Donation doubles CareFlight's hangar space
THE past week's two-fold helping of good fortune has buoyed the spirits of the RACQ CareFlight team in the lead-up to the busy Christmas season.
Just days after receiving a vital $50,000 donation from the Order of St John, the organisation has unveiled its new Toowoomba aircraft hangar donated by mining company Easternwell.
The new facility effectively doubles CareFlight's original hangar space.
Pilot Adrian Park said the donation could not have come at a better time, especially considering 70 per cent of all CareFlight's lifesaving flights take off from Toowoomba.
"Whenever a storm would come we would almost need therapy," he explained, referring to the weather-induced rush to borrow hangar space to get the $18 million choppers safe from the elements.
"This means we're not out in the open and our machines are protected."
Easternwell donated the hangar when operations outgrew the space.
Group manager of business development Bill Sankey said it was a choice between scrapping the entire structure and finding a worthy beneficiary.
"I can't think of a more deserving recipient than CareFlight," he said.
