Cost of running the skycrane is around $11,000 per hour. Plus the cost of actually having it here.... (regardless of whether you use it or not....!) - I think that was around $1 million for the season (although that figure could be a bit rubbery...someone did tell me the cost, and I think that is right!)
For the cost of one skycrane, we can run most (all?) of what we have now...multiple bombers, helitaks etc....
CFS, like any other Government Department, has a budget, and we have to stick to it. Sometimes, CFS needs to go to the Government, and ask for more - for things like this season, where CFS as a whole has been so busy....
While we could argue "what price is a life" and that CFS should be able to use whatever resources we can get, regardless of the cost, many other Government Departments could argue the same thing....and if they all spent whatever they thought they needed to, the Government would have a major budgetry problem!!
Overall, CFS has a budget, and has to use that budget in the smartest way we can - with what is going to give us the best value for our money.....
Pip