So a point of the Broome basing (of a jet) is that it is the busiest base in the north of WA, it has an increased capacity 3 stretchers and will get to the patient faster.
Bend alot, I thank you for your exhaustive efforts to answer my question, but I suspect you are answering a slightly different question to what I have asked (see my post #52). My question is:
Why the Broome basing when everything the Broome-based jet can do could be done by a Perth/Jandakot based jet with exactly the same time frames?
These jets will be capable of short landings and take offs on dirt and unsealed airstrips which is essential to emergency evacuations in many parts of Western Australia, including the Kimberley.
Watch out for the RFDS
PR spin. Notice they always say the jets "are capable of ... dirt and unsealed", but never actually say that they
will be operating on dirt/unsealed. The "emergency evacuations" line could also just be the
PR machine.
Let's take a look at exactly which "dirt" strips they will be conducting "emergency evacuations" from. Firstly, keep in mind that an "emergency evacuation" can only be done from one of the places that is not a major centre. This is because the major centres all have hospitals. Any emergency will first go to a hospital for stabilisation. That will usually take several hours. Once the patient is in hospital, it is no longer an emergency.
The major centres are Broome, Derby, Kununurra, Wyndham, Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek. Almost the only places that can take the jet.
Which other places can take the jet, and don't have hospitals?
Balgo Hill. To my understanding of that part of the world, this is the only strip that is long enough (and wide enough). But, it has an elevation of over 1,000' and is gravel. The combination of gravel and high elevation would make for a takeoff performance requirement that is outside the capability of this jet for probably half the year, I believe.
So, with the possible exception of Balgo Hill, all the dirt/unsealed emergency work will continue to be done by the PC-12. It will take the turboprop several hours to get these patients to a major centre, from where they could be transferred onto the jet for carriage to Perth or Darwin.
But, having transferred the patient to a major centre, do they now go into the hospital there, or onto the jet? Most will go to the hospital.
In the time taken to get the patient to the major centre, the jet could have been making its way up from Perth/Jandakot. So why all the expense of the Broome basing when the same result could be achieved with the Perth basing? Those extra 5-6 Broome houses and allowances would surely add up to near a million dollars per year. As a taxpayer paying for about 80% of the RFDS, I am interested in the new ways they are finding to waste my money.