John Mac has been sending his a/c overseas for years now. Firefighting in spain portugal and more recently lifting work in PNG.
Hevi lift PNG have been coming to Australia since 1993 to fight fires.
As mentioned previously these contracts were awarded thru a public tender.
There is no way that an operator would stay in business if they were to go and buy or lease 3 212's for the fire season. Having these types of machines sitting around for six to nine months doing nothing is very expensive. Hevi lift tried it with 1 212 in Sydney with dissapointing results.....even if the peanut they had managing the show was not there, it would hav been an unsustainable operation.
Skycranes are expensive, but they are an awsome firefighting tool in the right operators hands. I do believe the money would be better spent on a fleet of mediums giving more coverage, but it would only take one house to be burnt down in sydneys northern suburbs, and the people who sent elvis home will have committed political suicide.