fourwd1
Member
Howard's police aviation program is ending in response to looming countywide deficit
They even expect to sell the 12 yr old helo for $1.5 mil.
They even expect to sell the 12 yr old helo for $1.5 mil.
Didn't Howard and Anne Arundel share an aviation unit at one time?
A lot of good points about drones as opposed to helicopters.I can't say where I came by this, but HoCo is in the foreground and the two AaCo are in the background. What is not in the picture is the original HoCo ship that had been stripped of engine, blades, and most of the parts. This is the one they "crashed" back in 2013 where the tail was damaged. I guess $1000+/hr to just tour the county by air got to be too much.
In this day and age where sUAS platforms are capable of doing surveillance and FLIR work for pennies on the dollar (think $34k vs $2+mil), I think helicopters will become more and more limited in the scope of their use. Heck drone platforms can be tethered and flown as long as they have 120v power and aren't really limited by battery life in some cases. You figure most sUAS are portable and can be packed in a patrol vehicle, deployed in minutes and provide real time video feed, and are a lot quieter than a helicopter over the scene as well.