Chopper rescue leaves questions

A WINCH failure during a reef rescue meant a paramedic and doctor had to stabilise a patient while racing to Cairns by boat despite a privately owned medevac chopper sitting in a hangar 20 minutes away.

The incident at Moore Reef on Monday followed revelations a Queensland Government helicopter was sent from Brisbane to Townsville during recent floods at a return flight cost of about $ 156,000, before all of its five blades were damaged on an aluminium work stand causing up to $ 2 million in repairs.

Nautilus Aviation’s fully-equipped Bell 412 rescue chopper could have responded to both the Townsville and Moore Reef emergencies.

The Queensland Government yesterday denied the Brisbane- based helicopter had been intended to carry Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during her tour of flooded communities last weekend.

A letter from Public Service Business Agency chairwoman Katarina Carroll to the Premier stated there had been no request received for the aircraft to be used “for any task other than medical and emergency services work”.

“It is anticipated that the unserviceable helicopter will be back online at the end of March 2018,” she said.

A PSBA spokeswoman confirmed Monday’s botched airlift rescue was a result of a winch fault after a medical team was lowered onto the Moore Reef diving pontoon.

“The winch malfunctioned and the retrieval was stopped as a safety precaution,” she said.

“The aircraft returned to base and the malfunction was cleared. The patient was stabilised and already on the way to hospital via boat ( by private operator) when the aircraft was back online.

“Nautilus Aviation is not a service provider in the Emergency Helicopter Network and cannot be tasked by Retrieval Services Queensland.”