On the frontline

The service’s headquarters, plus its Brisbane base, are located at Archerfield Airport. From here, EMQHR chief pilot Trevor Wilson oversees operations at all three bases.

“The majority of our work is either primary or secondary medical roles,” Wilson stated, with 70 to 80 per cent of missions being health-related.

Each EMQHR base comprises essentially the same aircrew structure of five pilots, five air crew officers (ACOs) and five rescue crew officers (RCOs). A senior pilot and senior ACO are then nominated from each base to double as the base manager and acting base manager respectively.

Standard operating procedure sees both type crewed by a pilot, ACO and RCO.

Then depending on the mission type, a Queensland Ambulance Service paramedic and/or CareFlight Medical Services doctor will also be onboard to assist with critically ill or injured passengers.

As well as aircrew, the bases are also supported by one to three base engineers and an administrative officer.

From each base the service usually operates within a 500km radius.

“Even though helicopters are slower than fixed wing services, they are quicker in the overall transfer because predominantly, they’re door to door. Anything over about 500km, the tasking agencies normally task that out to, say, someone like the Royal Flying Doctor Service,” Wilson said. EMS (medevac, patient transfers, etc) is generally tasked by the Queensland Clinical Coordination centre, while search and rescue (SAR) is handled by either Queensland Police or Canberra based Australian Search and Rescue (AusSAR).

EMQ’s multi-mission capabilities were put to extensive use during Queensland’s devastating floods, with aircrews from both EMQHR Brisbane and Cairns rescuing a staggering total of 88 people out of the Lockyer Valley alone over January 10 and 11.

“I don’t think anyone estimated the full extent of what happened, and certainly on January 10, late afternoon, the Brisbane based aircraft was dispatched to rising flood waters out in the Lockyer Valley. It wasn’t until the aircraft was on the scene where they [aircrews] realised the magnitude of the problem and, approaching last light, the amount of people on roofs, and realised that it was just too big for one aircraft,” Wilson said.

As has previously been covered by Australian Aviation (see March 2011), a stroke of luck saw the normally Cairns based AW139 in Brisbane for maintenance and night NVG training at the time the floods swept across Queensland’s southeast.

“That extra AW139 was sitting in the hangar with the crew ready to do their night training at four o’clock. The Brisbane based aircraft called for help, and we were able to dispatch a second aircraft. . .

“There was a total of 43 people winched [on that day]. There were 28 winched by the first aircraft, and 15 winched by the second aircraft when it got out there,” Wilson said.

At last light both 139s returned to base, with aircrews still unaware of what the morning of January 12 would bring.

“We arranged for a further two aircraft to go out at first light the next morning, again, the Brisbane based aircraft and the Cairns based aircraft that just happened to be here,” Wilson explained.

“I crewed one and Mark Kempton, who was out the day before, crewed the second one. ” Both Wilson’s and Kempton’s crews saved another 45 lives in the Lockyer Valley on January 12. For the crews involved it was a truly testing experience, having to witness first hand the devastation of the flooding and the helplessness of its victims. However, it is ‘part of the job’ in the often challenging world of aeromedical rescue.

Another EMQHR operation that received less attention was the evacuation of critically ill patients from Goondiwindi hospital to nearby Ingleburn, over 40 miles away, involving both the Cairns and Brisbane based 139s.

“Again, probably not as publicised as what would have happened with the local guys [in Toowoomba/Lockyer Valley], but I know we were flying long days there,” Cairns base senior ACO and acting base manager Paul Tongue recalled.

“It was just a round robin of landing at the helipad, which was right by the river at Goondiwindi, loading patients, taking off and as we were taking off, the other helicopter was coming in to land behind us. ” Loading the AW139s to over-capacity with two stretcher patients and five walking wounded on each trip, Tongue estimated both crews single-handedly evacuated at least 40 patients to Ingleburn Hospital on the night of January 13.

Workhorses

Used extensively during the Queensland floods, the AW139 has proven a capable performer with EMQ, and a worthy follow-on to the evergreen Bell 412.

Capable of flying faster and further than the 412, another key advantage of the AW139 is its larger cabin, which means that EMQHR can fit either a seven passenger-one stretcher configuration or a four passenger-two stretcher configuration. This compares favourably against the 412’s four passenger-one stretcher configuration.

