General News
12 April, 2026
Chopper impasse lifts off
INNISFAIL Hospital’s helipad is on the political agenda again, with Member for Hill Shane Knuth pressuring the state government to reinstate the emergency transfer facility without further delay.
The helipad was closed in July 2022, when an 82-year-old woman walking on a footpath outside of the helipad and hospital area was blown over by the ‘rotor wash’ of a departing helicopter. She required hospital treatment for her injuries.
Mr Knuth said the issue of upgrading the helipad to make it safe for use again had dragged on for years, forcing critically-ill patients to be transported more than 6km from Innisfail Aerodrome to the hospital.
Stonewalled
“I have lobbied both the former and current governments relentlessly, yet we continue to be stonewalled while lives are put at risk,” Mr Knuth said.
“Instead of fixing the problem, the government continues to hide behind feasibility studies, reports and bureaucratic excuses,” he said.
“The money spent on these independent commissions and feasibility studies could have been used to fund the hospital helipad and whatever infrastructure is required to make it 100% safe.”
Mr Knuth has been joined in his call for the helipad’s reinstatement by Cassowary Coast Regional Council Mayor Teresa Millwood, who said the situation was unacceptable and dangerous.
“The closure of Innisfail Hospital’s helipad means that patients must complete a 6.4km transfer from the Innisfail Aerodrome to the Innisfail Hospital,” Cr Millwood said.
‘Life and death’
“This can be the difference between life and death,” she said.
“Innisfail and the Cassowary Coast community are just as deserving as the residents of Cairns, Townsville and the southeast to receive critical, timely medical care.
“I urge the Queensland Government to urgently expedite upgrades to Innisfail Hospital’s infrastructure to make it possible for the helipad to reopen as soon as possible.”
The main issue surrounding the helipad’s lengthy closure is that it was designed for smaller, less powerful rescue helicopters commonly used at the time.
The current rescue helicopter used across Far North Queensland – an AgustaWestland AW139 – is a heavier and more powerful aircraft, which requires a larger “rotor wash exclusion area”.
In a report after the Innisfail pedestrian accident, and also looking at similar incidents at hospital helicopter landing sites around Australia, the Australian
Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) recommended a 60m radius rotor wash exclusion area.
No immediate plans
But there does not appear to be any immediate plan to upgrade the Innisfail Hospital helipad at this point.
Health Minister Tim Nicholls referred the matter to Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service’s chief executive officer Leena Singh.
“The Innisfail Hospital helipad was constructed more than 20 years ago and is located in very close proximity to hospital buildings and public walkways,” Ms Singh told The Observer.
“Since then, aviation safety requirements have changed regarding clearance rates and the size of helicopters. This has meant that older helipads are no longer compliant,” she said.
“Innisfail’s Mundoo airport, a short eight-minute or 6.4km drive from Innisfail Hospital, continues to provide the most expedient alternative site.
“A total of 23 category 1 and 2 patients – classified as needing the most urgent care – have been transferred via the airport in the past 12 months, or approximately two per month.
“There have not been any patient safety incidents that have occurred as a result of patients being driven the short distance between the Innisfail Hospital and aerodrome.”
But the Local Ambulance Committee has in a previous letter to Mr Knuth, stated that ambulance resources are tied up each time there is an aerodrome-to-hospital transfer.
“The Local Ambulance Committee has made it crystal clear,” Mr Knuth said.
Ambulances tied up
“When crews are tied up doing transfers to the airport, it leaves surrounding communities exposed, with response times blowing out across one-man stations from South Johnstone to Babinda.”
The committee’s letter spelled out in more detail the ripple effects of ambulances having to be used for patient transfer from the aerodrome: “If there is a 000 call then one of the outer stations, be it South Johnstone Station, 15 minutes from Innisfail are called to respond, and if they are not available, then it is Silkwood at 25 minutes away, and if they are unavailable, Babinda 30 minutes away.
“These are all one-man stations and response times are critical.”
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