Key Stats Sunshine Coast: 2025
- People helped – 672 (up 18% on 2024)
- 991 flying hours (up 5.7%)
- 661 missions (up 10.5% – includes training)
- 8,838 people helped across the LifeFlight network (up 4.2%)
The LifeFlight Sunshine Coast crew airlifted nearly 700 people as the region welcomed a new advanced rescue helicopter and a number of winch rescues were executed, including a man who fell 20 metres into the ocean from a cliff.
The crew helped 672 people in 2025, up 18 per cent on the previous year, continuing the year-on-year growth trend for the Sunshine Coast base.
The helicopter clocked up 991 flight hours and attended a diverse range of incidents from search and rescues through to winching lost hikers.
There were 174 people airlifted with trauma, 100 in the wake of motor vehicle accidents, and 61 patients with cardiac complaints.
Statistics released this week show the Sunshine Coast numbers helped fuel another overall record year for LifeFlight, with 8,838 people helped over the 12 months.
The new AW139 helicopter is capable of going farther and faster to reach patients around the region.
LifeFlight also progressed the build of a new base close to three times the size of the current hangar which is set to open this year. It can accommodate two AW139 helicopters and one Challenger 604 jet.
In 2025, the crew completed a number of complex aeromedical missions.
In January the crew winched a lost hiker to safety after he was stranded on a mountain for two nights and three days.
They also winched a man to safety after he fell 20 metres into the ocean from a cliff in the Noosa region.
Later in the year, the aeromedical team winched a bushwalker from the Glass House Mountains National Park after she slipped and fell 10 metres while scaling a rocky ledge.
LifeFlight Acting Chief Operating Officer Pete Elliott, said the new base would provide a further boost to the Sunshine Coast region at a time of rising patient numbers.
“Its capacity to house two AW139 helicopters and one Challenger 604 jet will ensure it can continue to grow patient numbers year-on-year, helping more people throughout the region,” he said.
Mr 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.
“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.”
LifeFlight helicopters are tasked by Retrieval Services Queensland as part of the agreement.
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 and innovation.
“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 North 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 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 front-line 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.
SUNSHINE COAST 2025 HIGHLIGHTS:Â
- January – LifeFlight winches man to safety after falling 20m off a Noosa cliff. The crew winched a man to safety after he fell 20 metres into the ocean.
- February – LifeFlight airlifts injured runner to hospital – The crew winched a woman after she was injured while trail running in a state forest.
- April – LifeFlight airlift injured climber to hospital. The crew winched a climber from the Glass House mountains after he fell 20 metres.
- April – LifeFlight airlifts man after gyrocopter crash on K’gari. The crew airlifted an adult male from after the gyrocopter he was in crashed.
- July – LifeFlight winches two in separate bulk carrier rescues – The crew completed double missions to airlift injured men from bulk carriers over the past three days.
- October – LifeFlight airlifts man with serious leg injury – The crew airlifted a man after a bobcat rolled over his leg in the Gympie region.
- November – LifeFlight airlifts man from K’gari after back injury – The crew airlifted a man from K’gari after his vehicle struck a washout.
- December – LifeFlight airlifts woman after horse fall – A woman was treated for a suspected collarbone fracture and flown to Sunshine Coast University Hospital for further treatment.
