Helicopter Lifting · Parker Aero
Two economies, one region: the Bowen Basin behind it and the island resorts in front of it. Both share the same problem — no road to the load point.
Coverage
Suburbs and localities served
Local government areas
What we lift here
Resort plant, tanks and construction materials to the islands
Bowen Basin component and conveyor work
Cyclone reinstatement across the coast and islands
Coastal and hinterland network reinstatement
Resort chiller and plant changeouts
Island jetty, villa and structural steel placements
Local operating considerations
Airspace, weather, terrain and approvals decide whether a lift flies — not the hook rating. This is the operating picture we plan every Mackay & Whitsundays task against.
Island and near-shore work sits inside the Marine Park. Operations require permitted landing areas, minimum altitudes over sensitive zones, and strict controls on anything that could enter the water. Approvals are the long pole in the schedule — assume weeks, not days, for a new island site.
This coast takes direct hits. Two effects follow: a hard planning season where bookings carry weather clauses, and a surge in reinstatement work immediately after, when islands are cut off and aerial delivery is the only functioning supply chain.
Inter-island transits are flown as over-water tasks with flotation, and the jettison plan must consider vessels, moorings and reef. On short island hops we plan the load path over open water rather than over anchorages, which sometimes adds distance to a five-minute crossing.
Moranbah, Dysart and the surrounding operations plan shutdowns to the hour. Aerial lift is chosen because it compresses a crane's mobilisation, assembly and dismantle into a single flying window — but it only pays if the aircraft, permit and component all land on the same date. We lock these programmes months ahead.
Island resorts do not close for a lift. Work is scheduled around guest movements and ferry arrivals, typically before 08:00, with resort management controlling the ground cordon and a briefed comms channel between the pilot, the resort and the ground team.
Projects in this region
Two units exchanged before the first ferry; barge and crane alternative quoted at nine days.
Fourteen frames placed along an operating corridor during a 36-hour shutdown.
Forty-one poles over five days into cane paddocks still impassable to vehicles.
Service radius
Schematic only. We operate statewide — the radius shows the area typically covered from this base without additional fuel staging.
Questions
Next step
Airborne in 3.4 hours from Mackay Airport (YBMK) / Whitsunday Airport.