Light Sport Aircraft in Police Work

[SASless]

There is a growing use of Light Sport Aircraft (small fixed wing aircraft) in the Police Aviation industry in the United States. The primary attraction to this is Police Air Units can be formed very cheaply compared to the standard helicopter operation.

The functions that can be provided are less than for the standard helicopter operation but a substantial amount of those functions are done quite well by the Light Sport Aircraft thus allowing smaller Police Organizations to have the benefits of an aerial unit even if not one with a full function capability.

Is that something that would work in the other countries besides the United States?

Do we need a full function ASU or can lesser units provide yeoman service doing searches, surveillance, patrol and the like...but at a much lower cost?

Are traditional Police ASU's ignoring the advantages of LSA and clinging to helicopters and thus failing to provide themselves with a cost savings measure?

Could not LSA be used for most functions and helicopters reserved for those functions that demand a helicopter?

Is this something the Police Services should consider?

[birrddog]

South Africa are pursuing this policy, with several police units having purchased the New Zealand manufactured Bantam.

[Hi Flyer]

I'm not convinced we should be looking at reducing the capability of a police ASU on the basis of cost.

When it comes to providing the most cost effective emergency services aerial capability, shouldn't we be considering at some point in the future, where appropriate and if politically possible which I very much doubt (given the various public/private organisations involved), some form of multi-role aircraft capable of performing a number of combined functions including Police/Hems/limited SAR etc where the aircraft attends only where absolutely necessary - easier said than done I know!

[Flying Bull]

Hi SASless, there are two police squadrons in germany using light type A/C (Cessna 182). There are a few tasks, where a plane can be used, i.e. spotting for bushfires, evenso the fireman pax do like the helicopters more. There are also some tactical cases, where the endurance of a light type is a big advantage, but you have to fit a lot of equipment first, to have the bird ready for these cases - and in bumby weather, the vomitfactor is quite high for the guy on the Computerscreen..... The biggest advantage is, that you can get pilots onto IFR by first making fixed wing IFR and then convert to helicopter IFR. So you get two to three pilots with helicopter IFR for the same amount of money you have to spend, to get an helicopter IFR-rating without the detour. But - it costs a lot of time to do it that way. One squadron is even evaluating autogyros for police work. I´m quite happy, to have propper helicopters provided for my work. Twins with enough power so spare, IFR and TCAS fitted. You can´t always save money and get the same benefit. Old saying, if you think training is expensive, try an accident instead! Greetings Flying Bull

[Sulley]

wasn't this tried before here in the uk back in the 1980's with the optica ?

[Ptkay]

LSA or ultralight gyrocopters are to be used for police and search
missions. See example Xenon:

Celier Aviation Blog Archive Paris Air Show, Le Bourget (http://celieraviation.eu/blog/?p=395)

See also Xenon used for police actions in Burkina Faso:

Celier Aviation Blog Archive Mission Burkina Faso ! (http://celieraviation.eu/blog/?p=329)

YouTube - Xenon Burkina (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIutzr-fpnk)

[Ptkay]

Police tests mini helicopter.

The Ministry of the Interior rents "Gyrocopter".


German Police to use gyrocopters for patrol - Rotary Wing Forum (http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13289&highlight=german+police)

Police testing Gyros - Rotary Wing Forum (http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13617&highlight=german+police)

[J.A.F.O.]

I feel that it's unlikely that there will be use of light aircraft and gyros in the UK for a great many (mainly spurious) reasons.

Police chiefs might tolerate the voluntary Skywatch flights supplementing their air assets; the UK has a wonderful tradition of getting committed amateurs to do jobs for free that the government should be funding.

Ken Wallis used autogyros on police jobs years ago but I can't see them being used on UK police ops.