Glad the crew survived! So now my question to DOT; What the hell is a Coast Guard Aircraft (actually the report says two) doing in Vancouver to begin with? If they answer this satisfactorily, then the second question is why send crews all the way form Elizabeth City NC to cover whatever it was they went to the Olympics for in the first place? Surely there are west coast helicopter bases for the Coast Guard.
Every department of the government wastes money if you ask me, and the military side shares this tendency as well as other governmental agencies.
This mission had to originate from Washington and I will bet these crews were in Vancouver to support and transport politicians who might want to go to the Olympics in style. Of course this is merely speculation on my part but, what other reason would these helicopters be used for at the Olympics. Did the Canadians ask us for assistance?
Wonder what the cost for this little operation was? At least two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters and crews flew from the East coast to Canada's West coast. The article list 7 crew aboard the one which crashed so I will assume the other bird had a similar crew. This had to be at least a month long operation for these crews and a lot of flight time put on two very expensive helicopters. I just eyeballed the route an it's about 2900 miles straight line Elizabeth City to Vancouver and they were not following a straight line of flight. Again just guessing from the apparent route they were taking the total distance would be more likely 3200 miles at least. Given the average cruise speed of these birds I guess they would put close to 80 hours time on the airframes in the total operation which would include flying around "supporting" whatever it is they supported while in Vancouver. I will look into this one a little further but, This may have just exposed more government waste when we are about broke in this country to begin with.
Every department of the government wastes money if you ask me, and the military side shares this tendency as well as other governmental agencies.
This mission had to originate from Washington and I will bet these crews were in Vancouver to support and transport politicians who might want to go to the Olympics in style. Of course this is merely speculation on my part but, what other reason would these helicopters be used for at the Olympics. Did the Canadians ask us for assistance?
I will have to stand corrected on my rant about government involvement in security for Olympic Games. I just read a GAO report to Congress about the security provide in Greece during the Summer Games there so, apparently we do work with other nations during Olympic games. I retract my rant on that subject and I am sure there was some reason to use crews from North Carolina as opposed to some West Coast Station. At least the crew survived the accident.
Wonder what the cost for this little operation was? At least two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters and crews flew from the East coast to Canada's West coast. The article list 7 crew aboard the one which crashed so I will assume the other bird had a similar crew. This had to be at least a month long operation for these crews and a lot of flight time put on two very expensive helicopters. I just eyeballed the route an it's about 2900 miles straight line Elizabeth City to Vancouver and they were not following a straight line of flight. Again just guessing from the apparent route they were taking the total distance would be more likely 3200 miles at least. Given the average cruise speed of these birds I guess they would put close to 80 hours time on the airframes in the total operation which would include flying around "supporting" whatever it is they supported while in Vancouver. I will look into this one a little further but, This may have just exposed more government waste when we are about broke in this country to begin with.
Putz
ReplyDeleteIt seems my initial rant about gov. wasted may just be unfounded in this case. I (finally) took the time to research a bit about US involvement in security for Olympic events. Looks like there is a good case for the U.S. to assist in providing security for these events. Global terrorism being what it is today and the fact that many U.S. citizens participate, I see nothing wrong with this government providing some level of security.
ReplyDeleteI will leave the article as I originally typed it to serve as a reminder to myself to think before engaging the keyboard. (not that it will do any good) We learn as we go and if I make mistakes I will admit it so bear with me as I learn.