Who says cats are quicker than monos in chop.

[scottar]

Guess there are only a few who know whether journalistic license was involved or not but without specs on the boat or chopper - who knows. Typical chopper used by Polair - Spec'd top speed of about 170 knots. Miss Geico 2006 (admittedly possibly a bit more giddy up than old mate was playing with......and a cat) top speed - 213 MPH = 185 knots. That's some serious breeze in your face ......if you still had a face

[scottar]

Duplicate post

[stang69]

his boats commonly had at least 1000 litres of fuel. How long can a chopper fly for without turning back for fuel?

[TheRealPoMo]

Dunno but it's a cracking good story. Cross betwen hillbillies running moonshine in souped up hemi Dodges and Miami Vice. Not that I advocate poaching....

[Dirtyfuzz]

depending on the chopper i assume but i would expect no more than a couple of hrs, when we were doing evacs in 08 an 11 floods they were refuelling every 1hr

[TheRealAndy]

There is only about 4 maybe 5 boats ever built that will go faster than your average Robinson R44, which is good for about 130knots tops (and is a slow chopper). I think the fastest boat out there is (or was) an Aussie boat too which was from memory pushing about 300 knots. That record may have been beaten though.

WRT chopper endurance, it depends on the model and weight carried and speed. The Sikorsky that the US coastguard operates is good for about 4 hours at about 120knots. There is other choppers that can do better. Most are good for 2-3 hours (or 400-600nm).

As for cats being faster than mono's. This depends on size and waterline lenght as well as conditions. a 30ft niad RIB will outperform the standard 30 foot noosa cat or shark cat in a typical moreton bay chop.