Nice new planes for RFDS

[Marty_d]

These look fantastic.  If I needed medical attention in the middle of nowhere, something that could move at 700+ kph and land on a dirt strip would be just what the (flying) doctor ordered.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-03/regional-patients-to-be-treated-in-emergency-ward-jets-in-sky/10574702

 

 

[horsefeathers]

 

 

 

Think it goes a bit faster than my Jabiru

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

As a cheapskate, I reckon they are too expensive and too imported.

 

The Jabiru twin is what the RFDS should be equipped with.

 

 

[facthunter]

 Not sure they are particularly useful on a dirt strip. Didn't exactly leap into the air in the vid and it had no load and the air would be cool. Not like Central Australia. they might use stretches of highway like on the Nullabour. Nev

 

 

[onetrack]

They're fast, that's what the RFDS want. Distance is the killer in Outback Australia, a lot of people have died before they could get crucial medical attention. I'd like a ride in one, but not as a patient.

 

If you crash your vehicle in a remote region, and are badly injured, you just might be very appreciative of the PC-24.  I believe their biggest supporters are the people whose lives have been saved by them.

 

I've no doubt, the RFDS has the condition and capability of every unsealed runway sorted, down to the nth degree - and they normally work on just landing at the closest suitable strip, and bringing the patient/s in by road, from the scene of the mishap.

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

I can remember when they used Dehavilland Dragon-Rapides from Alice Springs for the flying doctor.

 

I have a strong memory of one of these which failed to get airborne at Hermannsburg once and finished up as a wreck in the bush just off the end of the runway. But when I tried to check on this, I could find nothing. It would have been in the late 50's I think.

 

Connellan's were busting to get American planes but the Menzies government insisted on pommy planes and the government were paying for the mail contracts which kept Connellans in business.  Those dragon-rapides were very low powered with their 2 gypsy motors.

 

 

[Rotorwork]

I believe a private operator has a PC-24 on order here in Tasmania. 

 

Looking forward to seeing & hearing it soon. 

 

Regards RW

 

 

[Downunder]

Looks like they will be used more for regional to city transfers from their bases with multiple patients, rather than actual outback pickups...