State’s rescue chopper fleet in north Qld rocked by pilot shortage

A staff shortage has rocked the State Government’s fleet of rescue helicopters, with regional towns in far north Qld expected to be impacted over the weekend.

The Queensland Government Air (GQAir) rescue helicopter transports a critically injured man from Ingham Hospital to Townsville. Picture: Cameron Bates

A staff shortage of accredited pilots has hit the Queensland Government’s fleet of rescue helicopters, with regional towns expected to be impacted over the weekend.

Northern regions of the Sunshine State and in particular, the Cairns region are expected to be affected over the coming weekend for periods at a time.

A Queensland Police Service spokesman said several factors affected staff availability, including leave, training exercises, maintenance and fatigue management regulations.

“QGAir Rotary Wing delivers government aviation services to Queensland by providing essential, lifesaving and emergency aviation support to its partner agencies including aeromedical retrievals, search and rescue, and law enforcement tasking,” the spokesman said.

“QGAir forms part of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) Aviation Capability Group and

provides government aviation services that support QPS and other government agencies in

regular and emergency response operations.

“QGAir proactively forecasts staff availability and repositions employees to ensure maximum availability at each base.

“Where the Rescue 510 may be unavailable, Retrieval Services Queensland can co-ordinate

emergency medical responses and deploy specific assets, including from other regions.

“ACG makes every effort to ensure that aviation assets are available to respond to life-threatening or emergency situations.”

The rescue helicopter staff shortage comes weeks after a helicopter from private company, Nautilus Aviation, crashed into a Cairns hotel roof. 

Originally published as State’s rescue chopper fleet in north Qld rocked by pilot shortage