Thread: Newshub attacking Sika

Originally Posted by No.3

Re the heli costs, those things aren't cheap to run which is obvious but a lot of the older time outfits had the hard word from the regulator and had to tighten up on process and procedure which adds cost. People bleated about the numbers of machines (noise and amenity values) and density of people getting carted in - which meant higher costs as you couldn't run two parties one in one out so one trip non-productive. And DOC etc getting involved with permit systems to try and control the people whinging which meant higher costs... Newer machines with higher costs including limited start cycles doesn't help either. You can't really point the finger at a company charging a flight hour rate which covers all the maintenance and operational procedure costs vs $50 flat rate walk in and going broke in a year...

Thats a reasonable justification story and Im not bagging Heli Sika. It's about affordability. Chris had a small machine close to the trees. I could afford to use him. Even at a 50% hike in his fees I still would have. He's gone and now there is no affordable alternative. The trees are the poorer by my absence