Then there is the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67C powered AW139’s Category A (Class 1) capability, whereby it can land, takeoff and hover safely in the event of a single engine failure, with a standard EMS load.

“Where Category A is of particular interest in Brisbane is operating over high population areas, such as going in and out of rooftop helipads, and the additional safety factors that that automatically has,” Wilson said. “In the event of losing an engine on approach in to the pad or on departing out of the pad, the aircraft can guarantee flying away safely or rejecting and landing back on the pad safely, as opposed to having limited power and crashing into a suburban area. ” But the two 412s, used as backup machines, remain an important part of the EMQ operation.

“They’re both very capable aircraft,” observed acting Townsville base manger and senior ACO Peter Elliot. “The new technology in the 139 is a big advancement, however, it’s not a limiting factor for us in the 412. The 412 is still a proven workhorse and competes well with the 139. It’s not as fast as the 139, but essentially it’ll do most of the jobs that the 139 can do.

“At the moment we’re going through the conversion for NVG capabilities for the 412, so both machines will be NVG compliant…that’s not very far away. ” Tongue offers another perspective on the AW139, given the high humidity experienced in north Queensland.

“The climatic conditions make it very, very different,” Tongue said.

“I guess we’re utilising it [the AW139] to its full potential and we’re still… using it as best as we can in the conditions. . . But again, the problems we have with humidity, that presents quite unique problems for us in visibility sometimes. But the machine itself is brilliant. Once we’re up and flying around, as opposed to the [Bell] 412, this has actually got air conditioning if you want to look at it that way! “That’s the unique quality of this machine in the patient care side of things, is we’re able to offer a service there, where once we’re in flight…the patient is in comfortable conditions I guess. And it’s a faster machine. . . so we’re saving time. And… some patients who are time critical, that can be invaluable. ”

Training & Teamwork

Training and recruitment are key elements in ensuring EMQ has appropriately qualified personnel to operate and maintain its sophisticated equipment.

“Although we have minimum requirements for the applicants, the applicant may have come from various backgrounds, where they may or may not have [specific skills],” Wilson said, estimating a roughly 50/50 split in crew members who hold either a military or civilian background.

“It’s varied. We have quite a few ex defence members from Navy and Army, both pilots and aircrew,” Elliot noted of EMQ Townsville crews. “And we have some pilots who have come through the civilian side of things, and also some air crew officers who have come up through EMQ and other helicopter rescue services,” he said. “Definitely a lot of the pilots have had a lot of years [experience]. Some have been with the company from the beginning… The ex defence guys certainly bring across a lot of experience [such as] the ability to work in stressful type environments. ” Further north, “Cairns has got quite a healthy mix of ex military and also civilian qualified crews in all areas,” said Tongue. “It makes it easier for me to get my job done, but also gives us good cross-pollination from people who are trained in the military aspect, as opposed to people who have done it through the civilian world,” he said.

Experience is important, but few candidates will have all the necessary qualifications for an EMS aircrew role.

“We have a number of mandatory requirements and we’ve got a number of preferable requirements, which might be the NVG [qualifications],” said Wilson.

“Whereas if we asked for everybody [to be qualified] in everything that we did, you probably wouldn’t get any applicants.

“So what we do have to take into account, we want a minimum standard that they’ve achieved, a particular background, particular qualifications, and particular experience that we’re looking for,” he said.

From the application stage, EMQHR candidates (pilots, ACOs and RCOs) are then assessed under a merit based selection process, designed to choose the best candidates who will meet the organisation’s minimum entry requirements. At this point, Wilson explained that a “gap analysis” is performed on candidates during initial training to identify what their needs are to become qualified in their respective roles onboard the helicopter.

“Perhaps they’ve never flown the 139 before, so they need a type endorsement, so their initial training program is built around bringing them up to the standard and requirement through our organisation to operate in our environment,” Wilson said.

Conversely, for a pilot candidate already qualified on the AW139 or Bell 412 with SAR, EMS, and NVG experience, EMQHR may only need to perform competency checks in those areas, drastically reducing training time on type to be on operations within a week. However, Wilson stresses that even a highly qualified applicant must pass initial induction training within EMQHR in order to clear them to line.

