Having been a navigator in the USCG, I find these comments of the "cost" of SAR operations to be completely ridiculous and uninformed.
The planes and boats don't just sit around waiting for the call. They're in constant use
training and executing various law enforcement, fisheries and just general operations and
training.
To the
rescue crews a SAR is why they signed up. They could give a rats ass how the person got I trouble but they're fired up to go save them. The only thing that pissed us off was a hoax.
We constantly rescued people in sailboats heading to Bermuds in
hurricane season. My good friend and
rescue swimmer got a DFC rescuing folks in a sailboat caught in a
hurricane. Should they have been there? No. Was it dangerous ... You bet. It's a dangerous job and that's the draw. Endless boredom sprinkled with brief moments of incredible excitement.
the planes and boats would be operating in some fashion anyways. So the cost logic is BS.