One way to fund any programme is to do it the same way as Maryland in the US. The HEMS and SAR organisation are rolled into one and operated by the Maryland State Police (upwards of 10 helos I believe). It is completely funded by a $5 tax on every vehicle (thats Vear-hicle) registration, and gives the required amount of funding. From memory (I can't find the article at the moment), they do something over a 1000 HEMS and 1000 SAR's per year, all publicly funded and operated by a public body. They have recently gone out to tender for three new aircraft and operate a fleet of twin engine aircraft (mostly AS365N3's).
I'm not going to get into the debate about Commercial vs govt funding but in my utopian world, SAR and HEMS would be:
- a government funded organisation with a defined stream of income (like the registration tax),
- Have a defined goal and response times to those goals, (a contract if you will),
- managed by professional non policital, aviators,
- the ability to avoid the govt tendering process and buy on the open market the best equipment they could get, as long as it was transparent(and cheaper through avoiding the tendering process),
- pay their crews well to make sure they hang around for years,
- Have a defined training and currency regime,
- Not have anything to do with the CAA and their stupid rules on NVG, winches etc (luckily the rest of the world is considered capable of using the green screen)
But I'm dreaming, or is that when I wake up next to Jennifer Hawkins (no wait, if I wake up next to her, I can't be dreaming can I?)
