deuce

Pretty sure this discussion only needs one sentence to be brought to conclusion. Operating/landing within the H/V curve is allowed, landing within a built up area without a permit is not.

Well said HEC!! Local Sar teams have some great ALS paramedics on their teams for patients that need it. North Shore SAR responds to about 90 calls a year on average with approx. a dozen or so hets calls a year on avg. In this case I heard that a hets team was called off when they would have arrived before anyone else! The pilot isn't the only link in the chain that should be looked at by any stretch of the imagination. Again I agree that the pilot in the end got everyone home safe, and at the time thought this was the best course of action, so I do recognize that.

Heliian, I'm guessing you have zero experience in the area that this rescue took place. The local pilots and sar groups have much more sar experience than the military in that region. If the video had shown paramedics doing cpr and it was a true life/death situation I would agree that we would all tip our hats to the crew and move along. Wasn't the case though. I don't agree that we should lynch anyone either, a review of ops and training with ALL crew involved should suffice...perhaps it will be used as a training video in the future.

40 people lost their jobs in July (allegedly) and you guys are debating popsicles.....Am I missing something?

Layoffs are always tough, but doing it in June is especially tough to hear. I thought BC would have had a good winter with the olympics and all. Thought they had deep pockets...guess the problem is they have short fingers

I'd like to see it from your point of view but I can't get my head that far up my arse. If this was the only rule out there i would agree, however there is the standards section as well. According to you we better tell medevac flights to stop cause there is no more landing at a soccer fields... You can pretty much do anything out there as long as you have a permit or fall under an exemption. (which they did in this case.)

What if, what if...if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle. By your reasoning when a 747 approaches over the city to an international airport he has created a hazard where there wasn't one before. Simply put yer wrong and it was a good thing you didn't get the call to fight the fire because some people probably wouldn't have a place to sleep. Glad this pilot knew the regs.

Catsa screening comes out of the billion dollar security budget that canadian taxpayers are on the hook for. So I still don't see a need for the huge increase. The fuel operations will be paid for by the extra fuel being sold I would think.

Have the landing fees at all the other new catsa screening airports seen this increase? Landing at the heliport is still 65 bucks during the olympics, what about the float planes off the river? I'm sticking with gouging. Nobody answered WTF's question of whether the local operator is paying at whistler. Something about them being on leased land, so they are exempt. If that is the case then something smells bad, given the fact they have the most to gain from the olympics. And Roo,if an FBO is upping their rates at yvr with no added services then yes I would call that gouging as well. However, the guy flying the G5 with one t/o & landing every couple days doesn't blink when he sees an extra 350 attached to his bill as much as a guy in a helicopter.

I don't think the fees go to cover catsa. Snow removal and upkeep of the heliport, but that is ongoing. I believe the whistler heliport society just sees an opportunity to get in on the gouging. My question is how the local operator feels about it as I'm sure this will affect how they have had to bill customers. Also heard that transient traffic won't be able to park at the heliport. If you have passengers that need to be picked up after a few hours you fly to pemberton and then come back to whistler for the pick up.

2007 and t-rex said it best so far. 95% of the time you are picking a person off terrain with no options as far as a place to go and then taking them to a confined area that provides only slightly more options. Not to mention that you are limited to 60 kias with hets installed.

Sounds like two out of the three pillars aren't doing so well. When I was there the smrt people told us that air ambulance, maintenance contracts and the north warning system were the "three pillars of canadian." I wonder if they are now wishing they hadn't left the bases with no support.

You hit the nail on the head threepoint. Worked fires the past six weeks steady and countles times with the media...There is no blame to be handed out on either side. Entertaining video and thats about it.

I think that was a prescribed burn....still fun though.