Helicopters spotting on closed tracks!

You telling me, what does a Chopper cost per hour to have in the air

Bout $55-$70 a hour for a pilot
Let's say $20 a hour for his spotter
20 odd litres a hour in fuel at like $1.25+ a litre
servicing cost's
Chopper rental
other overheads.

Wouldn't be cheep exercise that's for sure.

An R22 chopper cost about $800 per hour to fly.

Steve.

Maybe they are just sick of people driving around signs!

i seem to remember the fine for driving on closed roads in w.a. was about $1000 an axle.
would'nt need to catch many at this price.
whats the fine over there?
they deserve it IMHO, lot of damage caused in these conditions.

Could be seen as value for money. A convoy of 4by's driving a closed track have been known to cause far more damage than the hire of a chopper. King Spur a while ago was chewed up so much that bulldozer work to repair 7 km of it cost $20,000.
With vehicles becoming more capable & magazines showing more extreme off road driving, unfortunately a few people are going places they shouldn't causing untold damage. An example is a group continued on from the Blue Rag Range track upstream in the Wongungarra river driving up the banks to get around deep water holes, falling & pushing hundreds of trees down to make their own track over 10 km's. Thankfully these are rare occurances but a couple of well publicized convictions may encourage others to do the right thing.
Currently there is a court case pending after 4 wheel drivers where caught by hidden camera's cutting a road closure away.
I suppose if one is doing the wrong thing out in the bush now they will need to look over their shoulders more often.
ps: If a motor mechanic charges out at $80 per hour, a chopper pilot would have to be almost $200.
Cheers Craig..........

A bloke went missing North of Alice the other day in below 0 degree temps. They didnt get a chopper in the air for 3 days and then bitched about putting up a second!

And the end result of the search was.........................?
Cheers Craig.

I believe it is ongoing.

They found him. Ended up wandering out of the scrub a few kms north. Hes a full on looney.

I believe if itcosts the $800 to $1200 an hr depending on type of Chopper its well worth it if in the long run it helps save total closures of tracks for all of us just because of a few dick 4's don't want to follow the rules....

So how would that save the tracks from being damaged?

My Dad’s next door neighbour works for NSW State Forests and we were talking about the same thing. He was saying that the Forests on the Mid North Coast are under greater pressure now due to the new National Parks that were State Forests restricting where timber can be sourced.
He sees greater numbers of off roaders there too because the NP have blocked off tracks, so people drive in the now reduced area that are still forests, which puts more pressure on the environment.

I know when I head out I like to get away from the crowds but we seem to be getting pushed into a smaller area all the time.
Open up more areas and burn those that do the wrong thing, instead of making everyone suffer.

Why the attitude?

It is a source that I would not reveal on a public forum, but has been very handy in the past. I do live on the edge of the High Country & get quite a bit of helpful info, but if you want to disregard it ... feel free!

No attitude just a simple question.

I also have a very reliable source and they say their is no such direct program.

I'm with you John, I would think it should probably regarded as an "urban myth", in my mind there is no way DSE or whatever they are called this week would waste money on a scheme like that.
Regards Andrew.

I was down in the Wattagans 2 weeks ago and saw around 20 police on trailbikes with NPWS rangers, so aerial surveys that reported unauthorised vehicle movements as a secondary responsibility wouldn’t surprise me at all.

As I said earlier, I live on the edge of the High Country & they fly over here quite regularly, I am sure that they aren't fire spotting.