Fri, Dec 23, 2011
Montana Group Hopes To Eventually Buy Its Own Helicopter
Tight municipal budgets have grounded some law enforcement and
search & rescue helicopters, and starting a brand new aviation
unit is often out of the question. But in Flathead County, Montana,
a non-profit organization called FEAR, for Flathead Emergency
Aviation Resources, is trying a different approach to support the
sheriff and SAR needs.
The Flathead Beacon reports that FEAR founding supporters
include pilot Jim Pierce of Red Eagle Aviation, the Flathead County
Sheriff’s Office, Wendy Stefaniak and Jay Johnson. The group
is starting with personal and leased aircraft, but hopes to
eventually raise $500,000 to buy a helicopter, and $100,000 a year
to operate it.
Flathead County Undersheriff Jordan White says that out of more
than 50 search & rescue deployments per year, his department
can only afford to call in a helicopter to assist in five to ten of
those cases.
White adds that FEAR helps conduct searches, flies emergency
dive teams to search locations, transports mountain rescue
personnel and their equipment, and provides overhead support for
tactical teams in high-risk operations as part of typical missions.
The group hopes to find ongoing donors so it won't have to devote
too much time and energy to constant fundraising.
Recalling a phone conversation years ago in the case of a lost
child, White says he had to tell the mother that due to funding a
helicopter could only be called in as a last resort. Of FEAR and
its potential, he now says, "I’ll be happy when aviation is a
first resort because it does provide the quickest, surest means of
getting help to somebody."
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