page_title: Mungalalu Truscott Airbase
section_title: Current operations
hierarchical_section_title: Mungalalu Truscott Airbase / Current operations
context_page_description: Mungalalu Truscott Airbase or Truscott-Mungalalu Airport, which during World War II was known as Truscott Airfield is today a commercial airport in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia.
  Mungalalu Truscott is about 281 nautical miles west-southwest of Darwin and 333 NM northeast of Broome. Located on the Anjo Peninsula in the far North Kimberley district of Western Australia. Mungalalu Truscott occupies 46 km² on Aboriginal land.
  The airbase falls under the traditional ownership of the Wunambal Gaambera people, who use the traditional name for the area: Mungalalu. The base is managed by Mungalalu Truscott Airbase Pty Ltd and has been registered with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority as a commercial air base since April 2005. MT Airbase manages the Mungalalu Truscott Base under an agreement with the Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation. Agreement has been reached with WGAC to sub lease the airfield and base area with licences for access to certain roads and areas of coastline until 2042.
context_section_description: Today the airbase has multiple roles, but primarily that of a staging base for workers on the offshore oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea. In addition it serves as an Aeromedical Retrieval and Search & Rescue (S.A.R.) base from which helicopter operations can be conducted with Critical Care Flight Paramedics on board. Operations include oil & gas companies, RFDS calls and AusSAR activations. Workers are flown into the base by fixed wing aircraft and then transferred to helicopters at Mungalalu Truscott for the final flight leg to offshore facilities in and around the Timor Sea. Currently, three Sikorsky S92 helicopters operated by Babcock Helicopters are based at Mungalalu Truscott. In the recent past there have been up to seven helicopters of varying types operated out of the base by Babcock, Bristow Helicopters and CHC. Other regular users of the base include the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service who use the airbase as a staging post for their aerial surveillance patrols in the area. In April 2020 PHI International began operations from Mungalalu Truscott Airbase using S92 aircraft to support the Ichthys gas field operated by Inpex. 
  Mungalalu Truscott is the largest all-weather airbase in the Far North Kimberley Region. The sealed runway with PAPI lights for night operations is the premier option for companies with business interests in the region. Mungalalu Truscott complies with CASA MoS 139 regulation and allows unrestricted operations for aircraft up to 29 seat capacity. The runway is 1,800 m × 30 m (5,906 ft × 98 ft) with turning nodes, ramps and taxiways. There are two hangars currently (2014) certified by CASA as maintenance hangars, two additional covered storage hangars and a well equipped medical facility. There is camp accommodation with individual rooms for 71 pax and facilities include a shared mess, swimming pool and gymnasium. In past years, numerous aircraft types have utilised the aerodrome; they have included Fairchild Metro 23, Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia and Bombardier Dash 8.
caption: One of the Paspaley Pearl company's Grumman Mallards taxis into Truscott Airbase to pick up rotating crew transferring to remote pearl farm operations via the flying boats in 2007
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