They came to our local hospital as part of a health fair. (They fly extreme cases to Boston when no one else will fly) Anyway, got to chat with the crew and ask a lot of questions and climb around the helicopter. Kewl machine. Crew was very nice and really sharp. Most of the crew came from the Navy, the pilot I spoke to came from the Army and flew attack choppers in Iraq. They get retrained in SAR by the CG.
They have a 300 mil range and can loiter for 45 min on sight before having to come back. Lots of gear on board. There are some kewl night vision items and a killer light that looks like it will give you a sunburn if it hits you. It is a very solid looking vehicle. I asked him what was the worst conditions he has flow this in...75 knot crosswind.
One of the fellows is really into fly fishing and is planing to come back and fish the catch and release tourney. I told him (jokingly) if he brings this thing back when he comes we can really scout out the area before the tourney.
Upon leaving I asked how much maintenance does this require...get this:
for every hour of flight time it get 26 hours of maintenance.
Great group of Americans and I said that the orange and white paint job have to be the prettiest looking colors in the world when you really need them.
"Yes sir, thank you for stopping by"
