Steve Fosset's Widow to be billed for search...

[Nomex Maximus]

Story here... http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/16098195/detail.html

[JayT]

.............WOW.

[Tubacap]

This was a mission that was partially state funded correct?

[Hawk200]

I hope the Air Force decides to write off our part. We don't need any of the negative publicity relating to this.

From the sounds of it, that state has some money issues. Almost a billion shortfall? Someones not keeping real good track of their greenbacks.

[tribalelder]

I was surprised the search went on as long as it did.  

Cynically (after 14 years in federal service and two years on federally funded NIH grants), I note that the end of the search corresponded with the end of the federal fiscal year.  My assumption was that the CAP part of the search sucked up every CAP training dollar that hadn't yet been spent for the fiscal year then closing.  

If the search had started in October, would it have gone more than a week ?

[jimmydeanno]

My state charges people for their rescue if it is something caused by their own stupidity or lack of planning - ie: taking a group of cub scouts hiking in the white mountains just before dark to scale a 4,500 ft peak in the rain during April without any equipment.

IIRC, it started from some lady calling 911 to save her pet parrot that she brough hiking because it flew into a tree...

[Tubacap]

^ We had a Boy Scout search that was fairly similar to the one you describe last year.

[RiverAux]

Run away CAP, run away!!!

Do I recall correctly that the NG was actually using C-130s for this search at one point?  No wonder they spent so much money.

However, I do wonder what provisions there are in state law allowing someone to be billed for something like this outside of a hoax situation. 

[capchiro]

It would appear that the widow is a multimillionaire and this may be what is justifying the state doing what it is doing.  I doubt if the Air Force or CAP will be billing anybody for anything.  There may have been an unusual request from someone with money to continue the search when it would ahve been cancelled earlier.  If so, it amy ahve been with the promise or at least idea that there would be re-imbursement eventually.  I wouldn't worry about CAP losing any reputation over such.  That is why we volunteer, so people don't have to be able to afford us when they need us.  Sempre Vigilans

[RiverAux]

Well, having us mentioned in this particular story-line sure isn't going to help us any.  We don't want people to get any idea of us being a paid-for type of service like private air ambulance companies. 

[DNall]

The AF bills people for hoax/stupidity missions as well. I don't recall it ever being done, but it's certainly allowed if they want to.

It's not uncommon when a govt official or some prominent figure goes missing for someone to talk to a congressman about it, him talk to AF & the search go on longer than we may otherwise have taken it. You know if a congressman went missing we'd be searching for a month regardless of our POD. That's unfortunate, but welcome to democracy.

Well, having us mentioned in this particular story-line sure isn't going to help us any.  We don't want people to get any idea of us being a paid-for type of service like private air ambulance companies. 

That's true... this is kinda in the like of what I've been trying to say on the PA element of IO & vice versa in that other thread. In this case, I hope NHQ will verify from AF that the fed govt is not charging, at least for our part, and make that clarification vocally to the media outlets.

[RiverAux]

Definetely.

Of course this was so far from a typical missing airplane search that the state might just learn a lesson and have to suck up the costs. 

[RiverAux]

And by that I meant that CAP did pretty much the same thing it would have done for any missing pilot, but the state decided to jump in the game with all their assets.  They should learn that you have to pay to play. 

[Eagle400]

The AF bills people for hoax/stupidity missions as well. I don't recall it ever being done, but it's certainly allowed if they want to.

Then what makes anyone believe that the Air Force won't do the same to CAP as well? 

They don't value CAP enough to give the organization credit for all the man hours devoted to the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief, so what would stop them from NOT writing CAP off?

[DNall]

The AF bills people for hoax/stupidity missions as well. I don't recall it ever being done, but it's certainly allowed if they want to.

Then what makes anyone believe that the Air Force won't do the same to CAP as well? 

They don't value CAP enough to give the organization credit for all the man hours devoted to the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief, so what would stop them from NOT writing CAP off?

What? AF pays for CAP missions. It has the ability to bill targets if the mission is a hoax or they were extremely negligent in creating the situation. The only time I've even heard rumor of this happening was for multiple negligent non-distress activations on a single ELT/owner. There's not a circumstance under which they could put the cost on CAP. It's their mission order. We're just doing the work.

And as far as Katrina... We like to hype our contribution, but it really was not a big deal. And, the AF history of the response talks about how people in the actual Air Force made significant contributions. It doesn't talk about every person or every unit, and there is no reason for CAP has to be mentioned there. Get over it.

[RiverAux]

We flew about 20% of all AF-related sorties during Katrina.  I think that at least rates a mention....but we already have a thread on that.

[Johnny Yuma]

This isn't really new, just the cost involved is making it an issue.

A Colorado county sent a Topeka man a $5,000 bill for pulling him out of the mountains a couple years ago. He was hiking with friends, went down a mismarked trail and sprained an ankle. He was "lost" about 16 hours before he was found in good shape, short the ankle.

It raised some eyebrows as the searchers involved were unpaid volunteers and seems the county's kinda selective who they send bills to.

He and his health insurance settled for $1600 or something.

UPDATE : Found the link http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_6922417

[Gunner C]

The mission of the govt is to serve the people, not the other way around.  I think it's an abomination to charge the victims for rescue services.  Seems to me that the state is going to try to use the Fossett family to make up for their own lack of fiscal responsibility.

The length of a search is directly proportional to the social standing of the family.  Reference the Kennedy family - they had the freaking Navy searching for John-John.  Try to get that sort of assets if your plane goes down. 

The length & cost of the search isn't the fault of the survivors.  Stuff happens and we all band together to help.  That banding together is called the government.

GC

[wingnut]

The Coast Guard will send you a bill to tow you back to port, why not us for false ELTs, or just being stupid. I predict they will not get a dime from Mrs. Fossett. I mean we never found him?? Or is he Missing??

[rjacobs]

This isn't really new, just the cost involved is making it an issue.

A Colorado county sent a Topeka man a $5,000 bill for pulling him out of the mountains a couple years ago. He was hiking with friends, went down a mismarked trail and sprained an ankle. He was "lost" about 16 hours before he was found in good shape, short the ankle.

It raised some eyebrows as the searchers involved were unpaid volunteers and seems the county's kinda selective who they send bills to.

He and his health insurance settled for $1600 or something.

UPDATE : Found the link http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_6922417

Despite what the city of Golden did in the linked story, the Colorado Search and Rescue Board has quite a bit of information on their site (under Current Issues at http://www.coloradosarboard.org/) about why billing for searches is bad.