Medical emergency Tel 08 8080 1188 (only for use in medical emergencies)
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The RFDS provides 24 hour emergency retrievals to over 80% of Australia.
In most medical emergencies, even in the most remote locations, help from the Flying Doctor is no more than 90 minutes away.
We have a fleet of 47 aircraft nationwide which fly from 21 bases across Australia.
Our emergency evacuation planes are flying intensive care units, fully outfitted with state of the art medical equipment. They are capable of speeds of up to 500 kilometres per hour with a range of 1,500 kilometres. And they are pressurised, enabling patients to be flown at the equivalent of sea level which is essential for the treatment of serious injuries.
The SE Section flies 14 aircraft, 13 of which are Super King Air emergency retrieval planes and the 14th is used for non urgent patient transfer.
The medical outfit has been custom designed to include a hydraulic lift for the stretcher, oxygen and suction built into outlets on the walls of the aircraft, a separate battery to supply power for all medical equipment and an aeromedical configuration which accommodates a pilot, two stretcher patients and a two person medical team. In cases where only one stretcher is in use, there is also room to transport members of the patient’s family.
The 54 pilots in the SE Section (accompanied by seven doctors and 23 flight nurses) fly an average of 5.6 million kilometres each year (5,652,956kms in the year ending June 2007) and assist more than 50,000 patients in rural and remote south eastern Australia. Nationally, our teams perform close to 11,000 emergency aerial transportations every year.