Most wild rescues: Life Flight reveals Sunshine Coast increase for 2023
From an elderly woman with a garden stake in her neck to finding two men alive after a plane crash into the ocean, LifeFlight insiders reveal some of the most extreme rescues to occur across the Sunshine Coast.
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A grandma impaled by a large stick, a rock climber falling 20m down a cliff and a smashed plane – these are just some of the most wild Life Flight rescues on the Sunshine Coast from the past year.
The Sunshine Coast RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter crew helped 557 people in the past 12 months, which represents a 31 per cent increase on the previous year.
The crew notched more than 900 hours in the air and attended incidents including car crashes, flying patients to hospital from rural properties and search and rescues.
They came to the aid of two separate light aircraft incidents as part of a bumper year.
A rock climber was winched to safety after he fell 20m down Mt Tibrogargan.
The pilot had to delicately position the chopper on the side of the mountain and winch an RACQ LifeFlight Rescue critical care doctor and Queensland Ambulance Service flight paramedic to the patient.
Rescue crews were called to a light plane that crashed and cartwheeled in a residential backyard, and in a separate incident another two men were rescued when the plane they were flying in ditched into the ocean off Mooloolaba.
In November 2023, the Sunshine Coast crew flew an elderly lady who was impaled in the neck with a garden stake.
In a carefully calculated mission with RACQ LifeFlight Rescue critical care medical teams, the stake had to be sawn off so she could fit in the chopper.
In other incidents, a girl was thrown from her horse and a boy was trampled by a bull.
LifeFlight Australia chief operations officer Lee Schofield said the diverse nature of the rescues demonstrated the importance of the service and its impact on communities across the Sunshine Coast.
“Often our crews are called on in the middle of the night to airlift patients in remote and precarious places and transport them safely to hospitals,” he said.
“The agility of our helicopters enables LifeFlight to access places that other cannot get to and that was certainly the case with the winch rescue on the side of the mountain at Mt Tibrogargan.
“I am incredibly proud of our staff and their efforts to deliver world class emergency care and I thank them for their work in what has been a record year of activity for the organisation.”
LifeFlight’s fleet of four air ambulance jets and nine rotary wing aircraft operates from eight Queensland bases and is available every day, all year, and services 1.85 million sq km.
It supports search and rescue efforts across 53 million sq km of land and sea for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
RACQ LifeFlight Rescue crews across the state performed 2851 missions – a 28 per cent increase on the previous year total of 2223.
The majority of missions were actioned on behalf of Queensland Health, with male patients making up 62 per cent.
The Sunshine Coast crew contributed to a record calendar year for LifeFlight Australia as a whole, with the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue and LifeFlight Surat Gas Aeromedical Service helicopters, air ambulance jets, critical care doctors, flight nurses and QAS flight paramedics coming to the aid of 7455 people in 2023 – a 15 per cent increase on the previous year.
Demand for services has resulted in a new LifeFlight hangar to be built later this year at the aerospace precinct at the Sunshine Coast Airport following $18m in state government funding.
The site will include a visitor centre.
The Sunshine Coast community will come together on April 20 at the Novotel Convention Centre to support the annual LifeFlight Gala. Last year the generosity of the Sunshine Coast community raised more than $250,000.
Since its inception 44 years ago, LifeFlight Australia has helped rescue more than 81,000 people.
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