Our Service and Capabilities
Multi-role Operations
No matter what the task may be, or where the location is – whether it’s a remote area, city skyline, over water, or on top of a steep mountain side, we have the ‘know-how’ to get the task at hand completed quickly, with reliability and foremost, safely.
Our unique assortment of aircraft that we have to offer, ranging from the smallest in our fleet – the Bell 47, up to the largest – the Bell 214B, means that we can carry out a variety of tasks to suit any situation that may arise.
With our highly qualified staff including Pilots, Engineering, Ground Crew, Air Crew, Support Staff and Management team, McDermott Aviation is the right choice to make when it comes to Aviation requirements.
Operational Support
McDermott Aviation don’t only supply the right helicopter for the job, we are the complete “turn key package “ when it comes to all services we provide when completing your task.
We are completely self reliant on Aircraft, Pilots, Engineers, Ground Crew, Air Crew, spare parts, refueling vehicles and all possible aspects of operational support. We have exclusive access to a large range of fixed wing aircraft that are capable of moving crew, parts or what ever else may be required when we want, and how we want.
We have no need to rely on any third party to assist us in completing our tasks – this is what forms the basis as to why we have been so successful in providing a service to our clients for over 30 years that is second to none when it comes to reliability, performance and the attitude the ‘get the job done’.
Pilots
McDermott Aviation pilots are amongst the most experienced specialist pilots available in the world for such operations as long lining – vertical reference, water bombing, winching – personnel extraction and rescue, VIP Transfers and more. With all operations, safety and professionalism is paramount.
All McDermott Aviation Pilots hold an Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) commercial license, and depending on their area of specialty are endorsed with Class One Agricultural ratings, Pilot Chemical Application License (DPI Standards Branch), Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia’s ‘Operation Spray Safe’ accreditation and have a minimum of 1,000 hours Turbine experience.
Our fire fighting pilots are amongst the most highly experienced in Australia, with extensive long line and or Belly Tank experience with the Australian conditions recognised as having some of the worst terrain and fire conditions in the world.
To meet with our high safety standards, our pilots regularly perform ‘Check and Training” flights with highly qualified and endorsed check pilots (CAR217 accredited Check & Training Organisation) to ensure their airmanship, skills and emergency procedures are at worlds best practice standards.
Ground Crew
McDermott Aviation support all operations with a team of highly experienced and accredited ground crew/Loadmasters for assisting in roles such as refuelling, chemical loading, “Dogging” – underslung load rigging and assisting in load placement and much more.
They are trained in Helicopter loading procedures, chemical handling, refuelling, rigging of underslung loads, and more.
All of our ground crew hold;
- Dangerous Goods Licence (Transport by Road)
- Aerial AG. Assoc. of Australia’s Operation Spray Safe mixer/loaders’ chemical handling accreditation
- Dogman’s Licence
- Construction Industry Safety Card
- ASIC card
- Senior First Aid Certificate.
All loadmasters undertake specialised in-house on the job training that is not taught in standard training organisations, and can take years to complete all areas of expertise.
Engineering
We have a large team of licensed aircraft maintenance engineers on staff, as well as licensed field engineers who accompany machines when dispatched away from our main base for in field services and maintenance requirements.
We operate our own maintenance facilities that hold multiple approvals with Australian CASA, The United States FAA and Papua New Guinea CASA, with our main base in Cooroy, as well as Hangars at Maroochydore QLD, Jandakot WA, Bankstown NSW, Port Moresby PNG and Magenta New Caledonia.
McDermott Aviation provide full, ‘in house’ maintenance and spares support for all our aircraft, and carry a large inventory of parts/components for our machines, including;- main rotor blades, tail rotor blades, transmissions / gear boxes and spare, serviceable engines. This enables us complete control of maintenance /overhaul and servicing of our machines in Australia.
We pride ourselves in our safety practices that we have in place, and one of our main safety obligations is that all of our aircraft are maintained as per the manufacturers maintenance and overhaul manuals and in accordance with CASA requirements. All of our aircraft are maintained to the highest standards, therefore all maintenance and servicing is complied with when due.
- We work very closely with CASA and work within their guidelines – meaning all our aircraft are serviced and maintained as per manufacturers maintenance manuals in accordance with CASA requirements. All our machines are maintained to the highest standards and all checks and servicing is complied with when due.
- We have a large range of spare parts for all of our fleet, so no matter where we are in the world, when our aircraft needs servicing as per maintenance manual or even an unscheduled maintenance, McDermott Aviation’s qualified engineering team can quickly replace or repair the aircraft to make sure it is serviceable again to ensure valuable time isn’t lost
Air Crew
With the vast field of operations, comes a need for an adaptive and responsive crew to match. Our aircrew are highly trained in all facets of the operational tasks that we are likely to encounter. All of our aircrew have relevant qualifications often exceeding client or regulator requirements, this give our clientele the comfort in knowing the task will be carried out both efficiently and safely. All of our aircrew have current Aviation Medical Certificates, First Aid training, and there task training is carried out through our CASA Training and Checking Organisation.
Our aircrew consists of Hoist Operators for Winching Operations, Down the Wire Rescue Crewpersons for Search and Rescue operations, Systems Operators for our technical capabilities such as FLIR Camera Searches, Night Sun Operations, Directional Finder Operations (Beacon Search Equipment), and mapping or survey operations requiring any of our other technical capabilities.
Aeromedical
Our Twin Engine fleet in conjunction with our sister company Machjet International can offer a fully integrated Aeromedical capability from anywhere in the Australia and the surrounding region. McDermott Aviation has partner providers that can support any aeromedical operation from basic patient transport – through to high acuity medical retrieval. With both aircraft that can be quickly fitted with removable EMS equipment, through to dedicated Air Ambulance fitted helicopters, we have a timely option to serve the task at hand. The capability to mix and match between fixed and rotary wing assets through one single provider ensures an unbiased aviation outline to best serve client needs.
Support Staff
Our success as a company is largely weighted on the backup and support from our staff that work tirelessly ‘behind the scenes’ in widely different roles such as operational planning and logistical coordination, administration, accounts, component overhaul, sheetmetal repairs, aircraft electrical and avionics, aircraft overhaul, spray painting, stores and spare parts, auxiliary equipment inspections and maintenance, aircraft maintenance planning, and vehicle management. Each role plays an integral part in maintaining McDermott Aviation’s title of “Australia’s Largest Privately Owned Helicopter Company” and the continued service we supply to each and every client.
Support Vehicles
We have a range of support vehicles that include fuel trucks, engineering vans, stores vans, loading ‘nurse’ trucks and crane trucks which all serve a specific purpose in assisting our aircraft when on the job.
Our fuel trucks have the capacity of transporting to up 20,000L and are primarily used for supporting our Fire fighting helicopters and during other disaster assistance operations.
Our loading trucks – aka ‘nurse trucks’ are purpose built with a permanently fitted “heli-deck” landing pad to provide on-site loading and refueling of the aircraft during aerial application operations.
To provide engineering support to our helicopter fleet, McDermott Aviation supply maintenance vehicles, which consist of Mercedes, VW and Toyota vans – which are fully equipped with spare parts and tools that is essential for scheduled and preventative maintenance during operations away from one of our many fixed base operations.
