Sky Crane

[Timbo]

Geez she is a big ship.
Her name is 'Delilah'
FYI I have just posted some pics in the 'Gallery Test' for Yawl to have a peek
MrT

[Alan (Big Al)]

Whats with the thumbs down

[calspec]

Yes, I was wandering the same thing.  She can only get a thumbs up for her efforts during the week in SA.  What a machine.  With the results achieved for each and every drop, shame she is so expensive to maintain and operate, as we could do with one stationed permanently in SA.  Our little old budget just wouldn't cope.

[Ryan]

Maybe he's still lving int he 70's and was hoping for Elvis. 

[Timbo]

Whats with the thumbs down

What Thumbs Down?? - what does that mean - She is a great ship

[Timbo]

Ah, now I see what you mean - dunno what happened there, all fixed now

[5271rescue]

mind you it still took 36 heres to get here,yes they are great but we missed out so we will have to just beg for it from the VICS or NSW when we need it again....

[aust_fire1]

I was told it cost $12,000 per hour to use. Well there goes the end of year barbie :-D

[24P]

heard during the week the government kicked in an extra 1.9 mill for air support. Anyone else hear this?

[5271rescue]

I don't think cost should come into any job,as long as you are going to use the resource what is the problem?????really we are trying to stop something from getting bigger and we are always reminded of how much it will cost......

[aust_fire1]

Not complaining about the cost,
I am curious to know how much it costs to hire it.

I got some good pics of her in action. Would love to have got a pic of it on the ground

[medevac]

i think its 3grand per hour,,,

and heres some interesting trivia.

apparently for it to travel from adelaide to pt lincoln it would take 6hrs and require a stop on the yorke peninsula to refuel.

[aust_fire1]

6 hrs is a long time for that trip.
Where is it based. Is it in Vic or NSW

[SA Firey]

Maybe he's still lving int he 70's and was hoping for Elvis. 

Elvis left the building a long time ago :-P

[Timbo]

6 hrs is a long time for that trip.
Where is it based. Is it in Vic or NSW

Based all over the world, She came from Greece before us for this season, then goes to Asia next, before returning to Greece for their next fire season. 
The Ericson Company that is American based has 40 of them in the air.
They do more than fire fighting - they are used a lot for building, and logging.

They ship it from country to country in the big russian cargo plane - the plane can carry 2 at once.

[Timbo]

i think its 3grand per hour,,,

and heres some interesting trivia.

apparently for it to travel from adelaide to pt lincoln it would take 6hrs and require a stop on the yorke peninsula to refuel.

True - She uses 2000lt of AvGas per hour to fly, and only has a 2500 Lt Fuel Tank

[Scania_1]

Unfortunately cost has been and always will be an issue. The budget is  not a bottomless pit and CFS have to be accountable to the government and the wonderful public for what is spent. Still see people sending letters into the paper every now and then suggesting we should have the canadair super scoopers here. Even though they are way more expensive and not suitable for areas like the Adelaide hills. Not to mention they are friggin slow.

[medevac]

lol and where the hell is there a decent water supply in SA for canadairs anyway??? other than the sea obviously...

just think, for the cost of one sky crane, theycould probly run another three koalas....  :roll:

[RescueHazmat]

I personally think the fixed wings we have, and the skilled pilots far out weigh any aerial fire fighting resource I have ever seen !

[Pipster]

Cost of running the skycrane is around $11,000 per hour.  Plus the cost of actually having it here.... (regardless of whether you use it or not....!) - I think that was around $1 million for the season (although that figure could be a bit rubbery...someone did tell me the cost, and I think that is right!)

For the cost of one skycrane, we can run most (all?) of what we have now...multiple bombers, helitaks etc....

CFS, like any other Government Department, has a budget, and we have to stick to it.   Sometimes, CFS needs to go to the Government, and ask for more - for things like this season, where CFS as a whole has been so busy....

While we could argue "what price is a life" and that CFS should be able to use whatever resources we can get, regardless of the cost, many other Government Departments could argue the same thing....and if they all spent whatever they thought they needed to, the Government would have a major budgetry problem!!

Overall, CFS has a budget, and has to use that budget in the smartest way we can -  with what is going to give us the best value for our money.....

Pip

[CaptCom]

i think its 3grand per hour,,,

and heres some interesting trivia.

apparently for it to travel from adelaide to pt lincoln it would take 6hrs and require a stop on the yorke peninsula to refuel.

I heard it's 12K per hour and it also costs to have it sitting doing nothing...

I find it hard to believe that it would take 6hrs to get from Adelaide to PL... they don't fly that slowly...I might be wrong... :?

[fire03rescue]

Just some facts from the web sites

Speed 115 Knots  about 212 Km per hour
Endurance 2.5 Hours Standard Tank
          4.5 Hours Aux Tank

http://www.ericksonaircrane.com/firefighting.asp
or
http://www.air-crane.com/services/fire_suppression.html

[SA Firey]

Its been busy, was in Victoria then came over the border to Waikerie and then got deployed to Clare and then to Onkaparinga Gorge the same day.
You sure know when its coming and you have to be quick to get a shot off quick while it is in action or its gone :wink: