The Queensland section of Australian air ambulance provider the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) now has greater visibility and accountability of its engineering and maintenance activity, by bringing all its engineering operations in-house. Eighteen staff this week joined the RFDS from former maintenance and engineering provider Hawker Pacific. They are now employed across six RFDS base locations statewide.

RFDS (Queensland Section) manager engineering operations Adam Clegg says the transition gives the organisation absolute control of the end product: “The decision to insource our engineering operations was driven by higher external stakeholder compliance levels and the ability to own our own risk in relation to aircraft maintenance. For example, we will now be more responsive to aircraft defect rectification. Along with adoption of a new aviation software product, we will have full visibility of engineering related functions in order to measure performance and identify greater efficiencies in the future. In-house engineering operations will ultimately allow us to also drive a better product through the use of our safety and quality management systems.”

Clegg goes on to say that the transition would also improve staff engagement for the engineering and maintenance team who had become part of the RFDS: “While Hawker Pacific has been our sole maintenance provider for the past three years, it has a long history with the RFDS, reaching back over 40 years, and we will ensure this relationship extends well into the future.

“We're extremely grateful to Hawker Pacific for its dedication to the needs of our fleet and the greater organisation, and I welcome our new engineering and maintenance staff into the RFDS family.”

RFDS operates a fleet of King Air 200s and King Air 350s in Queensland.