VOLRIDER,
I worked at PAS as a "FLOATER" WYORKS, WMIDS, NEASU, SUSSEX, THAMES VALLEY, and a few other ASUs occasionally.
WM would have been around 1993, we had an AS355F2. I got sacked from floating at WM by Mel Mason (Inspector) for speaking to Eurocopter about a strange snag on the Flying Controls of the helicopter.
My naivity discussing the WM Police Helicopter with an outside agency!!!
When the helicopter eventuially went to Staverton for service the boys had to carve away at the pedal stops to get the rigging back to where it should have been. Vindicated but still binned.
It was a good unit and a busy one and at the time the boys were quite in the forefront of the FLIR and Daylight cameras.
I definitley recall a tale of the helicopter being attacked on the pan at the Airport either by attempted firebombing or paintstripper. Cant quite recall all the details and I may be mistaking the actual ASU. Maybe someone can remember.
I eventually settled at Northumbria Air Ambulance for 3 years before coming back to the North Sea to build a bit of a pension.
Still miss the flying though. We had some laughs and spills as we were all really learning how to use all this fancy new kit which seemed to appear almost weekly for us to use, Moving Maps, Flirs, Downlinks. Great Times and and probably the most rewarding part of my dysfunctional flying career.
I started at Essex Police in 1992 at the Old Ford Test track at Boreham. Great unit and a fantastic bunch of guys including the Inspector who was a top bloke. Made some good friends there, Mark Shelley etc.
Yep miss those times.