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I don't have it handy. Caught a tiktok last night of a separate helicopter pilot. It is not one guy either. There are several private choppers trying to help. T

I don't have it handy. Caught a tiktok last night of a separate helicopter pilot. It is not one guy either. There are several private choppers trying to help. The one I heard, he had rescued a newborn and an older woman on oxygen. Both would otherwise be dead now. He says there are people with makeshift SOS markers and simply not enough public helicopter help. Apparently the rescue effort is focused on clearing 10 to 40 miles of downed trees. It needs to be on getting people airlifted out, flying through canyons, finding stuck survivors. There should be a fleet of army helicopters there three days ago. People are dying. If they don't want people "getting in the way" then they have to be actually doing something. They are simply costing lives due to ego politics. They should be helping coordinate not shut down help.

_djo_ 2y ago
There is an organisation, the Carolina Emergency Response Team, that's coordinating private helicopters for the response. That's who he should've approached from the start, and according to the article he's flying for them now. There are plenty of military helicopters, but in several areas the available landing zones aren't large enough, which is why the CERT is coordinating small private helicopters.
- fleabagmange 2y ago
  You’re saying this well after the fact. This incident occurred in the immediate after math of the storm when these fancy government agencies were still asleep at the wheel. I myself had to ignore all the usual “stay off the road, don’t drive under or over downed trees and power lines” to get relatives out of Asheville. In times of crises, these rules, however well intentioned, are just suggestions. If you understand why the rules are there, how to safely inform them, and need to break them, break them. Sometimes there just isn’t a bull on the other side of Chesterton’s fence no matter how much people might think there is.

_djo_ 2y ago

There is an organisation, the Carolina Emergency Response Team, that's coordinating private helicopters for the response. That's who he should've approached from the start, and according to the article he's flying for them now. There are plenty of military helicopters, but in several areas the available landing zones aren't large enough, which is why the CERT is coordinating small private helicopters.

fleabagmange 2y ago
You’re saying this well after the fact. This incident occurred in the immediate after math of the storm when these fancy government agencies were still asleep at the wheel. I myself had to ignore all the usual “stay off the road, don’t drive under or over downed trees and power lines” to get relatives out of Asheville. In times of crises, these rules, however well intentioned, are just suggestions. If you understand why the rules are there, how to safely inform them, and need to break them, break them. Sometimes there just isn’t a bull on the other side of Chesterton’s fence no matter how much people might think there is.