Garda helicopter

G.Murphy

How much does it cost a Garda helicopter to fly in the air?

andy_g

That would depend purely on flight duration/speed/headwind etc.

Victor

A few thousand euros per hour, but that depends on accounting stands used. you need to take into account fuel, other consumables, crew hours, maintenance hours (it may take several hours to do the maintenance for one hour of flight), high level maintenance and initial purchase / set-up costs.

BeardySi

A lot less than if would if they tried to fly it in water?

Xpro

EC135 burn about 55 usg (208L) per hour. Fuel consumption alone is huge

IRLConor

Victor wrote: »

crew hours

They get paid whether or not the aircraft is flying or sitting in a hangar so it's not really relevant unless one wants to write a "OMG, how much does the Garda helicopter cost?!!?!" story for a tabloid newspaper.

Victor

IRLConor wrote: »

They get paid whether or not the aircraft is flying or sitting in a hangar so it's not really relevant unless one wants to write a "OMG, how much does the Garda helicopter cost?!!?!" story for a tabloid newspaper.

As I said, it depends on the accounting standard used. If there was no helicopter, you wouldn't need the crew.

IRLConor

Victor wrote: »

As I said, it depends on the accounting standard used. If there was no helicopter, you wouldn't need the crew.

True, but given the nature of the employers of those crews they'd simply be deployed to other useful jobs, not let go.

When people who are not accountants ask "how much does X cost to run?" they typically mean "given that we already have X, how much does it cost to use it versus having it and not using it?". Unless the OP clarifies what they're looking for, I think you can safely assume that they're looking for the colloquial sense of "running cost" rather than the accounting sense.

andy_g

Mr. Chrome.

Please dont post that crap in here.

After hours or humour

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> that way

Peregrine

It's really hard to put a cost on it but..

http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2006-02-14.1739.0

This was in 7 years ago though and doesn't include cost of having the Air Corps crew. Back then, I believe they operated both a Eurocopter Eceuriel and an EC 135 so not sure which helicopter he's referring too.

coylemj

It took the Gardai many years to convince the DoJ to buy the helicopter, there was a working group put together in Garda HQ in the early 1980s to look at the options and the wags immediately dubbed them the 'aerial wing'. I think they visited various police forces in Europe to see what they were doing with helicopters but then the issue was parked for several years before it was resurrected again in the 1990s.

You have to ask yourself sometimes if they just send it up in the air to justify it's existence. I was at an Ireland v. Italy rugby international in Croke Park a few years ago when they were rebuilding Lansdowne Road and when we came out of the match, the Garda helicopter was flying overhead, for what purpose I have no idea since clearing 80,000 people out of Croke Park in an orderly fashion is hardly something the Gardai haven't done in the past and given the way they make the crowds disperse in different directions as soon as they exit the stadium, there is feck all they can do as soon as the people are out on the streets so what purpose is served by watching them from the skies is lost on me.

johnsds

coylemj wrote: »

You have to ask yourself sometimes if they just send it up in the air to justify it's existence..

Silly statement of the year above there.

Well for a start to observe from the air to effect an arrest with ground units, support to ground units, searches using FLIR etc drugs busts, it can cover 2 miles every minute, helping at crashes yadda yadda I can go out but the video speaks for itself. 2 EC135's and a Defender in the fleet, we really should have more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D65Krd48wyo

Peregrine

coylemj wrote: »

You have to ask yourself sometimes if they just send it up in the air to justify it's existence.

Jesus Christ..

coylemj

johnsds wrote: »

Silly statement of the year above there.

So you deliberately quote me selectively and ignore the question I posed: why do they send up a helicopter to observe something that has happened year in year out without incident before they got helicopters?

Tenger

coylemj wrote: »

....why do they send up a helicopter to observe something that has happened year in year out without incident before they got helicopters?

Because with aerial support they can observe more of the 80K crowd that Gardai on the ground can see. If there is a disturbance they can spot it and direct the foot patrols to move towards the incident. This is an improvement in having the Gardai unable to observe all streets around the stadium unless they have a guy/girl posted on every street corner.

