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
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.
I thought the question was about who pays for military choppers when they're used in a SAR mission. I'm not sure what point you're making to the statement I made? Are you suggesting that someone else, other than the tax payers, are paying for the missions? That would be nice, I guess, but that's just not so.
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.
Now you're talking about a local sherrifs office. I can't speak to that. The original question was about military choppers not civilian law enforcement. As someone else mentioned, the military doesn't do do body recovery (or law enforcement for that matter). Every mission they do assist on has to first be approved by the Pentagon before they can participate (at least that's how the Idaho National Guard operates). They generally can only assist in medical related missions. Maybe that's why you get the impression they only fly missions they feel like it or are only flying high profile missions.
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