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APSA's E-Newsletter is designed to help keep you informed on the very latest information in the airborne law enforcement industry. Laser Incidents On The Rise
The green laser pointers, sold online for less than $50, are many times brighter than red lasers and are used for presentations and to point at stars. When aimed at aircraft, however, they are bright enough to temporarily blind pilots. According to a police report, this incident occurred when the suspect pointed a laser at a State Patrol helicopter while it was flying over Minneapolis. The pilot was forced to land the helicopter when temporarily blinded. Investigation of the case has been referred to the FBI. SOURCE: www.startribune.com First Laser Charge To Be Prosecuted Federally A 28-year-old Bakersfield, California man plead guilty last month to shining a laser beam into the cockpit of a Kern County Sheriff's Department helicopter last November. The man will be sentenced October 10 and faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The man's girlfriend was also arrested in December and faces the same charges. Her court date was August 1. This is the first such case that has been prosecuted federally in California. The man admitted to pointing a green laser beam that illuminated the cockpit of the helicopter, which was flying at 500 feet on a routine patrol. The pilot said he became disoriented from the laser and suffered pain and discomfort in his eyes for a couple of hours. SOURCE: www.bakersfield.com Cost of Fuel Forces Cutbacks So Patrols Can Stay Aloft
"The city is not unlike families who are faced with escalating fuel costs and limited budgets," Safety Director Mitchell Brown said in a memo to Chief James G. Jackson. "We must live within our means and maximize the resources with which we are blessed." The Columbus Police Department has five helicopters in its 23-pilot police unit. Helicopter fuel has jumped from an average price of $2.36 a gallon in 2007 to $4.25 a gallon today. The helicopters burn 25 gallons each hour, so the fuel increase costs the city an extra $756 daily. Jim Gilbert, a Columbus police sergeant who's also president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, said helicopters are able to accomplish from above what it would take more officers to do on the ground. The $174,000 left for fuel would run out October 18 if prices and patrols stay at their current levels. A department spokesperson said, "We're looking at less hours now so we're able to look at continued service throughout the year.” SOURCE: www.columbusdispatch.com New SAPD Chopper To Assist Fire, Rescue Operations
SOURCE: www.ksat.com State Police Offers Five Planes for Sale
"These aircraft have provided vital aerial support for State Police operations and for other law enforcement agencies across the commonwealth,” Miller said. “Because of their key role in our department's day-to-day functions, these aircraft have been maintained to the highest standards by our expert aviation mechanics.” PSP is retiring the planes and replacing them with four Cessna 206H Station Airs. The model, year and asking price for each of the aircraft offered for sale are:
Following the completion of the sales, the PSP air fleet will consist of six fixed-wing aircraft and eight helicopters. For more information, visit www.psp.state.pa.us and click on the “Cessna 182 sale” link. Source: www.gantdaily.com Infrared Eye Helps Target UK Cannabis Criminals
Many cannabis factories are excessively heated to help produce the drug and this heat literally makes cannabis farms stand out a mile when X99, the department's helicopter, is in the area. "Growing cannabis to sell is a serious offense for which a sentence of three years imprisonment can be expected. Some people do it as a sort of cottage industry and probably do not know the possible consequences. I want those people to get the message that if you grow it, we will find you, and you will go to prison. It's as simple as that," said Chief Superintendent Chris Hardern, Head of Operations Support Division. When the helicopter spots a suspected cannabis factory, the information is passed on to Divisional Drugs Team officers who are able to search the properties once they are granted a warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act. SOURCE: www.westyorkshire.police.uk Crew Rescues Injured Mountain Biker
SOURCE: www.nctimes.com New FWC Surplus Aircraft Ready for Missions
The 1969 surplus helicopter was completely disassembled, inspected, repainted and all major components brought up to mid-time remaining or better. The helicopter had an instrument panel upgrade to include a Dynon 7” EFIS on the pilot side, a Dynon 4” EFIS on the copilot side, radar altimeter, Technisonics TFM-138 VHF radio, UHF radio, Garmin 430 GPS and 496 GPS with XM Weather and Ma/Com 800 MHz radio with NAT AMS44 audio controls. Additional upgrades include a Spectrolab SX-5 searchlight, public address system, and Kaflex main driveshaft. Coastal Helicopters in Panama City, FL performed the completions. The photo is of the UH1H helicopter being accepted by FWC at Coastal Helicopters. Left to right are Maintenance Technician Jason Nazaruk, FWC Aviation Support Officer John McDonald, Avionics Technician Sue Odom, FWC Chief Pilot Kevin Vislocky, Project Manager Paul Selby and FWC Pilot Jaira McKeown. SOURCE: FWC Aviation Unit Finds Crashed Aircraft
