Every hour of every day - WA’s only 24/7 emergency rescue helicopter service
The RAC Rescue helicopters provide vital search and rescue critical care medical services to the WA community. They are funded by the State Government, managed by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and sponsored by RAC.
Going the distance
In 2024, the RAC Rescue helicopters flew to a total of 526 missions in WA. Here's how they helped Western Australians who found themselves in difficulty.
Vehicle rescues
314
People flown
343
Sea and land search and rescues
60
Total missions since 2003
10,351
Mission hours
1426
New era for RAC Rescue
The first RAC Rescue helicopter has upgraded to a brand new AW139 helicopter. These state-of-the-art aircraft can fly further and faster and feature improved mission systems and technology.
The enhanced capabilities of the new AW139 helicopters will allow for quicker responses to a diverse range of emergencies, improving patient outcomes.
In this short video, RAC Rescue Pilot Michael Perren highlights some of the key features of this impressive new aircraft.
RAC has sponsored WA's only 24/7 emergency rescue helicopters since 2003. Since then, the RAC Rescue helicopters have flown more than 10,000 missions.
The RAC Rescue helicopters respond to a wide range of emergencies including:
Land and sea search and rescue
Road crash rescue
Industrial and agricultural incidents
Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), Personal Location Beacon (PLB) and Emergency Locater Transmitter (ELT) activations
Flood and cyclone rescue and relief missions
Aircraft crashes and incidents
Cliff and vessel helicopter hoist rescues
Other operations include aerial intelligence and reconnaissance, incident aerial mapping, emergency personnel and equipment transport and Inter-Hospital Patient Transport.
A third, backup helicopter provides redundancy and can be mobilised by DFES to support emergency response rescue operations, as it did during the Carnarvon floods, Tropical Cyclone Seroja, the Kimberley floods, and the Total Solar Eclipse in Exmouth.
Latest Facts
New rescue helicopters
The first RAC Rescue helicopter has upgraded to a new and improved AW139 helicopter. Funded by the State Government, these state-of-the-art helicopters are replacing the full RAC Rescue fleet and being customised to the needs of the flight crews to enhance the capability of this life-saving service.
The new helicopters will decrease response times to people in need, with the capacity to fly 45 kilometres per hour faster. They can fly 350 kilometres out and back from their home bases without refuelling, enabling RAC Rescue to deliver rapid support to more people in WA than ever before. The cabin is also bigger, with the capacity to fit more patients, equipment or up to 10 seated people. Paired with some of the most advanced aeromedical equipment and search and rescue technology, they will carry RAC Rescue well into the future.
Over the past five years, the RAC Rescue helicopters have a yearly average of:
Flying 148,686 mission kilometres
Flying more than 1,683 hours
Completing 681 missions
Transporting 481 patients
Responding to 329 road crash rescue incidents
On 11 August 2023, RAC Rescue celebrated 20 years since the first rescue mission. In that time over 6,800 patients have been transported and over 2.1 million kilometres travelled across WA. Learn about the growth of the service in the video below.
On each mission, the RAC Rescue helicopters fly with a crew that includes a Pilot, an Aircrew Officer and a Critical Care Paramedic (CCP). The RAC recue crew can be airborne within 15 minutes of receiving a call.
RAC Rescue crew:
The Pilot, who is contracted through CHC Helicopters Australia, is responsible for flying the RAC Rescue helicopter safely and efficiently into often challenging environments and giving the crew and CCP the best chance of reaching and aiding those in distress.
The Aircrew Officer, who is contracted through CHC Helicopters Australia, manages confined area landings, hoist operations and assists the CCP and Pilot when needed. The Aircrew Officer also works with the Rescue helicopter’s state-of-the-art Forward Looking Infrared or ‘FLIR’ camera that can help locate people in distress at sea or in remote areas.
The Critical Care Paramedic, who is contracted through St John Ambulance, provides emergency critical care directly at the incident scene in a pre-hospital environment. The CCP must often work with patients in some of the most logistically challenging emergency situations. Their key duty is to stabilise the patient and then transport them to a medical facility if required. CCP capabilities include: advanced airways management, rapid sequence induction and administration of drug and blood transfusion.
We actively encourage our community to learn more about and engage with the RAC Rescue helicopters.
The RAC Rescue Experience enables you to take to the sky with the crew using virtual reality technology. The four-minute, 360-degree experience takes you on a mission on board one of the RAC Rescue helicopters without leaving the ground.
RAC Rescue takes part in a limited number of community events, base visits, and training exercises. We also arrange reunions for those rescued by RAC Rescue, so that they can meet the flight crew who assisted them.
To request RAC Rescue for an event, exercise, rescue reunion or to schedule a base visit, please complete the online Event Request Form.
RAC Rescue missions
Since 2003, RAC Rescue has performed over 10,000 missions.
With one helicopter base in Perth and the second base in Bunbury, RAC Rescue covers more than 90 percent of the State's population.
See some of the missions performed on the map below.
RAC Rescue stories
Stories from the RAC Rescue crew and the people whose lives they've helped save
