E NDNOT E S 1
This chapter is based on an Applied Policy Project report
9
Jet Rangers and A-Stars depreciate at roughly $210/flight hour
developed for the Los Angeles Police Department by the authors as
and $250/flight hour, respectively. After weighting for the proportion
part of their Masters of Public Policy program. The original report
of both aircraft within ASD, the fleet depreciates at roughly
preparation was supervised by Prof. Mark Kleiman of the UCLA
$240/flight hour.
School of Public Affairs, Department of Public Policy.
2
In the North Hollywood bank robbery, two heavily-armed robbers
10
$280 + $90 + $400 + $240 ≈ $1,000/flight hour, which
excludes overhead, buildings, safety equipment, training, and costs
engaged in a shootout with police and were killed. Police and others
of financing. ASD’s true cost per hour of flight is double this on
were injured. In 1999, two students at Columbine High School killed
weekdays and triple on weekends, since ASD flies two aircraft during
other students and a teacher, injured others, and committed suicide.
the week and three aircraft on Fridays and Saturdays.
In 2009, a single gunman killed 32 students and committed suicide at Virginia Polytechnic University (Virginia Tech). At the Westroads Mall,
11
a man killed eight others in 2007 and then committed suicide.
the first year. This assumption applies hereafter.
3
12
This section compares the relative capital operating cost of
Calculations assume that replacement parts are purchased after
Although it is not clear that UAS operators and observers
helicopters and UASs per flight hour. ASD helicopter training costs
should be paid for hours not in flight, we use the salary structure
roughly $250,000-$500,000 over a 4-6 month period. Based on our
of helicopter flight crews for consistency. Substituting for unsworn
interviews with UAS manufacturers, UAS operator and observer
personnel with lower salaries could further reduce UAS operating
training may range from $3,000-$10,000 and take from 1-2 weeks to
costs per flight hour.
complete. Though further analysis may be required, an initial estimate puts UAS training costs at less than 2% of what it costs ASD to train its
13
helicopter pilots.
continuously for up to 30 hours. We intentionally limit flight time
4
This assumed high-end UAS model is designed to fly
to less than 5 hrs/day to ensure that maintenance costs are not Approximately $250,000 per aircraft.
underestimated. Even after overcompensating for uncertainty, maintenance costs account for only 5% of total operating cost per
5
Roughly 29,000 gallons and $79,000 per aircraft.
flight hour.
6
Fuel consumption is not a major contributor to hourly flight costs.
14
Although multiple spare parts are included in the purchase
Even a 50% increase in fuel prices would be immaterial to total costs
price of high-end UAS models, even conservatively estimating
per hour.
an additional $200,000 in maintenance after one year does not
7 8
significantly raise maintenance costs per flight hour. All present value calculations use an interest rate of 5% hereafter.
The trade-in value for a 10-year old aircraft with 15,000
flight hours is roughly two-thirds of its initial price (Helicopters Magazine 2011).
170
15
Using an average top speed of eight leading small UAS
models (roughly 40 mph) and the farthest distance from a station to its boundary (Devonshire or Foothill).
16
130-170 mph for the A-Star and 125-155 mph for the Jet Ranger.
u c l a L u s k i n s c h o o l o f p u b l i c a f fa i r s
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