Interview: Tyson Smith, General Manager of Commercial Partnerships at LifeFlight

Tyson Smith next to an illustration of a plane

Tyson Smith, General Manager of Commercial Partnerships at LifeFlight, speaks to Michelle Royle about being based in Queensland, why training is vital, and important partnerships

You have been with the company for 14 years. What does your current role involve?

In my current role as General Manager of Commercial Partnerships I work closely with both existing and potential clients to enhance our aviation, medical, and operational offerings, ensuring we adapt to their evolving business needs. I also maintain operational oversight of the jet air ambulance business unit and collaborate with our frontline teams to continuously improve our services. On the administrative side, I handle the necessary but less glamorous tasks, allowing our crews to focus on what they do best: helping people.

What have been your biggest successes or failures to date?

Navigating the complexities of Covid-19 to maintain our staff and operations count as my biggest success. It involved many sleepless nights and executing complex international and domestic missions.

Early in my career, I made the mistake of telling clients what I thought they needed rather than listening to their problems. Reflecting on this was crucial. I learned that listening is one of the strongest tools and that surrounding yourself with mentors who align with your values can turn failures into learning opportunities.

The company is based in Queensland, which has quite a unique mixture of rural and urban environments. How do you prepare for operations in such different landscapes?

Operating in Queensland, Australia’s second-largest state with an area of approximately 1.85 million square kilometres (about 715,000 square miles), presents a range of unique challenges.

On any given day, our operations can involve attending multiple motor vehicle accidents, sometimes hours away from the nearest town, transporting patients between hospital facilities to assist the state health network in managing patient bed flow, and even transporting patients across countries and continents. It’s quite dynamic. We also operate out of Singapore with a 604 Challenger. We’re one of a few aeromedical providers with integrated bases on two continents. Through our Townsville jet, we can deploy quickly to the Far North or Central Queensland so we can bring patients back to major airports and hospitals. Important to us are the following:

•  Comprehensive training – Training is the backbone of our operations. We ensure that our crews are thoroughly prepared for the varied conditions they may encounter. This includes simulations and real-world exercises tailored to both rural and urban environments.

•  Community engagement – Building strong relationships with local communities is essential. We engage with regional and urban health services, hospitals, and community organisations to understand their specific needs. This engagement helps us tailor our services and training to meet the unique demands of each area.

•  Versatile fleet management – Our fleet includes a mix of AW139 helicopters, Bell 412s, and Challenger 604 aircraft, each with different maintenance schedules and operational capabilities. This diversity ensures that we can respond effectively to a wide range of missions, from urban inter-facility transfers to medical emergencies in remote areas.

•  Advanced medical capabilities – Our medical teams are equipped with the latest medical technology and supplies. This ensures they can provide lifesaving care even in remote areas far from major hospitals. Our teams are trained to handle a wide range of medical emergencies, ensuring high standards of care wherever they are needed.

•  Self-sufficiency – We strive to be self-sufficient in terms of aircraft recovery and maintenance. This includes the capability to deploy specialist engineering teams to remote locations to get our aircraft back in the air quickly, ensuring minimal downtime.

Retaining and recruiting staff in the industry has become a big issue. How does LifeFlight tackle these challenges?

Staying connected to the industries. Recruitment across aviation, engineering, medical, and operational roles is challenging due to competition and shifting generational workforce dynamics. We have a strong leadership team across all divisions of LifeFlight who take ownership of hiring and team building. Regular market analysis helps us stay competitive in terms of salaries and workloads. Our key contract with the Queensland Government provides stability, enabling us to recruit and build the largest pre-hospital care doctor workforce in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

How important is training to the business, and how do you make sure your staff are all trained to the highest possible standards?

Training is vital in the aeromedical and aviation industries. At LifeFlight, we have built and operate our own training academy, which houses a world-class AW139 full-motion simulator. We also utilise virtual reality training for aircrewman simulation, tailored to real-world winching and confined area scenarios. The facility includes our helicopter underwater escape training (HUET) and a medical training simulator with a full-size AW139 training unit, equipped identically to our aircraft interiors. This allows our medical teams to practise and hone key clinical skills and scenarios before encountering them in actual missions.

We’re one of a few aeromedical providers with integrated bases on two continents

We deal with two of the most regulated and highly skilled sectors globally. Ensuring our emergency medical services (EMS) pilots and aircrew are highly skilled fosters a culture of growth and safety.

Our medical unit conducts constant clinical case reviews to monitor and improve procedures and equipment. Similarly, our operations control room oversees all taskings and bespoke deployments, requiring solid operating procedures and workflows to ensure seamless service.

LifeFlight has been operating for over 40 years. What are the key elements of success in this industry?

Agility to meet market demands, strong community and client engagement, and having passionate people within the company are key to our success. Our leadership team has always consisted of individuals who performed frontline operations. This knowledge, combined with operational experience, allows us to make quick, informed decisions. We also adhere to stringent standards across medical and aviation practices, making us a world leader in aeromedical care.

LifeFlight partners with many organisations within Australia and around the world. How do you choose who to partner with and how do you maintain those relationships?

We partner with companies and individuals who align with LifeFlight’s values. Each year, we receive numerous partnership requests, particularly for our international jet air ambulance business unit. We review each request, focusing on the standards and overall capability of potential partners. EURAMI accreditation is a key factor we consider, as it indicates a company has undergone an external audit to meet industry standards. We are very protective of the LifeFlight brand.

LifeFlight won the ITIJ Air Ambulance Company of the Year award last year – congratulations! Can you tell us why awards are so important to the business?

Thank you! We haven’t traditionally focused on awards. However, we |recognise their benefits. Winning the ITIJ Air Ambulance Company of the Year award was a significant achievement, providing global recognition for our employees’ hard work and dedication to help patients. Industry awards like this highlight the capability to deliver world-class products and help build confidence in our services. The industry, along with the community that ITIJ brings together through their world-class events, plays a crucial role in structuring and advancing the aeromedical and insurance sector.