Oh, I suppose there are flight schools with training helicopters. And some of the students might possibly be getting paid, but most would not be, so that should be an unambiguous “yes”.
Do police helicopters ever carry suspects or victims? I suppose that possibility could make police helicopters ambiguous. I was thinking of police helicopters as being used for surveillance, but maybe they occasionally transports suspects or victims???
Cargo helicopter - I think that is mostly limited to last mile deliveries in construction where the terrain may limit it from being delivered by truck. As noted, no longer relevant.
I agree those things would seem non-controversial.
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Volunteer firefighters though…
Volunteer firefighters still get paid. The “volunteer” part means it’s a part-time gig where they get paid by the job or perhaps a flat annual stipend and might have very few or very many jobs in any given period. They’ll have another full-time job to pay the bills (or this is their part-time job during college) and do this on the side. They’re paged when needed and will meet the rest of the crew at the site. But they’re not unpaid.
As opposed to being guaranteed a minimum number of hours and sitting around the firehouse waiting for calls.
Source: one of my BFFs was in a 19 year relationship with a volunteer firefighter (married for 14 of those years) and they have a kid and are divorced and he will randomly bring the kid home during his parenting time so that he can go on a job and get paid for it. Which messes up BFF’s plans and is a constant sore spot.
When they first met in college she was interested in two guys with the same first name. We’ll pretend it was “Brad”. One we all knew from high school, but we all went to different colleges where she met the other. So when she was describing them to us they were “Brad Jones” and “Brad With The Beeper”. The beeper being pretty unusual for a college kid, but it was issued to him by the fire department.
He’d leave her on dates if he got paged. She hated it. But he was very charming and she married him anyway.
In another context, a volunteer military still gets paid. They are volunteers because they didn’t get drafted.
Perhaps “volunteer firefighter” means different things in different places. I have a friend who was a volunteer firefighter for many years, and he was just a volunteer, he wasn’t paid. His town didn’t have fancy equipment like helicopters, though.
I vacationed with him, and on more than one occasion it was handy to have a current EMT on the scene. He did a really nice job splinting broken bones with random stuff, for instance. When 911 showed up, they didn’t change a thing, just transported the person to a hospital.
Does the helicopter drop stuff (like water, or packages)? OFFICIAL YO
- (MH) Is it bigger than a breadbox? Yes
- (Lucy) Is it man-made? Yes
- (MH) Is it attached to the earth? No
- (MA) Is it larger than a 2004 Ford Focus? Yes
- (Lucy) Is it a vehicle? Yes
- (MH) Does it travel on land? No
- (Lucy) Does it commonly carry more than 9 people? No
- (Pres) Does the vehicle transport people? Yes
- (Lucy) Does this vehicle travel in water? no
- (Lucy) is it an airplane? no
- (Pres) Does the vehicle travel to space? no
- (MH) Does it have to follow a particular track? no
- (MH) Is it a hot air balloon? no
- (MA)Does it travel in the sky? yes
- (Kat) Is it a blimp?no
- (Kat) Is it a helicopter? yes this is like the old 5*, you’re almost there, but you have to be more specific to pass.
- (MA) Is it flown by a member of the military? no
17.5 (twig) Does the helicopter typically carry people who are not getting paid to be in the helicopter? Yes ish I was really hoping to get thru this without hedging my answers. since I don’t know how to answer this, I’m giving you a half freebie. - (Tiff) Does the helicopter drop stuff (like water, or packages)? No
Corporate ~ charter. But I think all the people in a corporate copter are paid to be there.
I would say you’re putting too much weight on that question. I gave you only a half question because I didn’t know how to answer it clearly. The answer gives you some info, but it is fuzzy.
Sure, for that particular flight. But then the next flight is taking some ba-zillionaire to his estate on the Hamptons for his daughter’s engagement party.
That seems sort of like a “died from covid” vs “died with covid” distinction. It’s not so much that they are being “paid to be on” the helicopter, it’s that they are being paid, and they are on the helicopter.
Hmm… in case anyone’s wondering, Biden’s helicopter is flown by the military.
And I can’t think of any other unique helicopters.
I remember watching “Airwolf” as a kid. I don’t remember if they were military…
So not a firefighting helicopter. Nor a rescue helicopter which can certainly drop packages.
That wasn’t the distinction I was thinking of. I was thinking that you can charter a helicopter to go somewhere, or your company can own some helicopters and use them regularly. But i would guess the actual use of corporate choppers is similar to the actual use of chartered ones.
Are the pilots typically government employees?
- (MH) Is it bigger than a breadbox? Yes
- (Lucy) Is it man-made? Yes
- (MH) Is it attached to the earth? No
- (MA) Is it larger than a 2004 Ford Focus? Yes
- (Lucy) Is it a vehicle? Yes
- (MH) Does it travel on land? No
- (Lucy) Does it commonly carry more than 9 people? No
- (Pres) Does the vehicle transport people? Yes
- (Lucy) Does this vehicle travel in water? no
- (Lucy) is it an airplane? no
- (Pres) Does the vehicle travel to space? no
- (MH) Does it have to follow a particular track? no
- (MH) Is it a hot air balloon? no
- (MA)Does it travel in the sky? yes
- (Kat) Is it a blimp?no
- (Kat) Is it a helicopter? yes this is like the old 5*, you’re almost there, but you have to be more specific to pass.
- (MA) Is it flown by a member of the military? no
17.5 (twig) Does the helicopter typically carry people who are not getting paid to be in the helicopter? Yes ish I was really hoping to get thru this without hedging my answers. since I don’t know how to answer this, I’m giving you a half freebie. - (Tiff) Does the helicopter drop stuff (like water, or packages)? No
- (Twig) Are the pilots typically government employees? No