Cost of Police Helicopters.

[Toohey29]

Hi everybody

wishing to pick your collective brains, i am being given a bit of a hard time on a seperate non aviation forum. After reading a post stating that for a police helicopter......

"It's an accurate estimate for a EC/135 or similiar of around £4-5000 an hour. This includes component times, fuel, maintenance, insurance etc etc. Some estimates of course DO NOT include the lease or purchase costs!! My figure is purely on an operational hour by hour basis."

i thought would say something, but it didn't go down so well. :ugh: Has anybody got some more accurate costs on operating these aircraft. I have google'd it every which way and have found a couple of figures floating about, but it is difficult to compare these prices as they tend to be on the ASU websites and lacking in detail as to how the figures are made up.

i was hoping there maybe somebody sitting reading this in an Air Support Unit somewhere in a quiet moment with some inside info to hand :ok:

thank you in anticipation of your help.

[timex]

Perhaps a shortcut to the forum in question might help. This question was asked recently and I'm sure the costs are around £1500 per hour.

[Toohey29]

agreed :}

but i would quite like to get to the bottom of this, either to find out i'm wrong and remain :oh: in future

or

right and prove one of our plank flying brethren wrong :E

edit....cos was replying to previous post.....

RE: Helicopters To Catch Speeding Drivers (http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=10&t=576571&nmt=RE:%20Helicopters%20To%20Catch%20Speeding%20Drivers)

[Toohey29]

the figure i posted on the other site came from either stated costs of ASU's or direct operating costs from conklin and de decker. I amitted that they were slightly out of date - 2007 and fuel would have gone up a bit, and i'm guessing that converting the cost from america to the UK would inflate them as well but they weren't out by a magnitude of nearly 10!

[Toohey29]

i agree some of the comments are great..... unfortunately i posted a comment and got embroiled in it....:ugh:

[Skyhigh-Ulster]

Unfortunately the PSNI in Northern Ireland won't reveal how much it costs to keep their helicopter on the Tarmac for most of the day


I did however get this strange reply from them :bored:

1/ Given that Premair are sub-contracted by the PSNI to provide Pilotage services for the PSNI Helicopter could you tell me how many pilot man hours are provided to the PSNI by Premair per annum ?

Reply from the PSNI

A contractor provides PSNI with pilots to cover 2 shifts, 7 days per week, 52 weeks of the year. :D


So its now with the ICO :=

[misterbonkers]

Silsoe - should your sums on aircraft cost per hour be based on average flying hours as opposed to 24 hours per day?

[Skyhigh-Ulster]

Yeah cost per flying hour :ok:

[timex]

Tooey, the last thing you will find a Police heli doing is chasing speeding motorists unless its after a very serious offence!

[Toohey29]

hey i know that! i was just trying to steer them in the right direction with regard to the costs involved .......

[Ian Corrigible]

Your hourly cost is clearly going to depend on your annual flight hour assumptions.

CDD's 2008 hourly DOC for a T2+ is $834/hr (gas @ $6.13/US Gal, labor @ $94/hr).

CDD assumes $324,725 in fixed costs per year, incl. $81,000 for [single] pilot wage/benefits, and $185,000 for insurance.

CDD also assumes 381 flight hours/yr, giving a total cost of $1,690/hr (excl. depreciation, lease costs, etc.). Throw in market depreciation of $217,000/yr and this figure rises to $2,260/hr.

I/C

[Lord Mount]

Speaking as a ground bound copper (and PPL(H)).
I don't give a cr*p how much they cost. They are worth their weight in gold.
People just see the Cops on TV programmes then put 2 and 2 together to get 5.
The ASU aircraft protect me as well as the public. If I'm behind a vehicle that is failing to stop I, as well as the public are at risk from the un-trained driver behind the wheel of the fleeing vehicle. Get an EC-145 overhead and I can back off (protecting me) which in turn will hopefully encourage the other vehicle to slow down (protecting the public). The observers can then coordinate other police units including 'stinger' equipped units to bring the incident to a safe conclusion.
The aircraft are used to track individuals on foot, search areas for missing or vulnerable persons, scan rivers and lakes using thermal imaging equipment.
They have been used to assist firebrigades to identify hot spots and consequently to more effectively tackle fires.
I have used them to plan drugs raids, to search for casualties thrown out of vehicles involved in serious road traffic accidents.
The ASU saved my life once while chasing a suspect involved in GBH on a pregnant girl. He ran down an embankment and I chased him along some railway tracks. The observer was able to warn me of an approaching train.
They are also used in many operations that cannot be discussed in open forum.
In short, let the naysayers whinge and moan and throw ridiculous figures around. They know little of the realities. Their lives are made safer in more ways than they know by those aircraft.

LM

[whoateallthepies]

Skyhigh

Given that Premair are sub-contracted by the PSNI to provide Pilotage services for the PSNI Helicopter could you tell me how many pilot man hours are provided to the PSNI by Premair per annum ?

Reply from the PSNI

A contractor provides PSNI with pilots to cover 2 shifts, 7 days per week, 52 weeks of the year.

What's strange about that reply? They answered your question.
http://i.1asphost.com/whoateallthepies/pie.jpg