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Issue 28: September/October 1985
Australia’s ‘Other Flying Doctor’ Upgrades Its Fleet
Those of us who live in Sydney and are interested in all things aeronautical – and I suppose that means anyone who reads Australian Avia\jon – will have regularly heard the distinctive tones of the New South Wales Air Ambulance Service’s Beechcraft Queen Airs over the past 18 years, often in the early hours of the morning.
The raucous growl of the Queen Airs’ supercharged Lycomings will shortly be joined by a noise of a different nature – the whine of turbines – following the handing over to the NSW Health Administration Corporation of two brand new King Air B200Cs at Sydney’s Kingsford-Smith airport on July 16.
Accepted by the NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Health, The Hon. R. J. Muloch on behalf of the NSW Air Ambulance Service, the two King Airs represent a quantum leap for the Service, offering as they do, higher speeds, longer range, higher payloads (and the ability to operate the same load over more sectors without refuelling) and of course the benefits of pressurisation in both the operational and medical senses.
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The total cost of the two King Airs (the “C” suffix indicating the fitment of a large cargo door) is approximately $8. 5 million, including the installation of the specially designed medical interior which accommodates two stretchers as well as seated patients and medical staff. ,At the time of writing tenders were being called for the operation of the aircraft on the services’s behalf and the King Airs are scheduled to be fully operational by October this year.
Between the start of operations in March 1967 and the end of June this year the NSW Air Ambulance Service had flown a total of 76,804 hours, 70,687 routine patients and 14,449 emergency patients in the course of 23,498 flights. Annual flying time is now in the 6500-7000 hours bracket.
Currently employed are 12 Senior Commercial pilots who work for East-West but are used exclusively on the ambulance operation, 11 flight engineers (also East-West people), 16 flight sisters and 10 control officers. The flight sisters and control officers are employed by the NSW Health Administration Corporation.
A total of five Queen Air B80’s have been used by the Service since 1967. The first, VH-AMB, will be retired immediately the King Airs enter service. So far, that aircraft has logged nearly 25,000 hours in its 18-plus years of service. VH-AMG joined the fleet in 1970 and its hours exceed 21,000 to date. VH-AMQ entered service in 1971 and has 19,000 hours to its credit, while the newest Queen Air, VH-AMD, has been in service for only two years and has logged 6,000 hours.
The fifth Queen Air, VH-AMS, was obtained in 1978 but was destroyed by fire on the ground at Dubbo in July 1982 after accruing 6731 hours in Service. VH-AMD was purchased to replace this aircraft.
Of the three remaining Queen Airs, only two will be in service at any time, the aircraft being used in rotation. Current plans call for their replacement by two more King Air B200C aircraft in 1986-87
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