Coast Guard's Jayhawk helicopters aging as they spend thousands of hours in the air

Some Coast Guard helicopters being grounded

Lloyd Sowers reports

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The U.S. Coast Guard's Jayhawk helicopter may be the ultimate water rescue vehicle for a coastal area like Tampa Bay.

"Once they're in the air, it can be as little as 5-10 minutes to be on scene and hovering above the patient ready to pick them off the boat or out of the water," said Ryan Dilkey, a retired Coast Guard commander and now a leader of Eckerd College Search and Rescue.

But, the choppers designed to rescue people from the water took on extra duty. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has taken on extra patrols as part of Homeland Security. They've also expanded operations for drug interdiction.

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Extra duties have added thousands of hours of operation on the aging air frames of Jayhawks.

According to a report from Forbes, the Coast Guard has already grounded six Jayhawks for safety, because they've reached 19,000 hours of operation. The report said many more choppers are approaching that mark.

The Coast Guard has 48 Jayhawks stationed across the country. In a statement to Forbes, the Coast Guard said it "anticipates no immediate impacts on search and rescue capabilities."

Dilkey said losing Coast Guard helicopters would greatly impact lifesaving capabilities in the Gulf of Mexico and local waters.

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"There’s not that many of them to go around anyway, so if they do start losing aircraft it draws down the coverage and capability," Dilkey said.

The Coast Guard comes under the U.S. Department of Transportation, not the Department of Defense, which could make it more difficult to secure money to replace the aging helicopters.

"It can take an exorbitant amount of time selecting the right aircraft and contracting that out, years and years of time," said Dilkey. "I don't know that they have the time to wait that long."

When time is the difference between life and death, how much time Coast Guard Jayhawks have left could become a critical question along the coast.

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