Helicopter lands a new home

Roma's LifeFlight crew has received an upgrade for their most important piece of equipment.

TAKING OFF: Roma's LifeFlight crew in their new AW139 chopper. Picture: Jorja McDonnell

A NEW addition to Roma's LifeFlight aero-medical team is now sitting proudly in the hangar, ready to respond to emergencies at any given moment.

Replacing an ageing Bell 412, the AugustaWestland AW139 helicopter is a welcome boost for the LifeFlight crew, the local gas industry, and the region at large.

LifeFlight director of helicopter operations Brian Guthrie said the aircraft was now the industry standard in aero-medical care.

"The AW139 has become the most widely-used aeromedical rescue aircraft in Australia and is ideal for covering the great distances of the South West region.

"It is a faster aircraft which means we can get to our patients more quickly and transport them to specialist care,” he said.

For day-to-day operations, the chopper offers the medical crew more space to work with, meaning they can treat patients with greater ease inside the aircraft, base lead and winch operator Bryce Duke said.

"It gives us much greater capabilities in terms of range that we can access, speed that we can get to patients and then into hospital.

"Also the medical gear and fitout gives us much better access around a patient, and greater comfort for everyone while we are in flight,” he said.

While the team in Roma were comfortable and capable with working from their old chopper, Mr Duke said the new aircraft would be a huge help in the myriad of emergencies the LifeFlight crew attended across the southwest.

"We were comfortable with the other helicopter, but when (LifeFlight) announced they were changing over to these new ones we were all very excited.

"As a crew, we are certainly looking forward to the better capabilities of this one compared to the previous,” he said.

LifeFlight has been stationed in the Maranoa since 2011 under a partnership agreement with the Surat Gas Industry, and is supported by Shell QGC, Santos, Origin and Arrow Energy.

The new aircraft is fitted out to be a mobile intensive care unit; it can reach speeds of up to 270km/h and airlift up to 2200kg.

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