In 1981, LifeFlight began as the Gold Coast Helicopter Rescue Service with a single-engine helicopter performing weekend beach and surf patrols on the Gold Coast. The team consisted of one permanent pilot and 15 volunteer crewmen. Today, the team run 13 helicopters and 3 fixed-wings and service a large area across Queensland. On average they attend between 6-12 accidents daily, offering critical-care to the community when required, notably to those in rural and remote communities.

LifeFlight run a 24/7 operations centre (known internally as C3) in Brisbane which functions to support every aspect of an operation from tasking the first phone call that comes in, to then facilitating the rescue and response from there — contacting the aircraft, advising the team of their mission, sending grid coordinates and supporting other parts of the mission such as fuel, ambulances on scene.