Air Support

Astro To Special Flight

Operational 24 hours a day, the ASD comprises Special Flight and Air Support Flying with the LA Police Department’s air wing text & photos by Paul Sadler To Regular Operations (ASTRO) divisions.

Special Flight conducts surveillance and special operations including the support of drug busts, major crime scenes and internal investigations. Averaging approximately 600 flying hours per annum, Special Flight uses several of its Squirrels equipped with dedicated surveillance equipment including the powerful Cineflex gyro stabilised television camera.

“We’re usually up at 7000ft for Special Flight during surveillance with the camera, which puts us high above airliner traffic flying in and out of LAX Airport,” explained James Schwedler, a tactical flight officer (TFO), or observer, at the ASD. “The airplanes pass underneath us which is interesting when you’re a TFO and you have binoculars against your face and the pilot doesn’t warn you that one is about to come into view . . . it can sure catch you off guard. ” The ASD’s ASTRO division is tasked with conducting proactive policing and providing officer safety for ground units, with up to three Squirrels airborne at a time.

“The command would like to always launch three helicopters during the day but we’re sometimes restricted due to manpower and tend to save the helicopters and crews for night when it’s busier. ” The ASD was launching three machines for all shifts but found the helicopters became scheduled for maintenance around the same time, putting its maintenance crews under pressure to keep pace.

“We can fly both helicopter types for ASTRO operations,” said Schwedler. “Primarily we use our Squirrels but keep the Bells on strength as a safety net in case the manufacturer calls to say the type is grounded. We can still revert over to the JetRangers and never be grounded. ” Several years ago the Squirrel type was temporarily grounded after one made an emergency landing following an engine failure near San Francisco. For two weeks the ASD flew its JetRangers until the grounding was lifted.

From 0800hr to 0400 hours the next day ASTRO division helicopters are airborne, weather permitting, and are on standby during the early morning hours in between.

“Statistically, between 4am until 8am, the crime rate is at its lowest in the 24 hour period, so flying during this time doesn’treally achieve much. The bad guys have got to sleep at some time,” quipped Schwedler.

ASTRO division flies a staggering 18,000 hours across its fleet per year, with some pilots achieving 780 hours annually.

“We fly more than anybody. Pilots and TFOs in air support usually average 650 to high 700s flying hours per year,” said Schwedler.

The division uses its King Air 200 for transporting the chief of police and high ranking command staff throughout the western United States, and detectives going to prisons or other police departments to interview prisoners or witnesses.

Police Academy

The LAPD chooses to train its own pilots in-house using ASD instructor pilots and a number of the division’s Bell JetRangers as training platforms.

“You first have to be a licensed private pilot, fixed wing or helicopter, with at least 100 hours PIC (pilot in command),” explained Schwedler. “If you’re selected, you become one of four on a course trained to commercial helicopter pilot level during a six month course. ” To sit in the left seat, TFO applicants must have at least five years of ground experience with the LAPD. After successfully completing an initial interview, applicants are loaned to the ASTRO division for a month’s trial and evaluation.

“If they think you’re good enough you stay for four more months of training, but if they don’t think you’re good enough you’re asked to leave or return to the division you came from,” said Schwedler. “We get a lot of people who try out for ASD but around 80 or 90 per cent of applicants don’t make the grade. One of the biggest reasons they don’t make it is navigation. It could also be because of communications – they can’t give the right instructions over the radio – or they can’t multi-task like switch frequencies, write down information and navigate all at the same time. ” For TFOs, training is on the job. “You fly in the left seat with an experienced pilot, as most were TFOs before becoming pilots,” said Schwedler. “Some have five years TFO experience so they fly and teach you how to do the job at the same time. You have to study a lot – you can’t study enough before you come up here. Some people make great cops but they just can’t adapt to the airborne environment. ” And flying for the ASD is a highly sought after position, not only for accumulating hours in the pilot and TFO’s logbooks, but for the remuneration incentives.

“There is no ‘tour of duty’ time limit here for pilots and TFOs,” said Schwedler. “You can stay here as long as you like unless you mess up. We get a bonus payment because of the danger involved and the skill levels required. It’s a significant payment so you’d have to find a better job before you leave.

