Police Helis
Hi all,
It saddens me to see the differing management decisions of police helicopter operators around the country. I also find it odd that a particular heli type is deemed ideal for one county while another operation down the road opts for an alternative type.
Would I be right in thinking that for most regions and the nature of the task, there ought to be one type that best fits most operations.
Now the price thing is coming to the fore.
Around the mid 1970s, I found myself sitting in front of the Police Chief at two or three Police units, doing my sales pitch. First was the famed 'Big G' of the Glascow force where I spent a week on typical 'police ops' with a humble Enstrom. In those days I recall it coped with 95% of the required tasks.
Ditto a year or so later at the Kidlington HQ and by 1975. I was flying a couple of coppers over London out of Battersea. Next it was the Guildford force at Mount Browne where I was still using an Enstrom on aerial observation, missing persons and traffic.
Once the Met got going it became sensible to use the twin, but as I recall it, the cost went skywards and using the Bell 222, was something in the order of six times higher than the Gill Crewdson's Helicopter Hire annual charge for their Enstroms.
So here we are in 2008, when it now seems that the cost factor, accounting and the politics and careers that go with that, are turning the corner and ASUs are in danger of shutting up shop.
Can't we take a leaf from USA? The Pasadena Police have been successfully using the Enstrom now since 1970 and as we all know, other US Police Forces similarly use the MD 500, A Star etc.
I'm not suggesting a wholesale move over to singles, but I take the view that better that as losing valuable police work to our industry is worse.
As we speak the R44 is in regular use over London, and in 35 years on the London Lanes, I know of only two occasions of engine failure. (Dear David Voy will know about one of them!) I also know of two engine failures by the B206. Then there was Bell '222' double engine failure at Lippits Hill a few years ago.
So what am I saying? Where costs are about to scrub an ASU, shouldn't the industry put up a case for a lower cost single? There are better guys than me out there with the engine failure statistics, but where the prime role is aerial observation, a 500/R44/480T etc, could do the job at perhaps one third of the price. Especially if the rowing managers were pensioned off!
Flak helmet on .. all ready to fire out there!
Best wishes to all,
Dennis Kenyon.