JeffK88

In late 2008 it costed just under 100,000 a day including crew wages, fuel etc.. and the garda dogs when they get to go up. They are very much needed and pretty update with technology

Growler!!!

JeffK88 wrote: »

In late 2008 it costed just under 100,000 a day including crew wages, fuel etc.. and the garda dogs when they get to go up. They are very much needed and pretty update with technology

In 2010 it cost €1470 per hour (Flying in ireland magazine September 2010) to operate the AW139 which is larger than the Garda chopper.

Palmy

I'd say about €3500 hr flying

Growler!!!

JeffK88 wrote: »

In late 2008 it costed just under 100,000 a day including crew wages, fuel etc.. and the garda dogs when they get to go up. They are very much needed and pretty update with technology

Palmy wrote: »

I'd say about €3500 hr flying

Can people please post sources for the figures they come up with.

Otherwise we're doing an Anglo on it and "picking figures out of our arses":D

Peregrine

€100,000 a day is just not even close to reality.

In 2006 the then Minister for Justice Michael McDowell gave this reply:

I have been informed by the Garda authorities that the approximate cost per flying hour for the Garda helicopter, excluding the aircrew, is €1,000 per hour. This figure includes all other operating costs and is in line with internationally accepted operating costs for a helicopter operating in a police environment.

http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2006-02-14.1739.0

I know they were operating two different aircraft at the time and the costs will be different now but there you have it. Somewhere in the region of €1,000 or €1,500 an hour. Maybe a letter DoJ might give you a correct answer.

nitna bitna

G.Murphy wrote: »

How much does it cost a Garda helicopter to fly in the air?

TREE FIDDY

Palmy

€3500 would have to be close per/hr.
Look up figures how much the Met Police in England, and compare and you will get around that figure.
I am a private Heli pilot and have a good friend operating a Heli company in another part of the world doing Ems and at around the €3500 it seems about right.

pclancy

nitna bitna wrote: »

TREE FIDDY

If you've got nothing useful to contribute please don't bother.

IRLConor

You have to know why you're asking the "how much does it cost?" question before you can construct a useful answer.

If you're trying to decide between dispatching a Garda helicopter for a one hour mission versus leaving it on the ground then there's one set of calculations which will exclude things like crew costs (since they get paid whether they're on the ground or in the air) and mostly consist of fuel and maintenance (possibly parts cost only since the maintenance crews get paid regardless).

If you're trying to decide whether you should increase or decrease the number of helicopters available to the Gardai then you have to account for the purchase price, crew salaries, crew training costs, maintenance team salaries and training, fuel, parts, hangaring, and a thousand other small details. This will be a very different - and much larger - number than the "dispatch/no dispatch" number.

It's not helpful to quote running cost numbers without the context of what is and is not included in the calculations.

johnsds

JeffK88 wrote: »

In late 2008 it costed just under 100,000 a day including crew wages, fuel etc.. and the garda dogs when they get to go up. They are very much needed and pretty update with technology

LOL your having a laugh, 100,000 a day, the bloody F35 JSF is projected to cost 32,000 per flying hour, your talking about an EC135.

If it cost that much then there would be no EC135's flying full stop.

jmayo

coylemj wrote: »

So you deliberately quote me selectively and ignore the question I posed: why do they send up a helicopter to observe something that has happened year in year out without incident before they got helicopters?

Because as others have said it gives the Gardaí advantages in monitoring the crowd.
We are talking about a mutlitude of thousands on the streets.

Your question is about the same as asking why the Gardaí now send their mounted unit to gatherings such as the ploughing championship or the Combines for Charity events.
If offers them an advantage over what they had before as opposed to your opinion of them showing off and offering the lads/lassies a day out.

intellectual dosser

coylemj wrote: »

So you deliberately quote me selectively and ignore the question I posed: why do they send up a helicopter to observe something that has happened year in year out without incident before they got helicopters?

How do you know? How do you know there has never been an incident where a helicopter would have provided a distinct advantage? (On top of those general advantages mentioned).

urajoke

Are you being serious coylemj ?

Seriously you can't see ANY possible advantage to having aerial support for major events ?