“And this is such a cool job. We spend our days putting LA’s ‘not so finest’ in jail and we have a great time doing it. There are very few places where anyone can go in the industry and have better pay and benefits than they do here at the ASD. ”

Air 11 . . . Responding

Australian Aviation took the opportunity earlier this year to ride along with ASD’s TFO James Schwedler and pilot Ken Phillippe during a Saturday morning patrol over LA, observing first hand how valuable air support is to LA’s proactive policing.

As Schwedler and Phillippe preflight AS350B2 Squirrel N230LA, callsign ‘Air 11’, on the large rooftop helipad, the famous ‘Hollywood’ sign stands out up in the nearby hills. Closer is the concrete causeway of the Los Angeles River, the backdrop to several blockbuster movies including Grease and Terminator 2. Indeed, the ASD’s facilities appeared on the silver screen in the early 1980s movie Blue Thunder, starring the late Roy Scheider, about a fictitious high tech armed SA341 Gazelle hybrid helicopter.

“They used our then newly built headquarters for the Blue Thunder movie,” said Schwedler. “The day after they finished filming the ASD moved in. ”Having completed a safety brief Phillippe starts the Squirrel’s Arriel engine while Schwedler finishes his pre-start walk around.

In company with Air 16, another Squirrel working this morning, Air 11 receives a clearance to takeoff from the ASD’s ‘control tower’ and departs to rendezvous with an inbound Squirrel which it will replace on patrol.

Receiving information about recent goings on in the south end and mid city districts, Air 11’s first task for the day is responding to a ‘low jacking’.

‘Lojack’ is a security device that can be fitted to vehicles and remotely activated by its owner if stolen. A Lojack receiver fitted to the ASD’s helicopters picks up the signal and displays its direction and strength on a small screen on the instrument panel, leading the crew to the vehicle’s proximity.

“We’re looking for a white four door ’97 model Lexus,” noted Schwedler. “Kinda like finding a needle in a haystack because from up here it appears that every second car on the road is white!” Finding that ‘needle’, just one of 30,000 or so cars stolen each year in LA, takes about 15 minutes. Before too long the Lojack receiver begins to show a full strength signal and Schwedler and Phillippe are adamant the Lexus “has to be just down there” as Schwedler points to a sea of gridded roads as far as the eye can see.

Air 11 locates the Lexus stationary outside a house in a neighbourhood that perhaps is not that typical for Lexus owners.

Having received information the car had been reported stolen only a few hours earlier, Air 11 radios the address of where it’s parked for a ground unit to further investigate.

Mission accomplished, at least for now.

As well as the Lojack, the TFO’s tools of the trade include a pair of powerful binoculars and a GPS driven moving map display.

“The moving map comes in very handy,” explains Schwedler. “It’s easier to navigate out here in the flat areas, but up in the hills of Hollywood, the streets there are like a bowl of spaghetti. However, you can’t totally rely on it just in case it blows out on you, at which point you’re back to relying on your street knowledge and using a folded map. ” At night, operations become more challenging for ASD crews, but adding to the tools TFOs have at their disposal are a Nitesun searchlight and forward looking infrared (FLIR) camera. “Sometimes you have the searchlight control in one hand using your thumb to move the gimbal and in your other hand you have the binoculars pressed against your face trying to get a licence plate or a house number . . . and navigate and work five radios,” notes Schwedler.

Air 11 heads back towards downtown in response to a call that a ground unit has just stopped a vehicle for a minor traffic violation.

Within seconds Schwedler and Phillippe find the street where the ground unit has the car in question stopped, with the officer talking with the offending driver.

“When we can, we just fly over to see how the ground unit is doing,” said Schwedler.

From out the large left door of the Squirrel, cut larger for better vision, the officer on the ground can be seen holding four fingers up toward the passing helicopter.

“The officer, rather than tie up the police radio, has just given us a four-finger hand signal indicating a ‘code 4’, which means they’ve got things under control and are doing fine. ” But on the other side of town another vehicle stop is about to take place. A reported stolen grey coloured Trans Am is sighted by a ground unit, which has called for backup in case the driver elects to do a runner.

