Live data from Hacker News

Pilot flying Helene rescue missions in NC threatened with arrest

qcnews.com

21–30 of 161 posts

Re: Pilot flying Helene rescue missions in NC threatened with arrest

#21
post #11

While this sort of thing sounds excessive and unfair at first glance, and the article is written with a clear slant, there's usually a good reason for it. Disaster response and rescue air missions are enormously complex with a lot of moving parts, and allowing anyone with an aircraft to get involved can actually make the entire response less effective. It's extremely common for disaster response and search & rescue t…

So if the official who threatened arrest was the "correct" firefighter to coordinate with, why didn't the official incorporate him into the larger operation rather than threaten him?

I think the most likely answer is a small town bureaucrat had to prove that he's in charge, and now they're trying to do some damage control.

Re: Pilot flying Helene rescue missions in NC threatened with arrest

#22
post #11

While this sort of thing sounds excessive and unfair at first glance, and the article is written with a clear slant, there's usually a good reason for it. Disaster response and rescue air missions are enormously complex with a lot of moving parts, and allowing anyone with an aircraft to get involved can actually make the entire response less effective. It's extremely common for disaster response and search & rescue t…

Oh, nonsense. This local police officer had no idea what they were doing.

Otherwise, they would have restricted the airspace on an ongoing basis: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/foa_html...

They did it temporarily, and once. At loggerheads with other rescue efforts.

Re: Pilot flying Helene rescue missions in NC threatened with arrest

#23
post #17
post #11

While this sort of thing sounds excessive and unfair at first glance, and the article is written with a clear slant, there's usually a good reason for it. Disaster response and rescue air missions are enormously complex with a lot of moving parts, and allowing anyone with an aircraft to get involved can actually make the entire response less effective. It's extremely common for disaster response and search & rescue t…

> He should've approached the relevant air operations cell The one that was not yet deployed?

It was deployed, it sounds like he just wasn't aware of it. For instance, the Carolina Emergency Response Team was coordinating private helicopter assistance from Hickory airport.

Re: Pilot flying Helene rescue missions in NC threatened with arrest

#24

[flagged]

> FEMA is out of money, because they spend $1 billion supporting illegal immigrants

FEMA is not in a cash shortage. It projects it will run out of cash. But that doesn’t impact present operations. (Technically, the whole government runs out of cash in December.) And remember: President Trump used FEMA funds on illegal immigrants, too [1].

[1] https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/aug/30/pete-butti...

Re: Pilot flying Helene rescue missions in NC threatened with arrest

#26
post #11

While this sort of thing sounds excessive and unfair at first glance, and the article is written with a clear slant, there's usually a good reason for it. Disaster response and rescue air missions are enormously complex with a lot of moving parts, and allowing anyone with an aircraft to get involved can actually make the entire response less effective. It's extremely common for disaster response and search & rescue t…

> common for disaster response and search & rescue teams to ask random volunteers to stand down and stop trying to "self-deploy" and help on their own Agree that the article is inherently (and self consciously) biased, having only one side’s account. But I’m training to be a pilot and I know quite a few people in SAR. The fire chief should have used, if not the pilot, the helicopter.

Not really possible if you don't have readily available pilots to fly it.

The fire chief should have directed him to the organisation coordinating volunteers with their own helicopters, the Carolina Emergency Response Team, but it's possible he didn't know about it.

Re: Pilot flying Helene rescue missions in NC threatened with arrest

#27
post #11

While this sort of thing sounds excessive and unfair at first glance, and the article is written with a clear slant, there's usually a good reason for it. Disaster response and rescue air missions are enormously complex with a lot of moving parts, and allowing anyone with an aircraft to get involved can actually make the entire response less effective. It's extremely common for disaster response and search & rescue t…

So if the official who threatened arrest was the "correct" firefighter to coordinate with, why didn't the official incorporate him into the larger operation rather than threaten him? I think the most likely answer is a small town bureaucrat had to prove that he's in charge, and now they're trying to do some damage control.

Or that he was overwhelmed by local issues and wasn't aware of which one of the many organisations was the one coordinating volunteers with their own helicopters. He may just have known that random people adding themselves into the mix wasn't allowed.

Re: Pilot flying Helene rescue missions in NC threatened with arrest

#28
post #8

[flagged]

> ACAB This is ambitiously wrong to the point of parody. One, fire chiefs are not cops. Two, the cops in the story were coördinating with the pilot. Three, the fucking pilot is a “a Class 1 certified law enforcement officer.”

I agree with everything you wrote, except: using that pretentious "hey look, I read the New Yorker" diaeresis is a surefire way to alienate the sort of person who thinks "ACAB" belongs in an adult conversation. Though it doesn't sound like you were trying to make friends.

Re: Pilot flying Helene rescue missions in NC threatened with arrest

#29
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> common for disaster response and search & rescue teams to ask random volunteers to stand down and stop trying to "self-deploy" and help on their own Agree that the article is inherently (and self consciously) biased, having only one side’s account. But I’m training to be a pilot and I know quite a few people in SAR. The fire chief should have used, if not the pilot, the helicopter.

Not really possible if you don't have readily available pilots to fly it. The fire chief should have directed him to the organisation coordinating volunteers with their own helicopters, the Carolina Emergency Response Team, but it's possible he didn't know about it.

> if you don't have readily available pilots to fly it

Sure. But it’s easier to find a pilot than a helicopter in a disaster. My point is threatening the pilot with arrest and sending him and his chopper away makes no sense.

Re: Pilot flying Helene rescue missions in NC threatened with arrest

#30
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if the official who threatened arrest was the "correct" firefighter to coordinate with, why didn't the official incorporate him into the larger operation rather than threaten him? I think the most likely answer is a small town bureaucrat had to prove that he's in charge, and now they're trying to do some damage control.

Or that he was overwhelmed by local issues and wasn't aware of which one of the many organisations was the one coordinating volunteers with their own helicopters. He may just have known that random people adding themselves into the mix wasn't allowed.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN