if required and has a cargo hook which can lug 2 tonnes of useful cargo.

One student asked the pilot James how much it cost to run and he explained it uses about 600kg of avionics fuel an hour.

Other questions were about how the crew coped with a possible fear of heights, how the helicopter handled weather, where the guns were mounted and what other main uses for the helicopter were.

Jarrod said that two light machine guns could be mounted near the door but that as this helicopter was used for land search and rescue missions, or operations together with the police or for educational trips such as today the guns were not installed.

Try this for size: Year 9's Arienh Bahler with the vest belonging to army reserve officer Charlotte Fuller (19) and Georgia Gillespie.

Charlotte Fuller was the only female officer from the army on the visit. She said that she planned to join up full time, and was training to be a medic in the army.

"There were only seven women in my platoon at basic training, out of about 20. The numbers are increasing though."

Sunny spot to touch down: The helicopter, primarily used to transport troops and cargo in NZ, landed at 9.30am. PHOTO: Anna Robb

Our Royal New Zealand Air Force has eight NH90 helicopters in its fleet, which have been in full service since 2015.

They are a twin engine medium utility helicopter featuring a fly-by-wire flight control system, full ice protection system, and fibre-glass composite structure. The helicopter used for the visit is usually on the Air Force base in Ohakea, northwest of Palmerston North.

Defence force regional recruiter Sergeant Blair Ross, who has been in the army for 12 years, but in the recruiting role for only one, said he enjoyed getting out to meet rangatahi on days such as this.

The group were flying off to other high schools in Queenstown and Wanaka next.

The helicopter pilot James said they were looking forward to spending the day in Central.

"It's such a beautiful day... after the other school visits we'll do some navi [navigation] training, we couldn't want a better day for it."

View a New Zealand Defence Force video and additional information on the NH90 helicopter here.