Aside from the pilot, is there anyone else in a police helicopter and do they or the pilot have powers of arrest in the unlikely event of being able to swoop down, land and acost a felon?
Most have pilot, co-pilot and the observer in the back operating cameras etc, typically the observer is a police officer, so yeah if they land any of them can make an arrest
You’ll have to rethink your plans
I think usually the pilot is not a police officer, but the observers are. I have never heard of them swooping down to arrest criminals but if they are police officers i guess they could!
Only if you're watching blue thunder repeats ;o)
apparantly they search for marijuana and burn up the 'erb fields
we get a lot of police helicopter action around here and I am certain they would never try to land to accost a suspect! It would mean losing sight of the suspect while they went to land in the nearest park, for one thing
Landing in typical operating areas is realy dangerous, from unseen wires getting wrapped around main or tail rotor, from debris being blown up and ingested by the engine intakes, from ground resonance etc. Unless there was somewhere very, very open and safe to land, and the crims just happen to wait there nicely while you put down i think it would never happen......
On a weekend break at a camp site in North Wales a couple of years back a Copper Chopper landed to drop off a dog and handler to apprehend some Herbert who had been up to no good in his caravan.
A van turned up to take away said Herbert, whilst the handler and victorious wolf left like rock stars in the helicopter.
During the arrest the pilot popped into the camp shop for a few tins of pop and some Mars Bars. The wolf had already eaten.
we get a lot of police helicopter action around here and I am certain they would never try to land to accost a suspect! It would mean losing sight of the suspect while they went to land in the nearest park, for one thing
It does seem like an odd idea, you're giving up the advantages of the helicopter (faster than pretty much any land vehicle; top down view of the action to enable direction of ground units; carrying heavy thermal imaging cameras) in order to loudly announce your intention to commence a slow foot pursuit.
A mugging on a helipad. Just imagine...
A mate of mine had a brother who was a sergeant with GMP (late 80s).
He was an observer on India 99 and once took a photo of his dad in the garden from about
1500 ft. It was shit.
The whole point us to be the eyes for people on the ground.just not crashing whilst doing that us probably enough. Plus if you were getting chased by the popo and you saw them landing would you not start by running around the corner?
The clutha bar crash had an ex raf pilot and two police observers.
The Pilot is a Civilian, as is the navigator.
Observer is a Cop, trained to use the mapping systems etc.
Excellent.Thanks all!
I've ridden with a former PC observer, who had to give it up when he exceeded a weight limit, iirc.
I'm pretty sure that there was an episode of Police Interceptor 999 Hero Cops in Bodycam Action where they landed in a field and arrested a suspect - seem to recall several suspects had split up, ground units got the rest, one ended up in a field and surrendered to the helicopter having realised he was never going to get away, so they found a safe space to land and the observer hopped out to arrest him.
As above, pilot is civilian. Pal of mine used to fly them, he's ex military and got the police gig when he finished up in the forces.
Sounds like an epic job, he's got some properly hilarious tales of crim hi-jinks seen from the air.
A mugging on a helipad. Just imagine…
On the other hand,
Best. Getaway. Vehicle. Ever.
pretty disappointed no one has posted a bluethunder comment/picture.
standards are slacking
surely you troll. that's airwolf 😀
@tjagain - that's John Holt not eek-a-mouse innit? My first thought also!
My mate was a navigator on a police chopper. I can neither confirm, nor deny that we received a DVD of us waving at him on a fly-past one new years eve, nor that they did a fly-past for one of my lad's birthday parties...
Some of the stories we used to hear were brilliant but an ever increasing patrol area/fewer resources, red tape and paperwork led to him leaving. Sounded like the perfect job - sit around watching TV/sleeping/reading/playing xbox etc until you're needed to fly around in a helicopter catching baddies.
Grum - like many reggae songs many folk did them John holt is the famous version.
Mind you, there’s a bird’s eye view of all sorts of activities….
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-40669603.amp
Mind you, there’s a bird’s eye view of all sorts of activities….
Fair play, I bet its really hard to pilot a chopper one handed
<Blue Thunder> Does the observer have to wear a hat that says JAFO?
Why don’t the popo choppers use whisper mode like blue thunder? It really helped with “just outside the window” surveillance 👍
Fair play, I bet its really hard to pilot a chopper one handed
Larger choppers certainly require two hands, I don’t have any personal experience of piloting the smaller ones. But either way, it’s important to leave one hand free to control the helicopter.
thegreatape
Free Member
Fair play, I bet its really hard to pilot a chopper one handedLarger choppers certainly require two hands, I don’t have any personal experience of piloting the smaller ones. But either way, it’s important to leave one hand free to control the helicopter.
That's the reason they invented autopilot systems like AFCS for helicopters, lets them have a doughnut break without worry!
Larger choppers certainly require two hands,
Cue childish s****s....
Have you never watched police reality programmes where Zulu 99 and Tango 69 whizz around directing bobbies to tackle the perps? They have an array of sensors you know including night vision, infra red AND a really bright like with a glamorous name like ‘night sun’. I’m sure Freeview has a channel with this stuff on loop.
