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NEWS Erickson Aircrane Refurbishing MH-53E's
- Thread starter ChuckMK23
- Start date
About 15 years ago I was woken up early on a Saturday morning by one the those monsters installing an HVAC on top of the old Sears building in Boston. It was fascinating watching those guys fly.Their specialty
Yup. That is some heavy metal. It is like LA County has money to burn.Erickson overhauled this SeaKing for the LA County Sheriffs.
"Toys For Sheriff's" - in the same vain as the US department of Education standing up a SWAT team. The sheer size of La County's fleet borders on absurd - Super Puma's? I'm surprised the voters are OK with this.
http://www.helis.com/database/sqd/1402/
http://www.helis.com/database/sqd/1402/
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Surely you jest. The "people" that front the money for most movies live in LA County. Same with actors, business leaders and the majority of our countries Trust Fund kids. Only the best for The Angelenos! btw -the LACSO could start a decent sized war with their aircraft. Then again, LA County does have an estimated population of 10M people. Of those 10M, approximately 150,000 are gang members. Membership is spread among roughly 1,300 different gangs. One could argue that the LACSO doesn't has enough of the "right kind" of air support.
One could argue that the LACSO doesn't has enough of the "right kind" of air support.
When considering the size of the LASD aviation fleet (20 helos) keep in mind that LAPD has 20 helos and at least one FW aircraft. They are airborne 24/7. LA County Fire has 10 helos that are primary for SAR as well as fire attack throughout the county. Several other suburbs of LA within LA County have their own law enforcement aviation units. A few smaller suburbs share a helo in something like a consortium. Other cities are covered by neighboring air units on a mutual aid basis and re-pay the responding municipality by the service. So, the vast majority of those 10M citizens live in an incorporated city with airborne law enforcement.
I am all for full employment of helo bubbas. Have had much fun in LE aviation myself. But really? How can LASD justify 20 helicopters, some heavy, when most citizens already have the benefit of airborne LE and LA County Fire has a fleet for SAR? I don't think they can.
I am all for full employment of helo bubbas. Have had much fun in LE aviation myself. But really? How can LASD justify 20 helicopters, some heavy, when most citizens already have the benefit of airborne LE and LA County Fire has a fleet for SAR? I don't think they can.
I think the taxpayers deserve to know if operating and maintaining old de-milled Twin Hueys, Sea Kings, Super Pumas, etc is really buying them anything that couldn't be done better with a new Eurocopter/Bell/AW/etc.
I'll give you the heavy lift of a -53 provides a unique ability of heavy lift. But a Sea King? What benefit are you getting there? Being the only people in the world buying spare parts?
I'll give you the heavy lift of a -53 provides a unique ability of heavy lift. But a Sea King? What benefit are you getting there? Being the only people in the world buying spare parts?
Only in LA do you have Law Enforcement "Urban Warfare/Terrorist Drills" complete with professional narrators and movie camera crews.
Makes lunch breaks for downtown cubicle workers more interesting though.
If the H-3's are public use - then likely they are not being operated under FAR's. They may be able to operate them very cheaply with military spares and components flown until inspection shows end of life rather than hard flight hour limits. A number of local police and law enforcement agencies have operated surplus OH-58C's this way for years - really down to fuel and labor.
So the LAPD has a terrorist re-enactment club........
This. ^^^ The Huey's are likely public use as well. But you still, have to feed the beast. Parts are an issue for something like the H-3. Just not many civ operators. More common civ parts for the OH-58. We had two. My agency was looking at a UH-1N for hot and hi rescue. Free from Davis Monthan. But the cost to maintain and fuel the thing made it impractical for us. It appears the Super Puma is replacing the Sea King, so its days are numbered for one reason or another.