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Sunshine Coast

Most of our people are based at our hangar near Maroochydore, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Brent Hall - Pilot

Brent
Joined ENERGEX Rescue: 20 July 2005
Experience: 2 years with the Capricorn Helicopter Rescue Service based in Rockhampton. 10 years with the Army flying Black Hawk Helicopters. Highlights included an operational deployment to Timor, lead-up training and operations during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and instructing at Oakey.
Highlights: I have been lucky enough, after leaving the Army, to work with two fantastic and professional Rescue Helicopter services. The area I have operated in during my tasking, over the last 3 years, covers half of Queensland from Mackay to Lismore. It is a good feeling to be able to support such a wide community.
Most memorable mission: A 5-year-old boy and his 7-year-old sister were involved in a car accident on the Bruce Highway. We transported both children; the girl only suffered minor injuries, but the little boy had sustained critical head injuries. Efficient assessment and handling of the patient by the crew meant we were able to have the boy treated by doctors very quickly. The reduction in the time from the accident to care in the hospital was a major factor in the boy's survival.
Hobbies and interests: My two young children, running and soccer

Tony Preston - Crew Chief

Tony Preston
Joined ENERGEX Rescue: 7 Nov 05
Experience: I have spent 13 years as an Aircrewman in defence, mainly on S70A9 Blackhawk taking part in operations all over Australia and in Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya and Timor.
Highlights: One of the major highlights of this job is the sense of achievement you get when you work together as a team to accomplish a positive outcome for a member of the public who has been involved in an accident
Most memorable mission: My most memorable mission would be the winch retrieval of an elderly woman who had fallen down a waterfall in the coast hinterland and had injured her leg. The ambulance officers were trekking into the scene but weren't going to arrive and be able to carry the woman out before last light. We searched the creek line until we found her, then winched in the doctor and rescue crew officer for the retrieval. The lady was transported to hospital and made a full recovery
Hobbies and interests: Diving, golf and learning to surf

Col (Collie) Essex - Aircrew

Col Essex
Date joined Energex Rescue as a Volunteer: September 1990.
Date joined Energex Rescue as staff: February 1996.
Experience: One of the major highlights of this job is the sense of achievement you get when you work together as a team to accomplish a positive outcome for a member of the public who has been involved in an accident.

Have done multiple winch rescues over land and water and hundreds of Primary Medivacs and inter-hospital retrievals.
Highlights: Being involved with professional pilots, crew and administration personnel within our service who make every task run smoothly. I enjoy passing on my experience to our volunteer crew who are as keen as when I first joined the service. I enjoy going out on a Medical or Search and Rescue task and knowing I have completed the task safely and as good as I could have.
Most memorable mission:

Winched our rescue crew down to a young woman who was clinging to a rock ledge at Kondalilla Falls, Mapleton, then winched them both up to the aircraft. Her friend had fallen to his death.
Hobbies and interests: Enjoy weekend trips away when not working, taking grand-daughters to the beach, body boarding, reading non-fiction books and Caravan World magazine, keeping fit.

Michael Yip - Chief Engineer

Michael Yip
Date joined ENERGEX Rescue: October 2002
Experience: I have 29 years in aviation industry, the past 25 on helicopters. I started assembling helicopters as an apprentice, then as a tradesman, and worked on large helicopters for the oil exploration industry. As a LAME, I have been involved with most helicopter-dependent agencies; police, forestry, parks, fire, telecommunication, film, radio, news, and agriculture, as well as tourism, corporate and medical.
Highlights: The best thing about my job is that when maintaining helicopters, it makes you think about how to best solve a maintenance issue. Helicopters have their own idiosyncrasies and you have to analyse various issues that may not be obvious to identify. Then you get to fix the problem and the crew is back in the air. The next best thing is working with great professional people and the mateship that develops.
Most memorable mission: I was tasked to a helicopter that had broken down in the path of a large fire that was rapidly approaching; all the other helicopters had left, along with their support crews. The pilot was understandably distressed about the possibility of the helicopter been caught in the approaching firestorm. As an engineer, sometimes you don't get a lot of information about what has happened, however, I had quickly identified the problem, and by chance or experience, happened to have brought the correct parts in my toolbox to fix the problem. The pilot was grateful and we flew away avoiding the fire that was about to consume both of us and the helicopter.
Hobbies and interests: Family, motorcycling, motor racing, snow skiing, RC helicopters, tinkering, camping and most sporting activities.