“We do a lot of communications with the other ASTRO pilots that are airborne,” said Ken Phillippe. “We all have our designated areas to patrol but if we’re near the border we might call them and say ‘we’re close by’ and hop over there and respond. ” Pushing the nose forward Phillippe descends and increases Air 11’s speed as we head towards the Trans Am, guided by Schwedler.

“If there’s a pursuit naturally the guys on the ground get real excited,” said Schwedler.

“But we can sit back and look at what’s going on and be more calm advising the ground units they have a red light ahead at an intersection and if they have crossing traffic. ”Because the Trans Am is confirmed as stolen, ground units will not attempt to stop it until an air unit is overhead providing backup.

“The reason for us being airborne is for officer safety. If a bad guy gets away that’s one thing, but as long as no officer gets hurt, that’s the main thing.

With seven ground units in response and Air 11 circling overhead, the lead police car makes an uneventful stop of the Trans Am on the corner of a major LA intersection.

Guns drawn, including a pump action shot gun, the driver is directed from his vehicle to lay face down on the roadway with his legs and arms spread. Several officers move in and make the arrest.

Saturday mornings are usually quiet according to Schwedler, who describes the crime rate as seasonal. “It’s the summer months more so than winter and night time more than day, so obviously summer nights here get quite busy for us. ” During the quiet times of a patrol the ASD helicopters fly over known crime hot spots and gangland neighbourhoods.

Interestingly, a study by the LAPD revealed that just by having its helicopters flying over these areas reduces the crime rate.

Cruising back up toward 1000ft Air 11 flies near to where the white Lexus was located, after discovering that it had since gone. Dialling in the Lojack code to pick up the signal once more, Air 11 traces the car to find it on the move several kilometres from where it was previously spotted.

Calling in ground units, several police vehicles appear on scene in a matter of seconds.

“Some of the 21 divisions being patrolled are small, meaning the number of ground units are more concentrated,” said Schwedler.

“In these divisions, when you call for backup it usually arrives in like 30 seconds. ” Last year the average response time by both air and ground units throughout LA was under two minutes.

With the Lexus boxed in at a small intersection, Air 11 circles tightly above at 500ft until the two female occupants are removed from the car and handcuffed.

The owner of the Lexus was called and collected the vehicle a short time later. Job done this time.

Towards the end of the shift Air 11 gets a call to a possible stolen car having its wheels removed in a back alleyway. Again, Air 11 is overhead in seconds while at a distance Schwedler, knowing where to look, notices a SUV leaving the laneway.

Finding the sedan in the laneway jacked up by two large milk crates, and all of its four wheels missing, Air 11 begins following the SUV while requesting backup.

Juggling five radios, a moving map display, a set of binoculars and notepad and pen, the TFOs have their work cut out for them during a response.

“We probably beat the ground units to a call about 80 per cent of the time, so we get to have a look first at what is going on and brief them on what to expect when they get on scene,” explains Schwedler.

The SUV is observed to drop two male occupants off at a premises and continues on as a patrol car quickly catches up and begins a very brief pursuit. The SUV makes a wrong turn and finds itself in a dead-end laneway. Air 11 circles above the two story house that the two male suspects entered.

Marshalling a ground unit to the house, officers approach the front door with their weapons drawn. In an effort to disguise themselves from police the two males had changed their clothing.

Having been placed in custody Schwedler radios the arresting officers and asks them to parade the suspects by the roadway and to get them to look up at the circling helicopter. Using his binoculars Schwedler confirms the identity of one of the males and suggests the other is a probable. Both are taken away for questioning.

After nearly three hours of patrolling Air 11 then returns to the circuit, updating its replacement during the ‘watch’ handover with the statistics of what in the end was a busy Saturday morning.

The ASD is integral in protecting the LAPD’s officers in their fight against crime.

The ever present ASD helicopters deter some of LA’s not-so-finest and leave those that challenge the law with nowhere to hide.