North Wales Police ASU.

[Pointy Pilot]

Thanks for the great PR you drummed up for helicopters yesterday morning in Rhyl. Nothing like flying at 40 knots and 300 feet over the middle of town at 10 on a Sunday morning. All my neighbours asked me why there was a need for a police helicopter to fly over like you did at that time on a Sunday morning. I defended your corner as best I could but most were not convinced and I have to agree.

I hope the mission was life and death. If not why were you there? :(

[TeeS]

Pointy
I can't help thinking you would have been more pleased to see them if you had just had you car stolen, your five year old daughter had gone missing or your gran had just been mugged. I have never done police work but I generally try to start from the basis that if they are that slow, that low, there is probably a reason and I can see no reason why it would have to be 'life or death'.

[PushTo Shock]

I agree with TeeS. Again, HEMS not Police, but when we are low and slow over a town looking for a place to drop in, I would hope the locals appreciate we are there to help and not just joy riding.

I'm sure they would rather have been tucking into the sunday morning fry-up they had probably just had to leave!

[ShyTorque]

Pointy P,

How long has Rhyl been in Spain then? Your estate agent sold you a real bum time share!

BTW, are you a CAA flight ops inspector?;)

[Arkroyal]

Pointy

You are a dork.

[Heliport]

:D :rolleyes: :D

[Marco]

PP
Please remember the 99% of the time there is a specific reason for a police helicopter to be where it is, as stated in one of the replies. As a general rule going on patrol is not an option not unless you want to exceed your budget.

Give them a ring and ask. They might be tight lipped and have very good reasons for doing so but on the other hand it may have been a missing person search.

[Pointy Pilot]

Tees,

The last time I had my car stolen the police could hardly be bothered to come out at all let alone send a helicopter. As for missing children, I have no problem with police helicopters searching for them. I suspect that was not the case in the middle of town.

PTS,

I am a big supporter of ASUs but not every one is. I have a real sense that the North Wales ASU is flying a lot of missions but is not putting itself over in the right light to the public. A lot of people have asked my why they are always hovering over their house at 10pm or flying low and slow over the town etc. I am in agreement that there is mostly a good reason for it. But lets be honest on Sunday morning they probably did more harm to their reputation than was necessary.

ShyTorque,

Visiting the UK for two months at the moment.

Arkroyal,

Clearly you are an ASU pilot who cannot take criticism. Try explaining your case rather than insulting people.

Marco,

I agree. But I am not the one that needs convincing. It is non-flying members of the public who merely see a noisy helicopter over their house at 10 on a Sunday morning. The ASU either need to plan its sorties with a bit more consideration or get some better PR done.

[Thomas coupling]

PP:

Hmmm....

40kts / 300': you must be a very good observer with vast helo experience to be so specific. Are you in the trade?

Is there a moratorium on flying over anywhere on police business, because its SUNDAY:eek: ? You must be a church goer -apologies. Perhaps on Sunday's the police aren't allowed to use their limitations to the full to prosecute a job more expeditiously?

Might I respectfully suggest that you ring their air ops unit and ask them ...directly. If you do it constructively you might even get an invitation to inspect and interrogate much more closely. Bring you colleagues with you ...you never know...

"It's an ongoing educational process, but we'll get there in the end"

[Flying Lawyer]

Now then TC .....
Nothing wrong with church-goers!
Some of us not only realise that Policemen and criminals don't stop just because it's Sunday, but actually like helicopters. :D

[Flashman]

:rolleyes:
Pointy Pilot - I was that man! I am not here to defend myself but merely to set the record straight. We actually took off at 1020 a.m. on Sunday to attend an incident in the Rhyl area. I am afraid your judgement of height is somewhat off, as I was not below 700' msd at any time (even though I could have flown at 300' msd). Believe it or not, but we do fly with consideration for persons on the ground. Like you, the last thing I would want to hear on any morning is a noisy aircraft. As several replies to your post have already stated, we do not just go out to annoy the local residents. I am not at liberty to discuss or disclose the actual incident we attended but suffice to say, it was one that required our urgent attention.
Your remark "The ASU either need to plan its sorties with a bit more consideration or get some better PR done" is a bit of a damning statement coming from a fellow aviator isn't it? If you were to think about that statement and perhaps enlighten me with your thoughts, I am all ears.

If you require further information or, as Thomas Coupling suggested, would like to visit the unit then please contact me by e-mail as I would be more than happy to personally explain the operational role of the unit.

Finally, thanks to all for the supportive posts.

[Arkroyal]

Pointy

I was composing a more reasoned reply, but then decided against wasting my time on it. I was an ASU pilot, but no more. We simply could not afford to fly for the express purpose of annoying the public.

As Flashman says, if the helo was in the air, then there was a good reason for it. We used to spend a lot of time trying to reason with the victims whose houses we singled out to hover over.

No hard feelings, I just sensed an anti police attitude. If that's the case become a barrister like FL and take 'em on in a fair fight:D

It wasn't your post for which I called you a dork, anyway. It was for living in Rhyl:eek:

[Tandemrotor]

"Sleep safe ma'am, it's one of ours!"

[BungleBob]

Pointy,
And as we seem to be clearing up a number of issues here, Police helicopters are also pretty good at finding missing children in built up areas, and are used for that purpose quite a lot.

[PurplePitot]

:D :D :D Nice last line Ark!:D :D :D

[Vortex what...ouch!]

Flashman, I guess we must pass each other regularly then. In fact I passed you over Rhyl a week last Saturday and Prestatyn on Sunday in a red and white R44. I fly up there quite often to visit family.

You can fly over my house anytime, so long as I can sit up front with you :D

Not sure my dads going to like being called a dork though Ark :D :D :D Then again he does fly microlights and live in Rhyl poor thing ;)

I’d like to come up and visit you guys sometime. Doing a great job as far as I am concerned :cool: