The Sunshine Coast RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter performed three, back to back, emergency missions on ANZAC Day – including two winch operations.
At 9.45am, the chopper was sent to Noosa North Shore, where a 4WD had rolled on the sand, leaving three people injured.
Due to conditions on the beach, the pilot was unable to safely land the aircraft at the scene, so the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Critical Care Doctor and Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) Flight Paramedic were winched down to the crash site.
The aeromedical team worked with local QAS crews to treat the three patients, before transporting them to the waiting chopper, which had landed a Double Island Point.
A female back seat passenger and a male front seat passenger from the crashed vehicle, both aged in their twenties, were airlifted to Sunshine Coast University Hospital, by the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue chopper.
The woman suffered suspected hip and head injuries, while the man suffered minor injuries.
The Queensland Government helicopter (QGAir) was also called in from Brisbane, to airlift the male teenage driver to the Royal Brisbane Hospital.
The RACQ LifeFlight Rescue team had just finished refueling the aircraft at about 1.30pm at the Marcoola base, when they were tasked to a trail bike crash in bushland, north east of Toowoomba.
A woman, who is aged in her thirties, had reportedly been riding with a group of friends, when she lost control of her bike on a dirt track.
QAS and Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) crews were unable to drive vehicles into the crash site and due to the rugged terrain, the rescue chopper was unable to land, so the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue medical team was winched down to the injured woman.
She was treated then secured in a stretcher before being winched, along with the RACQ LifeFlight Critical Care Doctor, back into the chopper.
The QAS Flight Paramedic was then hoisted up to the aircraft.
The patient was airlifted to Toowoomba Hospital for treatment for suspected hip and leg fractures.
After she was handed over to hospital staff, the rescue helicopter was called to the Gympie region at around 3.45pm, for the crew’s third emergency response of the day.
A woman had suffered suspected spinal injuries, after a wake boarding incident at a dam.
The patient was brought to shore by boat, where she was treated by QAS officers, before they transferred her to the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter, which landed close by.
The woman was airlifted to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in a stable condition
