Saturday, July 01, 2006

Ouch!

Picture via Channel 7 News. Other coverage at Channel 2 and the Sun Times.

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. But the fact remains that helicopters are inherently unstable aircraft. Any aircraft in which there is a "chip detector" looking for foreign particles in a transmission so you can tell if it might be tearing itself apart in mid flight is not an aircraft we'd prefer to be spending overly large amounts of time in. It would seem the odds will catch up to you eventually.

81 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What do you expect, it was probably one of the 1st UH-1's that flew combat missions in Vietnam. Hey, what do you expect from a city that spends 24 million on a mirrored bean, but goes to Uncle Igor's military surplus to get a good deal on a helicopter. "Yes, red really covers up the bondo..."
Thank god nobody got killed.

6/30/2006 11:20:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought the bean was paid entirely by private funds. Just like 'Billennium Park' and Soldier Field.

6/30/2006 11:39:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pilot did any EXECELLENT job! Now if we can just get helicopters made in this century we should be okay. But we all know that that is NOT going to happen! Thatnks mayor DICK!

6/30/2006 11:44:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It appears that I acquired a heat rash on my nutsack today from the humidity acquired while working (IOD).

6/30/2006 11:49:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey SCC how about a thread about all the good perks (food, etc) that coppers f***** up over thew years...love to hear those stories..

7/01/2006 12:09:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If that helicopter could have landed safely at an airport along the lakefront, maybe one called Meigs Field, they wouldn't have had to ditch the thing and total an aircraft endangering the lives of all aboard and possibly the public.

But then Mayor Richie wouldn't have that beloved parkland for his wife to make points with her Friends of the Park group.

When are the Feds going to indict that scumbag anyway? That way another scumbag can take his place and the Feds can have a new mayor to investigate.

7/01/2006 12:30:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

“It wasn’t a crash, it was an emergency landing,’’ Langford said.

That looks like a crash to me; but any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Glad they were not hurt.

Is that Hitney poking around there?

7/01/2006 02:21:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hitney's on her way over right now for the photo shoot.

7/01/2006 02:39:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The news is reporting that the sun reflecting off the newly polished chrome bean caused temporary blindness to the pilot and caused the crash!

Word is there will be a no-fly-zone over the Millennium Park Chrome Bean to prevent any future accidents.

7/01/2006 04:00:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Drunken Fireman! Need anybody say anything more. The pilot was at Corrigans Bar for 5 hours prior to taking off. Dan Burke was on the scene and locked up the pilot for DUI. Case Closed by our very own hunk, bodybuilder, body of muscles, 9 1/2 inches of meat slinging cop, P.O. Danny "Meatman" BURKE.

7/01/2006 04:17:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who the hell is this P.O. James Oslanski on Crime Watch every 2 hours telling us how to secure our homes? My kids know all of his tips-"We recommend-who the hell is we?" One of his "tips" was to put 2 big dog bowls outside the house with water and dog food in an attempt to trick "Duke" from breaking into the home. I came home and found 27 dogs (2&4 legged variety) eating out of the bowl. They wait for me every night now to feed them dinner. THANKS ASSWIPE!!!! WHY DON'T YOU DO SOME REAL POLICE WORK!!! FUCK YOU! FUCK PETER KARL! AND FUCK CAPS! ANOTHER WASTE OF POLICE PERSONNEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7/01/2006 07:11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The other asshole on Crime Watch, Ron Ruffo, was talking about bicycle safety and "recommended" that we not bicycle on Lake Shore Drive or the expressway. They pay numbnuts 70 grand a year for him to tell us not to bike ride on the Dan Ryan Expy. Get these useless FUCKS out of the TV studio and put them in a beat car to help us with our daily backlogs. WTF!!

7/01/2006 07:43:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

C.A.P.S. WORKS, yadda, yadda, yadda!

On behalf of the entire CrimeWatch news team, you should know that I received the George Foster Peabody award for integrity in electronic journalism.

A half million taxpayer dollars per annum is one hell of a deal for the services of a distinguished world-class "journalist" of my caliber.

Study harder for the next promotional "exam".

I'm getting bored living in DuPage County. I'm considering building a French Provincial chateau on a 40 acre estate near Garfield Park--my own Versailles in the Harrison St. District. Then I can personally attend 11th District C.A.P.S. meetings and picnic on weekends in the park. I love rib tips with Kool-Aid and an occasional cold forty. Celebrate diversity! No "racial profiling".

Judas Iscariot was just misunderstood. Actually, he was a fine fellow.

Be sure to avoid the stray gunfire of Independence Day revelers.

