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Jan. 21--ASHLAND -- Five helicopters, including four operated by Brim Aviation of Ashland, are poised and ready for deployment to Haiti.

The MD-500s and MD-600s are part of a group of eight helicopters waiting for transport to the earthquake-stricken Caribbean nation.

For Craig Morrison, chief pilot for Brim, the waiting game is an unhappy reminder of the days following Hurricane Katrina. "We've been set up to go for the past week," Morrison said. "The documents and the paperwork are in. The biggest question is when do we go? Right now we're just waiting for Washington. I don't think Americans are moving quick enough, it's like what happened after Katrina."

Despite being on the opposite side of the continent from where much of the relief effort is being organized, Morrison said Brim Aviation is a few notches "higher on totem pole" than aviation companies in Florida or Georgia because of the types of operations it typically performs for the National Park Service and other clients.

"It's just a matter of getting down there," Morrison said. "They had a couple of C-130s ready to fly into Medford and pick us up and fly us down, but that got derailed. We checked with the people who fly the Antonov (a Russian heavy transport plane) and a 747, but those got derailed too. There's no one there on the Washington end of things. It's been a debacle, across the board. They can't seem to get together to get people moved fast enough."

When and if the C-130 Hercules or other transports find their way to the Rogue Valley, Brim Aviation could send as many as 24 people, as well as fuel trucks, to Haiti.

The only other option would be to simply take off and fly the five helicopters -- along with two in Montana and one in Colorado -- to a staging zone in the southeast. Instead of a few hours to traverse the continent in a transport, it would take 30 hours of flight -- about 31/2 days -- to ferry the squadron to Haiti. It would also mean fewer support personnel for the mission.

"The three options are transport to Haiti, (transport to) Atlanta or ferrying to Haiti," Morrison said. "If we were to self-deploy on our own nickel, we'd be out several hundred thousand to move all the equipment at once. Generally, they forward you the money so you can get to the area with no issues. We can't afford to go take $300,000 out of our account."

Owner Burl Brim and operations director Bob Cockell were headed to Washington on Wednesday for previously scheduled meetings for the Air Rescue System side of Brim's holdings.

"The type of things going on down there would mean being down there for months," Morrison said. "If we were retained for the construction phase, it could be years."

Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected].