HeliMods founder proves the sky's no limit for technology and innovation in regional Queensland
As Will Shrapnel prepared to welcome alumni to a UQ Regional Roadshow community event at his Sunshine Coast-based business, HeliMods, he spoke to Contact about why technology and innovation inspires him, and why living in regional Queensland delivers the best of everything.
Will Shrapnel beams as he walks across the Caloundra Aerodrome. Behind it, the early morning October sun highlights the hazy views of the iconic Glass House Mountains and a line of small, privately owned planes are parked along the bitumen runway.
Shrapnel (Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical and Space) '01; Bachelor of Business Management '01) strides towards a huge black hangar and throws his weight behind the massive, heavy roller door, revealing behind it the headquarters of his hi-tech aerospace modification business, HeliMods.
HeliMods founder Will Shrapnel. Image David Kelly
HeliMods founder Will Shrapnel. Image David Kelly
The HeliMods team works on a range of aircraft for diverse missions: emergency medical retrieval, search and rescue, aerial policing and special operations.
The facility currently houses a cutting-edge materials manufacturing workshop and an advanced digital design laboratory, as well as a slick, white, blue and red Beechcraft King Air 360CHW turboprop aircraft – a ‘B360’.
The B360 is the second of a group of seven aircraft to be added to the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) fleet in Queensland that Shrapnel’s team will modify over the next couple of years. They completed the custom fit-out on the first B360 only a week before.
The “fly-out” was a huge success – a chance to celebrate 18 months of meticulous planning, collaboration, designing, building and tweaking.
The next aircraft will take 22 weeks to modify, with the remaining 5 only taking 3 months each to complete, now that the process and design has been perfected.
“The RFDS is an organisation that works to service the health needs of regional and remote communities, and, being in a regional area ourselves, I think we just understand each other because we have shared values,” Shrapnel said.
“We both want to see our Queensland communities connected with technology, so they can have the best outcomes possible.”
Taking aircraft shells and fitting them out so they’re fit-for-purpose is a unique skillset, and the business has solved some of the most challenging problems the RFDS experiences across their network of aircraft.
HeliMods designed the world’s first medical stretchers for the aviation environment that load and unload with just the push of a button, speeding up and simplifying the process of transporting critically sick or injured patients.
A Royal Flying Doctor Service B360 aircraft takes off from the Caloundra Aerodrome runway. Image: Darcy Oxenford, HeliMods
A Royal Flying Doctor Service B360 aircraft takes off from the Caloundra Aerodrome runway. Image: Darcy Oxenford, HeliMods
This technology will soon be available to aeromedical providers across the world.
The team has also fit out the B360’s cabins for complete digital connectivity and improved the ergonomic design to help nurses and doctors to deliver the best possible patient care.
“This partnership with the Royal Flying Doctor Service is one of the most significant projects we've worked on here at HeliMods in our 20 years in business,” Shrapnel said.
“It’s an opportunity to provide unique technology to an iconic Australian brand that's going to make a major impact and difference across regional Queensland. And it shows to the broader global community the level of technology that can be delivered on aircraft like what the RFDS uses.”
Electrical and biomedical engineer Holly Perry (Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) ’20) said that as a Sunshine Coast local herself, she was excited to be able to work on world-leading projects like this in her own backyard.
“I naturally assumed when I chose to pursue engineering that I'd have to move to a city in order to do anything remotely cool,” the UQ alum said.
“I honestly can't believe there's a business like HeliMods on the Sunshine Coast – it truly has global impact and the opportunities you have here are unlike any other engineering company.
“I’ve been working on the electrical systems on the RFDS aeromedical project – adding satellite and cellular communications functionality, as well as lighting and Wi-Fi,” she said.
“We also designed and installed a medical oxygen system that is plumbed into the aircraft. That means the RFDS doesn't have to carry all that equipment on board with them, it's just there ready to go.
“We've also added a medical battery, which means the doctors can perform operations on the ground without needing to run the aircraft batteries flat or use their fuel resources.
