[2023 National Audit] "Serious Aging of Forest Helicopters... Budget for New Helicopter Acquisition Cut"

It has been found that 6.9 out of 10 forestry helicopters are aging aircraft over 20 years old. Given that forestry helicopters are important assets for wildfire suppression and equipment directly linked to public safety, there are calls for budget support necessary for the introduction of new helicopters.

According to the status of forestry helicopters submitted by the Korea Forest Service to Assemblyman Eo Gi-gu (Democratic Party of Korea, Dangjin-si, Chungnam), a member of the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee, as of this month, the Korea Forest Service owns a total of 48 forestry helicopters, of which 68.8% (33 units) are aircraft over 20 years old.

Among the forestry helicopters owned by the Korea Forest Service, 21 aircraft are between 20 and 30 years old, and 12 aircraft are over 30 years old.

A forest helicopter is conducting firefighting activities at the wildfire site. Photo by Korea Forest Service

The problem is that aging forestry helicopters have a high likelihood of causing accidents in the field. In fact, over the past 10 years, a total of 10 helicopters have crashed during wildfire suppression, resulting in 16 deaths and 5 injuries.

In particular, the helicopter accident that occurred on November 27 last year in Yangyang, Gangwon-do, involved an aircraft manufactured in 1962, making it over 60 years old. Additionally, the helicopter accident on May 16 of the same year in Geoje, Gyeongnam, involved an aircraft confirmed to be 52 years old, adding weight to concerns about accidents due to helicopter aging.

Aging aircraft also lead to excessive repair costs. The Korea Forest Service invested a total budget of 9.1 billion KRW in 58 helicopter repairs from 2018 to 2022.

Considering these circumstances, the Korea Forest Service included a budget of 135 billion KRW for replacing aging helicopters in next year’s government budget proposal, but it has been confirmed that the actual allocated budget is only 72.5 billion KRW.

Assemblyman Eo Gi-gu pointed out, “Despite forestry helicopters playing an important role in wildfire suppression, significant aging has progressed because new helicopter introductions considering aircraft age have not been made. Especially, the budget for replacing forestry helicopters has not been sufficiently secured for next year either.”

He added, “Since the normal operation of forestry helicopters is directly linked to public safety, the government must sufficiently reflect the related budget.”