police helicopters RCMP helicopter costs during the Fairy Creek enforcement

[Chris Madsen]

Just received an interesting tidbit of information from an informal ATIP request from the RCMP giving comparative operating costs for the new Airbus H145 helicopter and the older AS350-B3 model on an hourly flight hour basis, charged out during the Fairy Creek enforcement on Vancouver Island during June 2021:

Airbus H145  on standby: $105/hour (crew); in air: $3,049/hour (capital cost & maintenance) + $420/hour (fuel) + $105/hour (crew) = $3,574/flight hour

Airbus H125 (Eurocopter AS350-B3)  on standby: $105/hour (crew); in air: $1,099/hour (capital cost + maintenance) + $200/hour (fuel) + $105/hour (crew) = $1,405/flight hour

Although the air crew costs are fixed for both machines, the new H145 appears to cost more than double to operate on a per flight hour basis, as a larger twin-engine helicopter compared to the single engine H125.

Only police forces in British Columbia and Quebec currently operate the H145.  This is an important consideration for other police forces considering acquiring the capable and Transport Canada compliant H145 from Airbus.

Forgot to mention.  Expected operating lifecycle for both helicopters is 18 years.

C-FDJB | Airbus Helicopters H145 | Canada - Royal Canadian Mounted Police | CJMAviation | JetPhotos

AS350 B3 RCMP - Airbus Helicopters Canada

[Chris Madsen]

Unexpected costs in drone versus helicopter mid-air collision on 6 February 2020 during injunction enforcement against indigenous protesters.  The expensive RCMP FLIR SkyRanger R60 drone was a total right-off and the RCMP helicopter suffered blade damage and needed a lift from a commercial Puma helicopter back to the airport.

RCMP helicopter-drone crash amid Wet’suwet’en dispute cost nearly $200K | Globalnews.ca

Not the RCMP Air Service's best day.

[Chris Madsen]

Transportation Safety Board of Canada Occurrence Report:

<abbr title='Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System'>CADORS</abbr>: Report (tc.gc.ca)