“You have to assess that they are competent in those particular functions. And that’s what we do in our recurrent training system. Not only is it currency to have the skill to do it, but we’re measuring their competency at doing that as well. We’re able to see whether they’re still meeting the standard in whatever evolution we’re asking them to do, such as a winch or an NVG operation. ” Applicants who pass EMQHR’s minimum entry requirements, but lack certain skills in specific areas, will see the organisation build a specific induction training program to meet their requirements. The training and induction process forms part of EMQHR’s wider CAR 217 training program, approved by CASA. CAR 217 comprises a formalised check and training schedule designed to not only induct new recruits into the organisation, but ensure that the operational competency and currency of existing crew members is maintained to standard.

However, Wilson observed that without a fundamentally solid crew dynamic in the cockpit, no amount of training can compensate in order to successfully execute a mission.

“It’s teamwork. It’s the ability to work effectively together as a team, and I think that’s what brings most of the job satisfaction to the crews individually – the old ‘there’s no 1 in team’, and everybody’s got an important part to play on the aircraft. ” Said Tongue, “At the end of the day, we’re all here doing the same job and I guess it’s a methodology on how you approach the job. So in that way, we feed off each other’s experiences to come up with a common way of doing business. I think that’s the good thing about it, taking the best of each way or style of background and putting them into a melting pot and coming out with a common, agreeable procedure. That’s the best way of doing it. ”

Operating bases

EMQ’s Brisbane base at Archerfield Airport is the busiest of its three operating bases.

“I believe that the Brisbane EMQ base is the busiest medical rescue base in Australia,” noted Wilson. “The reason the Brisbane base is much busier than the other two bases is just merely due to population in that catchment radius. ” As an operational EMS base as well as EMQHR’s headquarters, the service is expanding into new facilities at Archerfield. “We have co-located a number of the senior management team, such as the chief pilot, deputy chief pilot, crew chief, chief engineer and maintenance controller. And as we’ve found maintenance increasing with the increased work demand, this [base] has also become the heavy maintenance facility for the company,” he said.

“What we’ve done is we’ve identified that this [current base] will remain as the senior management team, EMQ Helicopter Rescue head office and major maintenance facility, and EMQ Brisbane will be co-located next door,” he explained.

“We’ve just signed a lease on a hangar next door, and the EMQ Helicopter Rescue Brisbane base will be moving into that facility. So that means we will be identical to, say, the Townsville base or the Cairns base in their particular structures, where they’re run with the senior pilot, base engineer, the flightcrews, etc. ” Meanwhile, from Townsville EMQHR services a large area of North Queensland, with its vast operational distances, a remote population base and the ever-present threat of unpredictable weather.

“The majority of our work is inter-facility transfers for Queensland Health,” Peter Elliot explained. “So that would be a good 70, 75 per cent of our work…between outlying hospitals and back to the major hospital at Townsville. The rest of it is made up of primary medical responses, so road accidents, incidents on farming properties, etc. ” Distance is a key consideration for the Townsville base’s operations, given its unrefuelled operational radius of approximately 300nm.

“Distance is the biggest problem that we face up here. Distance across the area of operations, we don’t have the support network that you would find down in the southeast where you’ve got lots of services to assist. We’ll fly out to remote locations more often,” Elliot noted.

“Normally we’ll cross halfway between Townsville and Cairns, so up towards Tully, but certainly [we can cover] all the way through to Cairns, down as far as Mackay and as far west as Mount Isa.

“We have remote area fuel caches that we can use when we don’t have any other operators supplying Jet A1. They’re strategically placed in certain areas. ” That challenge of distance was illustrated during Queensland’s recent spate of natural disasters. With EMQHR’s Cairns based AW139 redeployed south, firstly to Rockhampton and later Brisbane, in response to Queensland’s worst floods in over 50 years, the Townsville base’s area of operations was virtually doubled.