Rob Nieuwenhoven - Engineering Support

rob
Date joined ENERGEX Rescue: January 2006
Experience: I have 20 years ADF service (RAAF and Army) Military experience on AS350BA Squirrel, UH-1H Iroquois and C-130E/H Hercules engines and airframes. C-130H/P-3C engine systems engineering logistics. My civil experience includes numerous single-engine light aeroplanes, Bell 206 aircraft, Cessna business jets, PT-6A engines (type course completed).
Highlights: Too many to count! Getting the job here, crewing for tasks, fixing long-term niggles in the aircraft, getting the go-ahead to build our own Category B simulator, helping the crew when we're flat-strap, the list goes on...
Most memorable mission: Low-level SAR over the Noosa area. Great fun but with a real sense of purpose, too.

Dan King

Dan King
Joined ENERGEX Rescue as volunteer: 1998
Joined ENERGEX Rescue as staff: 2007
Experience: Worked as an auxiliary firefighter for 3 years before going to university to study. After university I became a performer (magician) for a short time and more recently I've been involved in computer programming and website development.
Highlights: Joining the Rescue Chopper team back in 1998. At 17 I went into the hangar to apply to become a crew member and was told the minimum age was 18. I came back when I was 18 to be told the age had been raised to 21. So I came back when I was 21 and the rest is history!
Most memorable mission:

We were called out late in the afternoon to an unconscious person in a small half-cab boat in Moreton Bay. The paramedic and I were winched down to the boat. After initial treatment of the patient (who weighed about 130 kg) it was determined that due to the patient's medical condition and the awkwardness of winching the patient up to the helicopter by stretcher we had to either head the small boat towards Bribie or Moreton Island where we would meet the helicopter: we chose Bribie Island. Due to the weight of the patient, paramedic and myself the boat was nose high and not making very good speed. After 20 minutes and with light fading we were happy to see the Coast Guard approaching us. After transferring to the Coast Guard boat we arrived quickly at Bribie Island where we loaded the patient into the helicopter and flew to Royal Brisbane Hospital.
Hobbies and interests: Music, drumming, learning, having fun with family and friends.

Wayne ThompsonWayne Thompson

 

Joined ENERGEX Rescue as Pilot: 2007
Experience: Australian Commercial Pilot Licence Helicopter, Australian Command Instrument Rating Helicopter, European Airline Transport Pilot Licence Helicopter, European Airline Transport Licence Fixed Wing, Canadian Commercial Pilot Licence Helicopter, New Zealand Commercial Pilot Licence Helicopter.
Highlights: For me the highlight of my flying career has been working on the Interconnector Transmission Powerline Construction in Scotland. This powerline was constructed completely by helicopters and is now used to supply electricity to the underwater cable connecting the United Kingdom Grid to Northern Ireland. I flew United Kingdom- and Norwegian-registered helicopters lifting thousands of tonnes of concrete, steel and equipment into the 222 towers constructed between Glasgow and Balantrae on the Scottish Ayrshire Coast.
Most memorable mission: The British Company I worked for purchased a Beech 200 Kingair plane from an American Company and I was asked to fly the aircraft from the USA back to the UK. I picked the aircraft up from Concorde Airport near Charlotte, North Carolina. The planned route took me via Teterboro Airport, New York; GooseBay Airport, Newfoundland, Canada; Narsarsuaq, Greenland and Reykjavik, Iceland onto the destination; Bristol International Airport, England. The flying time was 18 hours and the experience was something I will never forget.   
Hobbies and interests: Spending time with my wife and 4 children, watching the kids' sports, travelling, business, rugby union and running.
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