Straddie helipad moved after beachfront land deemed dangerous

An ambulance helicopter pad on North Stradbroke Island has been closed and moved to a new site after its beachfront landing strip was deemed unsafe and overgrown with trees.

An AgustaWestland AW139, now known as the Leonardo AW139, is a 15-seat medium-sized twin-engined helicopter, seen here at the landing strip on Moreton Island. Picture: QAS

An ambulance helicopter pad on North Stradbroke Island has been closed and moved to a vacant school site after its beachfront landing was deemed unsafe and overgrown with trees.

The Queensland Ambulance Service was forced to move the helipad 500m east from prime waterfront land on Flinders Ave to the vacant Dunwich State School on Bingle Rd.

Pilots from QG Air and LifeFlight said vegetation, including some 10m trees on the foreshore, had made it an unsafe spot to land their seven-tonne AgustaWestland AW139 choppers.

There had also been complaints the aircraft’s downdraft was affecting a construction site near the Marie Rose Health Service at Dunwich.

Pilots had been using the Dunwich Airstrip, a 20-minute drive from the centre of the township.

Red circles mark the airstrip in the south and the former Dunwich landing site at the top left hand corner. Picture: Google Earth

The move was announced in the same week paramedics voiced concerns about transporting a seriously ill man from the island via the Dunwich Airstrip, a 20-minute drive from the township along a dirt track.

It follows a safety advisory directive from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau in October after a number of cases in which pedestrians were injured by winds from the rotor blades at hospital helicopter landing sites.

The ATSB advised medical transport operators and hospital helicopter landing site operators to ensure procedures were in place to prevent people being injured from the wind from larger helicopters, such as the AgustaWestland AW139.

After the ATSB directive, Queensland Ambulance Service and Retrieval Services Queensland consulted local stakeholders, including QYAC, to find a more suitable location for a new helipad.

Retrieval Services Queensland executive director Dr Mark Elcock said the new site, in the heart of Dunwich, was a temporary solution to the problem.

The helipad across the road from the Marie Rose Centre was deemed to be too dangerous for large aircraft to land. Picture: Queensland Health

“These aircraft function as the equivalent of a mobile intensive care unit, fully equipped and crewed with a critical care doctor, paramedic, a pilot and 2 aircrew,” he said.

“They weigh seven tonnes and have a big downdraft and there have been issues logged with the ATSB from cases around the country where pedestrians have been injured.

“The site at Dunwich was perfect back in the 1990s but now, because of the size of the aircraft, anything in the way, such as pedestrians or bystanders, can make landing and takeoff dangerous.

“An inspection of the previous landing site was completed in October 2023 by an independent aviation consultant who confirmed the site at Dunwich was no longer suitable.

“The decision was made to move by the pilots from both QG Air and LifeFlight who have inspected the new site and said it was safe for everyone.”

The new landing site at the vacant Dunwich State School. Picture: Google Earth

Dr Elcock said the former Dunwich school site was away from building sites and a main road and in a place where nobody would get hurt during landing or takeoff.

He said the school site was a much better option than driving out of town to the airstrip but said all parties were still considering a permanent base.

The helicopters would still fly into and out of Point Lookout in emergencies.

Eight patients were flown from the island in the past financial year to June 30 and two since July, including a seriously-ill man this month.

Originally published as Straddie helipad moved after beachfront land deemed dangerous