Last year, the unit found another crashed aircraft that had the pilot hanging upside down in the aircraft for two days. The pilot survived this crash due to the Desoto County Sheriff's Aviation Unit. SOURCE: Desoto County Sheriff's Department Cayman Police Wants Experienced Air Support Commander
RCIPS expects the aircraft to be delivered in the next month and hopes to have the unit started by the end of this year. The executive officer position will oversee operations and management, which can be quite complex for a new aviation unit. The police service also wants to hire a helicopter pilot with at least 3,000 hours of recent flight experience. SOURCE: www.caycompass.com Air Wing Crew Survives Crash
Power lines in the area of the crash were damaged indicating that the helicopter had, at some stage, touched the power lines, but a full investigation will be conducted to establish the cause of the accident. There was an exchange of gunfire between the suspects and the police on the ground. The helicopter from the Johannesburg Air Wing joined in the hunt for the suspects, as the area in which they were hiding was not accessible by road. SOURCE: www.search.gov.za/info Canadian Council Approves Down Payment on Chopper
A $150,000 down payment of a second helicopter, an EC 120, was approved last month. A helicopter is critical to effectively covering the Edmonton area, which is actually one of the largest cities in North America in terms of square miles, Pitt said. The new helicopter will likely be ready in 2009. Air-1 has been flying since 2001 and needs an overhaul. Both helicopters won't be flown simultaneously, unless there is a major incident. By having two helicopters, the department hopes to increase air service by 1,500 hours. SOURCE: www.edmontonsun.com Florida Agency Equips New Helicopter With Laser Technology
"Additionally, with the SWAT team who has night vision goggles, we'll be able to see them as well. If we're working a mission to assist the SWAT team, we can point out something to them they can see exactly where our laser is on target at," says OCSO Captain Randy McKendree. Capt. McKendree flew the new helicopter to APSA's conference in Houston last month, and he said a number of other law enforcement officers showed interest in doing the same thing with their agency's choppers. "Chase II is equipped with a transmitter that can send images from the cameras to receivers on the ground. In the event of a hurricane or other disaster where the emergency operations center, Sheriff's Office commanders, or fire department commanders on the ground need to see live real-time video from the air, we can give that to them," says McKendree. The chopper is worth about $3.6 million, of which the County spent about $1.4 million. The rest was financed with federal grants and from the proceeds from selling off another aircraft. SOURCE: www.myfoxorlando.com UK Man Sentenced for Laser Incident A 26-year-old United Kingdom man, who said he was asleep and woke up when a West Yorkshire Police helicopter flew overhead, narrowly escaped a jail term after admitting shining a laser pen at the aircraft last month. The police helicopter pilot had to alter his flight path and captured images of the offense on the aircraft's video equipment, which was shown to the court. The judge jailed him for six months, suspended for two years, telling him, "You have escaped prison by a very narrow margin indeed. What you have done was not just stupid, not just irresponsible, but criminally reckless.” The man must do 100 hours of unpaid community work and pay prosecution costs. The court heard the maximum sentence for the offense is five years in prison. SOURCE: www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk Whirly-Girls Announce Available 2009 Scholarships
The deadline for application submission is Oct. 1, 2008. Applications and full descriptions and requirements can be found at www.whirlygirls.org. Bird Collides With Helicopter
SOURCE: Police Aviation News Sign Up Now For Western Region Safety Seminar APSA's Western Region Safety Seminar will be held September 3-5, 2008 in Newport Beach, CA. This event is hosted by ABLE, the joint Newport Beach- Costa Mesa Law Enforcement Aviation Unit, and the Orange County (CA) Sheriff's Department. Among the educational opportunities are classes on water survival, safety management systems, analysis of aircraft accidents, unmanned aerial vehicles, critical infrastructure patrols, fuel safety/fire prevention, ground-to-air threats, and emergency flight training for non-pilot TFOs. Learn more and register at www.alea.org/public/seminars/western. APSA Conducts Successful Annual Conference
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A 25-year-old man was arrested last month on suspicion of aiming a green laser at a Minnesota State Patrol helicopter, which is the latest in a parade of similar arrests across the country this summer. Since June, people have been arrested and charged in cases in Ohio, Texas, Florida, California and Massachusetts in which the lasers have been shined into the cockpit windows of aircraft in flight.
