I managed a community north of Alice off the Plenty Highway. On our station we had the only night approved strip for some 140,000sqkms... so people would be transported to our strip for night evacs from all of the neighbouring communities clinics and stations.
Many a nights sleep was lost trying to make out the blinking navigation lights of the Pilatus against the brightest of stars in the milky way!
I would have to line the strip with some 60 "dolphin" style lights, light up the wind sock with head lights so that the pilot could do his flyover before landing the plane. Just before they come in for their landing, Id do a run up and down the strip (in my vehicle of course) to ensure the area was free of stray cattle and roo's. The worst part was waiting the compolsory 30 minutes after the plane had departed before being able to collect all of my lights and return to bed... just in case the plane had to come back for an emergency landing of its own!
The adrenalin look care of the sleep deprivation!
Of course, night evacs were not the only time we used the RFDS. 240 people living in our community and associated out stations often required assistance from these amazing people. I averaged 3 evacs a month from pregnancies (anticipated departures) to the many emergencies (motor cycle crashes from the station, bull vrs car, general medical evacs such as heart attacks, strokes and anything else in between).
Its the lack of assistance offered to the community I was living/working in by Remote Health that actually forced me to leave this life style. We had a medical clinic which had been closed due to a small fire (medicine fridge caught alight), which saw me arranging a troopie each day being dispatched to the nearest clinic some 90kms away ( a bumpy rough 2 hour trip). This left me souly responsible for the emergency care of all of these people. Tough stuff, unpleasant stuff... On more than one occasion I cried from sheer relief as the plane took off with their precious cargo aboard and disappeared over the horizon - or at least until the dot in the distance was the same size as the flies pestering around me.
The guys who fly and assist with the RFDS as well as the staff that man the phones to assist those living in isolated environments are a god send. Their reassurance and advice given has on more than one occasion saved a life!
Give generously to these people you have no idea of how much important stuff they do - especially begind the scenes of the high profile stuff.
Below is one of the very few photos I had time to take of a Pilatus on our landing strip.
