The Service began life as The Sunshine Coast Helicopter Rescue Service Limited in November 1979. Local businessman Des Scanlan, alongside other local business people and heads of Emergency Services helped establish the Service with the purchase of a single helicopter; a Bell 206 Jetranger, and operated from a base at the Big Cow on the Bruce Highway at Yandina, Queensland. In 1983, the base was moved to Maroochydore Airport. The Services's operations were extended in 1989 with the purchase of a second helicopter, a Bell 206L Longranger, with the help of a A$450,000 grant from the Queensland Government. Major sponsorship from 1979 onwards came either directly or indirectly from the Bank of New South Wales and its successor, the Westpac Banking Corporation. The energy distribution corporation Energex, then known as the South East QueenslandElectricity Board, began sponsorship in 1994. The financial assistance from Energex and its customers allowed the Service to purchase a third helicopter - a BK117 - in 1997. The Rescue Service was able to broaden its operations when, in March 1998, an additional base was set up at the Queensland Ambulance Service Aerial Ambulance Hangar in Bundaberg, initially for a three-year trial period. In July 2001, with the realisation of the need for a second operational base, the Bundaberg Service was established on a permanent basis. At the same time the Minister for Department of Emergency Services increased the Queensland Emergency Service grants by millions of dollars a year for the Service to provide bigger and better helicopters for the Bundaberg Base. In 2006, having outgrown the Service's existing facilities, and thanks to a federal government grant of A$500,000 as well as donations from sponsors and the local community, the Sunshine Coast operation moved to a new purpose-built hangar within the Sunshine Coast Airport site. A year later, in 2007, Energex announced a record A$1 million-per-year sponsorship of the Service over the next three years in order to maintain the high level of service. The Service is professionally run, with 21 operational aircrew, 4 administrative staff and a number of dedicated volunteers, and works in close co-operation with Queensland Emergency Services and other Queensland community-based helicopter providers to provide helicopter rescue cover in south-east Queensland to assist Queensland Police, Queensland Health, Queensland Ambulance Service, Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, the State Emergency Service, AusSAR and other services and organisations, such as the Coastguard. To ensure a no-cost operation, finances are obtained through sponsorship, donations, government subsidy and charter operations. All assets of the Service belong to the community. In 2009, Energex Community Rescue Helicopter became the AGL Action Rescue Helicopter.
Area of operation
The main area of operation for the service is from Brisbane in the south to Miriam Vale in the north and west inland to the Bunya Mountains, although the service has ventured as far north as Gladstone, Queensland, as far south as Byron Bay inside New South Wales and as far inland as Chinchilla, Queensland. 652,800 people reside in the Service's primary area of operation which stretches from Brisbane North to Miriam Vale including Fraser Island and west to Proston, Eidsvold and Monto while 2.3 million inhabit the secondary area extending from Northern New South Wales to Proston and the area south of Gladstone. In 2007, the Service conducted 771 tasks during the year at an average of 14.8 per week. In that 12-month period a total of 1128 hours were flown and a distance of covered.
Helicopters
The Service owns and operates three aircraft from its Sunshine Coast base: a Kawasaki BK117, and a Eurocopter BK-117. A Bell Longranger is based at Bundaberg. Kawasaki BK117 B2 Engines: 2 x Honeywell LTS 101-750B Turboshaft 700 SHP ea Maximum speed: 133 knots Maximum Range: 292 nautical miles Maximum Weight: 3350 kg Empty weight: 1723 kg Payload: 1670 kg Overall length: 13.00 m Cabin Length: 9.90 m Height: 3.36 m Rotor Diameter: 11.00 m Eurocopter BK117 Engines: 2 x Honeywell LTS 101-750B Turboshaft 700 SHP ea Maximum speed: 133 knots Maximum Range: 292 nmi Maximum Weight: 3350 kg Empty weight: 1723 kg Payload: 1670 kg Overall length: 13.00 m Cabin Length: 9.90 m Height: 3.36 m Rotor Diameter: 11.00 m Bell 206L Longranger Engine: 1 x Rolls Royce 250-C30P Turboshaft 557 shp Maximum speed: 110 kn Range: 321 nmi Max takeoff weight: 1520 kg Empty weight: 1047 kg Payload 473 kg Length: 10.1 m Cabin length: 2.74 m Rotor diameter: 11.28 m
