Last summer, when Chuck Hall found a large Russian helicopter that could help rescue people stranded in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, it was as if he had hit the jackpot. Then he hit a bureaucratic wall.

It was Tuesday, Aug. 30. The levees had been breached. The city flooded. As president of the north Florida division of the Hospital Corporation of America, Hall was well-versed in hurricane response, and he moved quickly to help save those marooned at HCA's Tulane Hospital.

But the air ambulances at HCA's disposal could only carry one or two people at a time. Inside the hospital were more than 1,200 patients, staff and family members. Hall knew they needed something bigger.

Then a lawyer put him in touch with a private businessman who owned an Mi-8MTV, a Russian military helicopter between the size of a U.S. Black Hawk and Chinook; it could carry 26 people at a time. It could also carry twice the amount of fuel as most helicopters — four and a half hours worth. And fuel that week was considered liquid gold.

Hall spoke to James Montgomerie of Vertol Systems Co., the private company based in Oregon that owned the aircraft in Destin, Fla. Montgomerie immediately lined up a crew. Now all they needed was clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly.

But when it comes to the federal government, sometimes not even a national emergency can stir the bureaucracy. "First we had clearance, then all of a sudden it's grounded," said Ed Jones, an HCA vice president of supply chain operations. Based in the corporation's Nashville headquarters, Jones was in charge of securing helicopters for the rescue operation. "The big rub was certification versus air space."

The helicopter had been certified by the FAA as "experimental" — a designation for aircraft used in such things as research or exhibitions. As opposed to having a "standard air worthiness" certificate, an experimental chopper cannot carry people, under federal regulations.

Typically, ex-war birds are given experimental certificates, which carry limits on how they can be used and where they can fly, said Les Dorr, an FAA spokesman.

"These regulations exist for a reason," he said. If an aircraft hasn't met the more stringent requirements of the standard air worthiness certificate, there's no guarantee of safety for passengers. The flight to and from the makeshift helipad on the Tulane parking garage roof was fraught with risk. "You're talking about a helicopter that simply was not certified to do that sort of flight into that sort of terrain under those kinds of conditions," Dorr said.

But Jones and Hall described a situation more akin to the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing. "I found the Washington bureau [of the FAA] very helpful in trying to get the appropriate approval," Hall said. "I found the folks in Baton Rouge to be somewhat of a challenge in getting the final approval to fly."

In the flurry of phone calls exchanged that week, Montgomerie received one from an FAA inspector in Baton Rouge who warned him not to fly the craft before the inspector came to examine it. Montgomerie said fine, when can you come? "He said, 'Well I'm kind of busy,' " Montgomerie said. " 'I think I can get there sometime in the next six weeks.' "

Shouting match

At one point, Jones got into a near shouting match with an FAA official. The Mi-8 is already used in 54 countries. It's designed to carry troops and supplies and to be used in armed attacks. The FAA official in charge of air space had given them the go-ahead. But the official over standards and certification said no.

"I called the guy in standards and said, 'It's a Russian Mi-8, for God's sake," Jones said. "We got people dying on that parking garage. I need to have this aircraft freed up. What do I need to do to get clearance on this thing?"

Dorr could not confirm any of the conversations that Jones, Hall and Montgomerie said they had with the FAA. But he did say the agency may try to streamline the process to avoid a similar snafu in the future. "We have had internal discussions about an operational response plan and how we can help to get things done more quickly," he said.

Eventually, the FAA did grant a "national interest waiver" to allow the Mi-8 to be used in the Tulane rescue. But it was too late. All the Tulane people had already been evacuated.

"It never was able to fly a mission," Hall said.