Key Stats Mount Isa: 2025
- People helped – 141 (up 37% on 2024)
- 212 flying hours (up 20.5%)
- 140 missions (up 18.6% – includes training)
- 8,838 people helped across the LifeFlight network (up 4.2%)
The Mount Isa LifeFlight aeromedical crew airlifted 37 per cent more patients in 2025, welcomed a new advanced helicopter and completed rescues including campers whose vehicles were bogged in mud 400km from Mount Isa.
New data released this week reveals the crew helped 141 people over the 12 months, including people injured in quad bike incidents, bitten by snakes and thrown from horses.
They also flew 18.6 per cent more missions and recorded 212 flying hours, which was 20.5 per cent higher than 2024.
Mt Isa crews contributed to another overall record year for the aeromedical organisation, with 8,838 people helped in 2025 – 4.2 per cent higher than the previous year.
LifeFlight’s fleet of helicopters, air ambulance jets and specially trained medical teams, including LifeFlight critical care doctors, flight nurses and paramedics, helped patients with a range of illnesses and injuries.
In November the Mount Isa base received a significant boost with the arrival of a new advanced AW139 helicopter capable of travelling vast distances with fewer refueling stops.
It came ahead of the new LifeFlight and Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) (Queensland Section) Mount Isa joint base opening later this year.
The Mount Isa crew covered a diverse range of missions in 2025.
In April they flew more than 400km from Mt Isa to airlift six campers whose vehicles were bogged in mud northeast of Burketown.
Two months later they airlifted a man who had a suspected broken arm after being thrown off a horse during a rodeo.
In September, the crew rescued a man who crashed a helicopter while mustering northeast of Mount Isa.
That same month they were tasked to a mine north west of Mount Isa to airlift a man after he was bitten by a snake.
LifeFlight Acting Chief Operating Officer Pete Elliott, said the back-to-back record years of 2024 and 2025 showed the organisation’s drive to deliver improved technology and aeromedical capabilities was working.
“The new AW139 helicopters, equipment and advanced training programs mean we’re able to help more Queenslanders than ever before with world-class aeromedical care,” Mr Elliott said.
“Mount Isa is a prime example of the impact of this new resource with the AW139 able to travel longer distances to reach patients across the North West and beyond that was not previously possible without refueling.
“The advanced helicopters are a result of our 10-year service agreement with the Queensland Government, which brings us closer to our goal of bringing equity of healthcare to Queenslanders no matter where they live.”
Mr Elliott said LifeFlight’s operation included highly skilled intensive care medical teams and pilots backed up by LifeFlight’s communication, coordination and control centre known as C3.
He said LifeFlight had cemented new partnerships during the year, such as with AW139 manufacturer Leonardo, to ensure it remained at the forefront of aeromedical training.
“Preparedness is key for our crews because they do not know what will be thrown at them each day. It can range from winching hikers off a mountain in the southeast through to search and rescue missions for missing people in Northern Queensland,” he said.
“That’s why our investment in technology and training, alongside our partners, is so important towards delivering life-saving healthcare.”
He said LifeFlight was also ramping up the rollout of its free First Minutes Matter emergency trauma training workshops throughout the state.
Nearly 1200 people participated in First Minutes Matter in 2025 across 150 workshops.
“These are vital for building on community resilience by teaching people practical skills to manage life-threatening events such as car crashes, farming accidents, stroke and snake bites.”
LifeFlight Medical Director Dr Jeff Hooper, said LifeFlight made great strides in 2025 in recruiting new critical care doctors, conducting clinical research, and using real-life rescues to inform community training.
“Because we are a vertically-integrated organisation with our own fleet, doctors, nurses and paramedics, we can directly feed their frontline experiences into our research and First Minutes Matter training,” Dr Hooper said.
“We know clinical practice is constantly changing and evolving so we need to make sure we are at the forefront of the latest innovations.”
During the year, LifeFlight’s new medical staff underwent intensive aeromedical training at the LifeFlight Training Academy, including Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET), rescue winching and clinical scenario training.
“Our crews administer prehospital and retrieval medicine under highly stressful conditions, so they have to be ready for any eventuality, and this is what the training equips them to do,” Dr Hooper said.
“It is why our aircraft are fitted out as mobile intensive care units with advanced medical equipment to care for patients whether we are operating 35,000 feet above the ground in a Challenger jet, or in the back of a helicopter.
“This aeromedical intervention is vitally important as it can be the difference between life and death.”
Crews support search and rescue efforts across 53 million square kilometres of land and sea for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Complementing the helicopter network, four Challenger 604 jets are rotated through the Brisbane, Townsville and Singapore bases.
The jet crews helped 1,014 people in 2025 with Townsville recording a 22 per cent increase in people helped to 598.
LifeFlight’s 24/7 Communications, Coordination, and Control Centre acts as the hub of all operations and is run by a dedicated team of aviation professionals who handle thousands of calls and messages to coordinate complex aeromedical services.
As in previous years, much of LifeFlight’s aeromedical work involved Inter-Facility Transfers (IFT) or moving patients between medical facilities. This ensures all communities have equal access to the best possible healthcare, no matter where they live.
Every 59 minutes, LifeFlight aircraft rescue a seriously ill or injured patient, flying from 10 base locations across the Asia Pacific.
2025 HIGHLIGHTS:Â
- April – Campers airlifted by LifeFlight after vehicles bogged. The Mt Isa crew airlifted multiple campers following a search and rescue mission for three vehicles bogged in mud.
- April – LifeFlight airlift patient from flood affected town – The aeromedical crew airlifted a woman to hospital after her remote town was cut off by floodwaters.
- June – Man airlifted after being thrown from horse. The crew flew a man to hospital after he was thrown from the horse during a rodeo.
- July – LifeFlight airlifts man after farming incident – The crew airlifted a man to hospital with a hip injury after a farming incident in the Shire of Cloncurry.
- September – LifeFlight airlifts chopper pilot after mustering incident – The crew rescued a man who crashed a helicopter while mustering northeast of Mount Isa.
- September – Woman airlifted by LifeFlight after car collides with cow – The crew airlifted a woman to hospital after the vehicle she was driving struck a cow in the Shire of Cloncurry.
