Coastal Safety Lifesaving Services Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter

Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service

Playing a crucial role in coastal safety and identifying emergencies, our highly-trained crews are on the lookout for people in distress as they perform regular patrols along the West Australian coastline.

ABOUT OUR SERVICE

In Western Australia, our Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service has been operating in the metropolitan area since 2008, and the South West since 2013.

The metropolitan service is based at Rous Head in Fremantle, performing coastal surveillance patrols and emergency response missions throughout the greater Perth metropolitan area, from Mandurah in the south to Yanchep in the north and around Rottnest Island. Our metro service is operational from September to April each year.

The South West service, based out of the Busselton Margaret River Airport, operates from September to April each year with a focus on providing coastal surveillance patrols on weekends and holidays (public and school) over popular coastal destinations between Bunbury and Hamelin Bay.

Our Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service is proudly partnered by Westpac and supported by the Government of Western Australia.

service statistics

Between 1 September 2025 and 30 April 2026, our service performed:

0

Shark Sightings

209 Metro

502 South West

Shark sightings as reported by our crew.

0

Patrol Hours

510 Metro 

485 South West

The number of flying hours patrolling our West Australian coastline.

0

Number of Patrols

438 Metro 

269 South West

The number of patrols performed by each of our services.

0

Preventions

3,558 Metro

2,036 South West

This is the number of people cleared from the water due to a warning being issued.

patrol schedule

Our service is operational from September to April each year. The patrol schedule dates for each service are outlined here.

Metro

September 2026

5 - 6, 12 - 13, 19 - 20

21 September 2026 - 30 April 2027

Daily

South West