Madang185 wrote:Of recent date, it was claimed in the media that 20,000 feral pigs had been eliminated in southern NSW by aerial shooting.
Whilst I am all for assisting the farmers to rid the country of these feral pests the cost of this exercise seems to be strangely missing.
One media outlet claimed that one pig every fifteen minutes was destroyed, unless my math's are wrong this equates to 5000 flying hours.
After all, helicopters are not the cheapest form of aerial transport.
Surely someone has their wires crossed or are the media simply wrong -again!
No1Mk3 wrote:8 choppers would put in 625 flying hours each to get 20000 pigs at 4 per hour. A cheapie like an R22 could operate as little as $185 per hour, but regardless of numbers used total hours remain the same for costing so $925000 or $46.25 per porker. I very much doubt they used something as cheap as a Robinson R22 though.
No1Mk3 wrote:8 choppers would put in 625 flying hours each to get 20000 pigs at 4 per hour. A cheapie like an R22 could operate as little as $185 per hour, but regardless of numbers used total hours remain the same for costing so $925000 or $46.25 per porker. I very much doubt they used something as cheap as a Robinson R22 though.
animalpest wrote:Having shot plenty out of choppers, a R44 is the minimum I would contract with. A R22 lacks the power to pull up when there is a downdraught or wind change.
Turbines are great as there is no dead man's zone compared to piston powered. Picture being 30ft above the ground and wind changes or the engine hiccups.
If you are only smacking 4 per hour it not worth it. Not for pigs, different if bigger species. Even then we would be doing 1-2 per minute.
JimTom wrote:animalpest wrote:Having shot plenty out of choppers, a R44 is the minimum I would contract with. A R22 lacks the power to pull up when there is a downdraught or wind change.
Turbines are great as there is no dead man's zone compared to piston powered. Picture being 30ft above the ground and wind changes or the engine hiccups.
If you are only smacking 4 per hour it not worth it. Not for pigs, different if bigger species. Even then we would be doing 1-2 per minute.
All helicopters have a deadman’s curve regardless of the type of engine. It is about having a sufficient combination of height and airspeed to be able to autorotate safely. At 30’ above the ground if you lose an engine in the hover or low airspeed you will be in a spot of bother. Not all turbines have buckets of power either, take the jet ranger for example. Limited tail rotor authority, limited power. A Squirrel on the other hand is quite capable in comparison.
JimTom wrote:animalpest wrote:Having shot plenty out of choppers, a R44 is the minimum I would contract with. A R22 lacks the power to pull up when there is a downdraught or wind change.
Turbines are great as there is no dead man's zone compared to piston powered. Picture being 30ft above the ground and wind changes or the engine hiccups.
If you are only smacking 4 per hour it not worth it. Not for pigs, different if bigger species. Even then we would be doing 1-2 per minute.
All helicopters have a deadman’s curve regardless of the type of engine. It is about having a sufficient combination of height and airspeed to be able to autorotate safely. At 30’ above the ground if you lose an engine in the hover or low airspeed you will be in a spot of bother. Not all turbines have buckets of power either, take the jet ranger for example. Limited tail rotor authority, limited power. A Squirrel on the other hand is quite capable in comparison.
Blr243 wrote:The bloke that survived was telling me about the accident 34 years ago when we were sitting down having drinks New Years I the kimberlies. It may have been on Kimberley downs I can’t remember the name of the station. and I’m not sure how any years before that his accident was. I don’t remember any mention of a spotter plane. Probably a separate incident