“That allows them to operate as a remote hospital on the ground when they’re out west or in incredibly remote environments – it’s game-changing for the RFDS staff and for patients.”
Shrapnel is deeply connected to UQ. His parents studied and met at the University, and he attended St John’s College, where he met his wife, Robyn Dawes (Bachelor of Speech Pathology '98). They fell in love under the boughs of the iconic jacarandas.
It wasn’t just the college lifestyle that kept Shrapnel on campus. It was engineering that captured his imagination, and a business education that grounded his ambition.
“I come from a long line of inventors who have set out to make an impact in their field,” he said.
“My great great great great grandfather invented the explosive shell.”
Lieutenant-General Henry Shrapnel was a British artillery officer. In 1784, he began developing a new kind of artillery shell that was later used in the Battle of Waterloo and commonly deployed throughout the next 100 years until the end of World War I.
An innovation-minded creator himself, Will Shrapnel has taken a different path. He uses his talents, passion and energy to help others through his work as an engineer and entrepreneur, but also as a leader in his community.
He is adamant that the Sunshine Coast is well positioned for growth in digital engineering and high-tech manufacturing, and advocates for local talent development and infrastructure investment to give the region and its people the same opportunities as any major city.
Another upside is, of course, the lifestyle benefits for staff.
“We get out on the water on the weekend, we love living here, and I am very focused on giving back to my community, particularly as a dad of 6,” Shrapnel said.
“I’m involved in a lot of local organisations and initiatives; I am the Chair of the Community Advisory Group for the Sunshine Coast UNESCO Biosphere, I’m on the Executive of the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce and I’m a volunteer and active member of the Dicky Beach Surf Lifesaving Club.
“My kids all go to school in Caloundra, so I have also become pretty involved in school-based volunteering. I’m currently the Vice-President of the P&C and Chair of School Council at Caloundra State High School. I also get behind other local schools to help out where I can.
“Being involved with our local schools allows us to understand how we fit in, as a business, in the community context.
"We make it a priority to engage with kids by talking at schools and bringing them onsite for immersive work-experience programs.
“Through this we have found that lots of kids don’t pursue STEM subjects or technical careers because they believe they’re too hard for them, and that there aren’t any careers for them in their regional hometowns.
“So we want to really make sure that kids here on the Sunshine Coast understand technology-based careers and aerospace-based careers are achievable for them, so that we can we have a chance of igniting their passion. Hopefully they’ll end up back here at HeliMods.
Shrapnel also works with UQ to integrate industry-relevant hands-on training and he takes on engineering students to help them complete their final-year 400 hours of professional practice requirement. He has now hired more than a dozen of these students, including Perry.
“We started here in Caloundra with $5,000 on a credit card and one hangar. Now we have 7 hangars, more than 50 staff and we’re continuing to grow. We’re 20 years in but it feels like we’re just getting started.”
Images: David Kelly
When asked what’s next for HeliMods, Shrapnel mentioned software-controlled air vehicles, autonomous systems, machine learning advances, artificial intelligence technology and next-generation vertical-lift aircraft.
“Urban air mobility is that cliché concept of the flying car – that is absolutely coming at us at a great rate of knots, and we’re really excited to be at the frontier of that technology,” he said.
After our interview, Shrapnel jumped off his stool and turned to leave. We asked one last cheeky question: but what’s in the other hangars?
The smaller shed next to the slick HeliMods showroom was blasting an 80’s playlist. Kenny Loggins rode right into the danger zone as Shrapnel gave us a grin.
“Ah, the other hangars are where the really fun projects are,” he said.
Like hoverboards, Will?
“Yeah, all that and more!”
Find out more about UQ’s Regional Roadshows and how the University is breaking down the barriers to a higher education for students across regional and remote Queensland through The Queensland Commitment.
The Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology has proud traditions of innovation and leadership in education and research.
Words: Genevieve Mackintosh
Editing and design: Michael Jones
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