Little Rock police get helicopter upgrade

2001 military-surplus model to replace agency’s 1972 aircraft

Members of the Little Rock Police Department recruit class look over the department’s new 2001 Bell Jet Ranger helicopter during an unveiling at the Police Training Division on Thursday morning. The department acquired the helicopter at no cost through a government surplus program.
Members of the Little Rock Police Department recruit class look over the department’s new 2001 Bell Jet Ranger helicopter during an unveiling at the Police Training Division on Thursday morning. The department acquired the helicopter at no cost through a government surplus program.

Little Rock police Thursday unveiled an observation helicopter that the department acquired earlier this year through a federal military surplus program.

The 2001 TH-67 Bell model helicopter, also known as a Jet Ranger, has been dubbed "Air Three" by the department. It was received through the U.S. Department of Defense's 1033 Program.

Little Rock police Sgt. Roger Snook, supervisor of the department's aviation unit, said work has been underway since June to get the helicopter "into top flying shape and get it ready to place into service."

The helicopter came from the Fort Rucker U.S. Army post in Alabama. It will replace "Air One," a 1972 Bell OH-58 that the department purchased in the 1990s.

Air One is being decommissioned and will be sold, Snook said. A second helicopter of the same make, model and year as Air One will remain in operation alongside the new aircraft.

"This essentially will be used to assist patrol for any kind of emergency situations or civil disturbances, natural disasters -- anything like that," said Bill Denio, a former lawman who is one of three pilots in the Little Rock police aviation unit.

The unit operates part time, typically flying on busy Friday and Saturday nights. It also has helicopters in the air during special events, such as Riverfest, and on-call for situations such as vehicle chases or manhunts.

"They say one helicopter is worth about 20 patrol cars when you're looking for suspects," Denio said. "So there's a lot of times we can see things in the air that they're unable to on the ground."

A police spokesman said information on the unit's budget wasn't immediately available Thursday. The unit, started in 1995, operated in its early years on money seized in police cases and received funding from the city's general fund. It had an annual, full-time budget of $900,000 until it was shut down in 2003.

Helicopter operations resumed on a part-time basis in 2012. In addition to the pilots, the unit has two civilian observers and six police observers.

The department didn't have information Thursday on how much it cost to modify the new helicopter for police work. Previously, it cost more than $100,000 to modify other helicopters in the unit, according to reports.

Denio said Thursday that it cost about $30,000 just to replace the transmission in the copter.

The department has installed a police radio in the TH-67 helicopter, and the aircraft is ready for certain daylight operations, according to Snook. Police have yet to install a spotlight for nighttime flights. Once equipped, the helicopter will "easily light up a whole block" from 500 feet in the air, he said.

The aircraft flies at about 65 mph on patrol and has a top speed of around 135 mph.

Metro on 12/11/2015

Upcoming Events