Couldn’t the current flight nurse’s and doctors be rostered in either the PC12 or the PC24?
I'm sure they could Alice, but the issue is with the numbers of nurses and doctors. An extra aircraft at the base makes for extra shifts that have to be filled - assuming the RFDS want
all the aircraft
always capable of flying.
So, how to fill those extra shifts? Only two ways:
1. Extra manpower, or
2. Increased utilisation of existing manpower.
Option 2 is only feasible if there is considerable "fat" in the existing PC12 rosters. There may be some fat, but I very much doubt enough to completely fill all the extra shifts.
In my numbers, I have gone for 4-5 extra pilots, 2-3 extra nurses, and 1-2 extra doctors. I have assumed some fat in the existing nurse manpower levels. Without that fat, it would have to have been 4-5 extra nurses.