the question i have is : who pays for the chopper? nevada county or the military or a private entity that has an arrangement with the county?
I note that the recent Mt. Hood recovery of a dead hiker utilized Blackhawk helicopters owned by the National Guard. Last I remember, the National Guard is paid for out of government funds. I have yet to hear that the survivor was billed for the service. That means every citizen of Oregon gets to pay for their mistake.
It comes out of the training budget of the military. You have to bear in mind that the chopper crew are required a certain number of hours a month of training. That's the same if they're using it for SAR, public affair events or generally just flying around burning fuel. If you talk to them they'ed rather be spend that time doing something useful like SAR or medical evacuation. It costs the same either way so you can't always count that as a cost of the search.
ain't necessarily so, joe.
the most recent extraction i'm aware of ALMOST took place on mt hood by a national guard blackhawk.
from the register-guard
here. "An Oregon Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter was called to airlift the pair off the mountain, authorities said, but was recalled after one climber was reported dead and the other had climbed down on his own."
so it appears to me they had better things to do - or were conscious of the cost and safety of their crew - than to extract a person who was already dead.
point is, dollars count.
the local crew in my area (sheriffs dept) flies about one mission per day - law enforcement, sar, medical rescue, marijuana (!) extraction from the forest - etc. otherwise, they are not just "flying around", they are at base. i know. i just called and asked.
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