The Columbus, Ohio city budget runs through February, but it has only enough money to keep its police helicopters in the air through mid-October. Administrators have ordered the Division of Police to cut the number of hours it watches the city from above. Stretching city dollars to cope with an 80 percent increase in helicopter fuel costs could mean seven hours of daily patrols instead of the current 16.
The San Antonio (TX) Police Department put its new A-Star helicopter into service last month. The aircraft will primarily be used for emergency and fire rescue operations as well as large security necessities. The helicopter was paid for by a grant from the Department of Homeland Security to the San Antonio Fire and Police Departments.
Five Cessna 182 single-engine propeller airplanes used by Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) for tracking criminals, finding missing persons and other tasks are being offered for sale to the general public, Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller announced in mid-July.
So far this year, over 250 cannabis farms have been spotted by the West Yorkshire (UK) Police's Air Operations Unit helicopter, thanks to the advanced thermal imaging cameras it carries.
A California helicopter crew rescued a mountain biker who took a hard fall last month. A person called to report that her 34-year-old mountain biking partner had fallen. The San Marcos Fire Department personnel determined after arriving at the scene that the man had suffered spinal injuries, so they called the San Marcos Sheriff's Department to send in a helicopter to carry him from the rugged terrain. The victim was strapped to a backboard and flown off the mountain in ASTREA 1, the sheriff's helicopter. Information on the victim's condition was not available at press time.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has taken delivery of a Bell UH1H helicopter. The helicopter was placed into service last month and will be based in Tallahassee, FL. The helicopter will be used in support of law enforcement special operations, domestic security and response to man-made and natural disasters.
Last month, the Desoto County (MS) Sheriff's Department Aviation Unit was called out to look for a Cessna 152 that had sent out a mayday call. The Sheriff's helicopter, a Hughes OH6, flew to the last known GPS coordinates and started a grid search. The crashed aircraft was located by the Sheriff's department aviation unit in complete shambles. The aircraft was destroyed so badly, it was hard to identify the tail numbers. The pilot did not survive the crash.
The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) is searching for an executive officer to run its new Air Support Unit. The police service purchased a 1999 Eurocopter model helicopter for $1.8 million last year. That aircraft is now in the United States awaiting a pilot and maintenance crew as well as some final approvals and Memorandum of Understanding with the Civil Aviation Authority.
The crew of the South African Police Services (SAPS) Air Wing police helicopter, which had been assisting members on the ground in tracking two fleeing robbery suspects, crashed on open land last month. The three occupants of the police helicopter were evacuated by air to the hospital where they are receiving treatment and are all in a serious but stable condition. No other person was injured during the incident.
A second police helicopter is a wise investment, a University of Alberta criminologist said after city council cleared the Air-2 helicopter purchase project for takeoff in Edmonton, Canada. "(Air-1) is getting worn out," said criminologist Bill Pitt. "I think it's invaluable. Two is an absolute necessity."
The Orange County (FL) Sheriff's Office (OCSO) has added a new Bell 407 helicopter, named Chase II. Deputies took delivery of the chopper a few months ago, and one of the advancements over the other aircraft in their fleet is laser technology.
The Whirly-Girls International announced their 2009 scholarships to be awarded at Heli-Expo 2009 in Anaheim, California on February 21, 2009. Five of the scholarships are available to current Whirly-Girls, members of the female helicopter pilot association, and one is open to a currently rated female looking to receive her helicopter add-on rating. Some scholarships were donated by training facilities and helicopter manufacturers, while $12,000 in cash gifts were funded by the Whirly-Girl Scholarship Fund, Whirly-Girl Auxiliary, and independent sponsors.
A Bay County (FL) Sheriff's Office helicopter had a midair collision with a seagull during rough-surf lifesaving operations over Panama City Beach last month. The impact damaged the left side windscreen. The aircraft was able to fly back to its base in Panama City, where the aircraft was landed without further incident. The seagull was found in the rear passenger compartment.
The 38th Annual APSA Conference & Expo took place last month in Houston, Texas. The Houston Police Department Air Support Division was the host agency, and APSA welcomed over 150 vendors and 900 participants to this year's conference. Be sure to look for the September-October issue of Air Beat Magazine with all of the details. Our onsite conference newsletter, Air Beat Today, is now available on the website at
