Search and Rescue - Who's payin'?

[Edo Kazumichi]

So lets say you've been saved from watery annihilation by a SAR agency. Will you be handed a bill? If so, are there insurance policies that cover such things? The costs for one of these little operations are surely astronomical.

Thanks in advance!

[Delirious]

You, me and Joe the Plumber via the 1040a form. I don't know if the rescuee is hit up with the $1,000,000 or whatever to fuel multiple ships and aircraft, insure and feed the crew, divert commercial vessels, etc.

That would surely curtail the E.P.I.R.B. sales if you had to put up $500,000 in escrow for a down-payment on the costs of activating it.

[sailingdog]

I haven't heard of someone being billed for a genuine emergency. For a non-life-threatening MayDay, I've heard of them being billed...but not for an actual life-threatening situation.

[poopdeckpappy]

I would think we pay for that though our taxes,

[Ilenart]

I know of some idiots that sent out a mayday when their boat was parked in their driveway. They were each fined around $50,000. Apart from this it's free, same as when the fire brigade come a visiting.

In my area they have added it as part of the local shire rates & taxes (called the emergency services levy). My last bill had a figure of A$138. This includes sea search and rescue, local fire brigade, bush fire services, plus all the costs associate with my daughter attending Fire & Emergency services cadets. Pretty cheap considering.

Ilenart

[sailaway21]

Depends on how long we have you on board!

On most merchant ships you'll be charged little or nothing at all. Nothing for the rescue or the diversion from route; those would put a dent in Bill Gates walking around money, believe me! But you might be charged a nominal fee for berthing and meals while on board; $10-20 per day. If you make a pain of yourself by asking the ship to divert to your chosen port of landing, which will be denied, they'll make a point of dreaming up some per diem charges. (g)

[hphoen]

Edo,

Here's a post in answer to that question from another website:

"Tax dollars? I spent 22 years flying in the Coast Guard and let me tell you, there are no more dollars spent when a SAR case comes up. There are programmed flight hours that are flown each month for each air station. If there are no Search and Rescue's that month they simply do more training or add law enforcement patrols to cover all the hours and keep the crews proficient and use the time elsewhere. All this means is the guys sitting in the radio room actually have something to do, and the flight crews get to do some real world stuff instead of an exercise. There will probably be one less fishery patrol at the end of the month but the same amount of hours are flown either way.

Believe me when I say, the people involved are more than happy to jump in when situations like this arise. That is what your tax dollars are spent on, readiness and then response. It cost pretty much the same either way...

Just my educated 2 cents worth

Ken Peckham
USCG Retired"

[Boasun]

In this I would say that this is the one of the few cases where our tax dollars are well spent.

Originally Posted by hphoen

Edo,

Here's a post in answer to that question from another website:

"Tax dollars? I spent 22 years flying in the Coast Guard and let me tell you, there are no more dollars spent when a SAR case comes up. There are programmed flight hours that are flown each month for each air station. If there are no Search and Rescue's that month they simply do more training or add law enforcement patrols to cover all the hours and keep the crews proficient and use the time elsewhere. All this means is the guys sitting in the radio room actually have something to do, and the flight crews get to do some real world stuff instead of an exercise. There will probably be one less fishery patrol at the end of the month but the same amount of hours are flown either way.

Believe me when I say, the people involved are more than happy to jump in when situations like this arise. That is what your tax dollars are spent on, readiness and then response. It cost pretty much the same either way...

Just my educated 2 cents worth

Ken Peckham
USCG Retired"

[camaraderie]

What say our international crew? We know how the USCG handles things. How about the rest of the world?

[captbillc]

sailaway21` you do not have to project your political views to the rest of us who read your posts.