hi well it is 12:35AM and i kept hearing a plane circling around my house so it either has to be a plane trying to use fuel up or it is a police plane which i think is correct it is the police plane for portland doing an area check around mt.tabor for a foot chase involving a male and lots of police !! HAHA !! so i am wondering 1 why dont we have a helicopter and 2 what is the talkgroup for the air support or is it tied in to regular police comms and 3 what is it called ? air or unit ,now that would be a fun ride along !! off to bed i go hopefully the chase will be over soon so i can get some sleep !!
portland police air unit
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I have heard it referred to with different numbers like "Air 1" or "Air 2", just starting recently. Multnomah Co Sheriff has a Cessa R172K # N910TW that you can look up on landings.com. That could be it. Didn't PPB used to use a helicopter out of Portland/Hillsboro Airport?
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At one point in time, there was a rumor going around that one of the local news channel copters had an "authorized" 800MHz radio in the rig, and that they would work with the PPB to provide air support on request. I was never able to get any kind of positive confirmation one way or the other on that, so can't say for certain how valid that may be.
A long long time ago, I actually had a radio ID for "AIr 1" but the file it was stored in has been long lost.
joe
A long long time ago, I actually had a radio ID for "AIr 1" but the file it was stored in has been long lost.
joe
Last I heard, PPB could not afford the expense of maintaining a helicopter. So they went with a fixed-wing aircraft instead. I think it is set up with FLIR and other goodies, too. A few years back the Rap Sheet (the Portland Police Association newspaper) had a big article about the aircraft, the PPB officers who are the pilot and observer, some war stories and some photos, too.
PPB has never had a helicopter of their own as far as I know.
PPB has never had a helicopter of their own as far as I know.
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poolsidemike
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public outcry in the past has limited use of police copters
a number of years ago, Beaverton PD and some other Washington County police departments piloted a helicopter program.....from what I recall most law enforcement folks thought it was a success...however, too many citizens complained of the noise, the feeling of "big brother", etc....in addition, it became cost prohibitive...so the program was discontinued.
I thought it was kind of cool to have the helicopter overhead....you could literally watch it responding to calls throughout the county when they had their night scan on.
a number of years ago, Beaverton PD and some other Washington County police departments piloted a helicopter program.....from what I recall most law enforcement folks thought it was a success...however, too many citizens complained of the noise, the feeling of "big brother", etc....in addition, it became cost prohibitive...so the program was discontinued.
I thought it was kind of cool to have the helicopter overhead....you could literally watch it responding to calls throughout the county when they had their night scan on.
PPB has two planes. Did not see those before:
N2163J Cessna 182T
N739MR Cessna 172N
Try the Unicom frequency 122.75 AM
mh34444
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PPB Air Support Unit Video
http://blip.tv/play/g8MfgYj_Ko25eQ.m4v
You can't outrun the plane, or the dog for that matter.
http://blip.tv/play/g8MfgYj_Ko25eQ.m4v
You can't outrun the plane, or the dog for that matter.
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GregFromOregon
Member
WOW, very cool. Thanks for the link.
Very nice video!! Woof woof
...and, the air unit is shared with Clark County.. I know there are at least 2 Clark County deputies who have taken the plane up occasionally and operate on CRESA frequencies, primarily on control 2 (CCSO).
Old thread - but awhile ago I heard a pretty long "operation" on an INET channel that went from Portland into the Salem area. They had a Bell 206 helicopter (or what sounded like one) involved and it was giving out location information to the ground units. I was thinking it might have been N991YC, which is the helicopter Yamhill County used to have which almost sold to Clackamas County, I've seen it randomly at the Hillsboro airport a couple of times.
Had no idea Yamhill County even had a helicopter program. Learn something new every day!
Lol, for how much it was used in the field... I'm sure there were some deputies who didn't know they had it...
I heard in the not too distant past that OSP also had a fixed-wing plane they used on special missions.
Planes are not even close to what a copter can do for urban policing. But it is true as said in an earlier post, they are costly to deploy mainly because of the demanding maintenance schedule that is a daily matter.
I'm not sure what the exact cost is now, but when In was dispatching at LA Sheriff earlier in the new millenium the department billed contract cities an auditor verified rate of over $200 each 15 minute period. ($1,000 an hour and FAA rules dictate you can be up in the air no more than 4 hrs in 8 hr shift.)
But when they are up they could get from the I-5/Banfield area anywhere in the city in about 90 seconds or less, and that would be a great deterrent to the thugs in N.E. if they had to think twice about how far can I get from this felony I just did in 60-90 second before the PoPo is overhead.
I got a bit of a chuckle about an earlier mention about the noise driving the neighbors crazy, and I will confirm that you could hear those old Bell copters long before you could see them. Now LASD uses the much quieter Hughes MD500 that I really only hear until it's almost overhead because it uses NOTAR instead of a rear rotor.
I will go out on a not so high limb and, predict that while you've got a great, well-educated/professional bunch of cops at PPB, this is the city that flipped out when Bratton brought 'tactical response squads' to town, and there is not enough intestinal fortitude down at City Hall to ignore the rantings from the likes of COPWATCH that would come unglued at the notion of having cops in the sky keeping the peace.
Planes are not even close to what a copter can do for urban policing. But it is true as said in an earlier post, they are costly to deploy mainly because of the demanding maintenance schedule that is a daily matter.
I'm not sure what the exact cost is now, but when In was dispatching at LA Sheriff earlier in the new millenium the department billed contract cities an auditor verified rate of over $200 each 15 minute period. ($1,000 an hour and FAA rules dictate you can be up in the air no more than 4 hrs in 8 hr shift.)
But when they are up they could get from the I-5/Banfield area anywhere in the city in about 90 seconds or less, and that would be a great deterrent to the thugs in N.E. if they had to think twice about how far can I get from this felony I just did in 60-90 second before the PoPo is overhead.
I got a bit of a chuckle about an earlier mention about the noise driving the neighbors crazy, and I will confirm that you could hear those old Bell copters long before you could see them. Now LASD uses the much quieter Hughes MD500 that I really only hear until it's almost overhead because it uses NOTAR instead of a rear rotor.
I will go out on a not so high limb and, predict that while you've got a great, well-educated/professional bunch of cops at PPB, this is the city that flipped out when Bratton brought 'tactical response squads' to town, and there is not enough intestinal fortitude down at City Hall to ignore the rantings from the likes of COPWATCH that would come unglued at the notion of having cops in the sky keeping the peace.
It is kind of sad we do not have a copter. Pasadena PD started the Foothill Air Support Team (FAST) back in 1999. They bought a surplus copter, put top of the line avionics and mapping in it and a federal grant paid for most of it. Ten member cities pay for the program based on population.
Pasadena Police Department - Air Support Operations
It can get anywhere in the area under two minutes and when they are not on a call they are scanning rooftops, parks, parking lots, etc.
I believe the LASD has phased out all of the 500's and replaced them with AS350's. But I agree, it is very hard to tell when one of those NOTAR's is approaching! Only when they are right overhead are they really noticeable.
As for Portland, I agree as well. Planes have a bunch of limits compared to a helicopters. It annoys me that one of the general public's complaints about having helicopter is the noise which seems selfish IMO when almost everyday I get a flashalert about a shooting that just occurred.
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