“Townsville provided counter-disaster support for the townships affected by flooding in the north. We went as far as Normanton to assist in an operation out there this year, so…while Cairns was tasked down there [Brisbane], we took on the role of providing helicopter support to the north. ” The high tempo of relief operations continued in the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi, with EMQHR Townsville working together with crews from Cairns to provide counter-disaster support (EMS, SAR and supply drops) to the devastated townships of Ingham, Cardwell and Tully.

“It was one of the busiest times in the 10 years that I’ve been at the Townsville base that we’ve gone through,” Elliot recalled of the base’s role in flood and cyclone relief operations.

“Locating the aircraft down south to St George as one of the areas we went to took a lot of planning and effort from the crews. It was certainly unexpected and it put our logistics to the test. And then to have Cyclone Yasi follow straight after again added to what was a very busy start to the year.

“We absorbed those disasters this year fairly well without over-exerting any capacity or capability from crew or aircraft.

Obviously we were flying a lot more hours, so in busy times maintenance comes around a lot more often,” Elliot said.

Since that time, Elliot reported that operations at EMQHR Townsville have returned “to some sort of normality”.

Further north from Cairns, EMQHR covers an approximate 300/350nm radius from Cairns Airport to Cape York and the surrounding islands. While duties on the outer islands in the Torres Strait are shared with Australian Helicopters, EMQHR Cairns remains the only operating helicopter rescue organisation in the region. All missions are performed with a single AW139.

“In Cairns, we’re in a unique position in that you keep giving us the fuel, we’ll keep on going,” Tongue explained.

“That’s the biggest logistical problem we have, getting fuel [to increase operational range],” he said.

“We covered the Gulf area during post- Cyclone Yasi in places like Burketown and Normanton, so we’ve got strategic fuel caches and fuel supplies around the place… We can call in and take fuel as far north as Lizard Island, and then…go out to sea to the outer reef, so there’s options there. We’ve gone out to Willis Island from here, out to a hundred-odd miles further out east again, so it’s variable. ” Tongue notes that EMS and SAR operations are the most common missionsperformed by EMQHR Cairns, differing from Townsville’s more predominant role in inter-facility hospital patient transfers.

“We’re renowned for doing a lot more winch rescues here, because of the remote localities of the area that we’re operating in,” Tongue noted, with Cairns’s appeal as an adventure tourist destination a significant factor.

“Again, because of the distances that we have to travel sometimes, we do become very weight critical in fuel, as opposed to personnel onboard, and again, we have procedures in place and/or contingency plans in place to try to get the job done so to speak, but by the same token, not compromise safety.

“Over the years, [we have seen] a greater use of the helicopter now with its capabilities to fly to the outerlying hospitals and transfer to the major centres, in conjunction with the Flying Doctor Service.

We also do police searches for police operations, [and SAR work as tasked by] AusSAR based in Canberra – we do search and rescue over sea and over land for beacon homing and or lost personnel reported,” Tongue said. EMQ’s support also extends to the Queensland Fire Service, and assisting in the containment of any oil spills that occur in the far north’s protected marine environment.

“We are it as far as [far] north Queensland goes, but the backup plan is that Townsville always remains on site, online, so when Cairns is offline for maintenance having only one helicopter, then Townsville will pick up our area. And the same goes for when Townsville’s offline…we cover the Townsville region,” he said.

“All that means is that there’s a delay of an extra hour for our transit time to get to the scene or do the job as far as planning purposes go, but we basically double our area. ” That ability was put to the test during the recent natural disasters, when the Townsville base provided coverage for Cairns while the Cairns AW139 was first in Rockhampton and then Brisbane for flood relief work.

“What was very good about this deployment to Brisbane especially . . . was the cross-pollination of crews from other bases to get together. And its a credit to our organisation and it’s operating procedures and how we train,. . . that we can quite readily intermix crews that don’t fly regularly together. That was a good thing. ” It wasn’t long before EMQHR Cairns was confronted with its own natural disaster, recalled home from the floods in the south to assist with efforts post-Cyclone Yasi in early February. That included EMS, SAR operations, VIP transport and supply drops to affected communities, as well as various other counter-disaster relief missions for several days after the cyclone hit, mainly in the Cardwell-Tully region.

They were yet more missions which proved the value of EMQ Helicopter Rescue. n