7/01/2006 08:07:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SCC knows about the chip light. Very good. It also means the coffee is ready.

7/01/2006 08:29:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a Vietnam Vet once told me before my first time up in a chopper, "If you can't accept the fact that every once in a while these things just fall out of the sky like birdshit, then just don't
fukin' go!"

7/01/2006 09:14:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's not a leased bird. It was donated to the city by Dan "ROSTY" after the world cup games. They still have one left, just not as big. They gave us their 3rd one.
GEE, I WONDER WHY??? You never see that one just cruisin around. They only come out when called for.

7/01/2006 10:14:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Im glad the pilot is ok. he should of landed on that fuckin bean.

7/01/2006 10:26:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can someone get me out of this rat nest of a district answering domestic calls involving the baby's daddy-who ain't nothin' to the baby momma- auntie girlfriend lil' cousin's play sister and get me a job talking with my hero peter karl about protecting my house? DO I change the locks when I move into a new place???? Shit. I better stay here and deal with lakesha and her baby daddy.

7/01/2006 11:49:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kesha say she be 201% sure that Cleophus be her baby daddy and she want the motha fuckin fool to give her money for pampers and milk that she get at the A rab store at the crna. Kesha also throws shit in the game stating the following, that Cleophus: a)got a gun b)got a warrant c)just got out of jail d)sells drugs e)be drunk f)she got a peace bond on him

7/01/2006 12:12:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

19 PAUL Sqaud

7/01/2006 12:16:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cleophus referred to Keska as a bitch hoe and stated "I ain't givin the hoe shit"

7/01/2006 12:20:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was at the Schaumberg (sp?) airport and spoke to THE heli guy there. They do all the repairs to EVERY news heli in the Chi Twon area. Chicago refuses to send their bird to him.

7/01/2006 12:53:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Yes, red really covers up the bondo..."
Thank god nobody got killed.

Who in their right mind will get into a Shitago helicopter?? Can you say D-5 pay????

7/01/2006 12:54:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
If that helicopter could have landed safely at an airport along the lakefront, maybe one called Meigs Field, they wouldn't have had to ditch the thing and total an aircraft endangering the lives of all aboard and possibly the public.


GOOD POINT!!!

7/01/2006 12:55:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

TRU runs 009. You bitches cant touch us!!!!!

7/01/2006 12:57:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry a little off topic.
How about this for hypocritical. Cmdr Geno was at the roll calls last night lecturing us about not drinking and driving, not drinking and carrying our gun...bla bla bla. Problem is the great Cmdr had just come from a benefit for Officer Brian Strouse and HE was shitfaced. Rambling on and on almost incoherently about "baby mamas" and "Bey Bey" while he was LAYING on the podium. Then got in his company car and drove off. What a fu$%^ng tool.

7/01/2006 01:04:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All I have to say is THANK GOD that thing did not land on some black person! I really expeced to see a whole troop of them all laid out around the crash site! I almost had a heart attack thinking about $17 million for each Latnya Hagerty all sqished and shit!

7/01/2006 01:06:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

TRU suck manmeat. Ain't nothin but ignant dumb-ass lil bitches with 2 year on job.

7/01/2006 01:07:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dorothy Tillman say Fuck you cracker racist. We run this city.

7/01/2006 01:12:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why does Ald. Tillman have to refer to white folks as "CRACKERS"?

7/01/2006 01:14:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cause u is bitch

7/01/2006 01:15:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Shaniqua be a ho!

7/01/2006 01:33:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Name all CPD exempts that were conceived as trick babies in the rear seat of a Brewrick parked just off the ho stroll.

7/01/2006 01:51:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just handled a job where Kenyatta and Malcomb were walking down the street and ole boy fell out. Kenyatta told me she called for a bamboolance and they took him to the horspital. I asked her if Malcolm was anemic and she said "no he a carpenter."

7/01/2006 02:22:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Area 4 Deputy Everett Johnson
has putin place a "QUOTA" for all officers..... is that legal??????

7/01/2006 02:55:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What kind of quota?

7/01/2006 02:58:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Everett Johnson has leveled a quota on the President of Russia???? That's weird.

7/01/2006 03:23:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those bastards are still Commie Red.

7/01/2006 04:04:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well they never met any of their farming or production quotas under the centralized economy. I don't know how they will meet Everett's quotas. That Putin is ruthless though. I'm sure he'll make the numbers.

7/01/2006 04:06:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Putin is the non-PC Daley. He'll make the numbers.

7/01/2006 04:07:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Now THAT'S some funny shit.........

7/01/2006 04:20:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

FOR THOSE OF YOU AT THE CRTASH SIT YESTERDAY, OUR VERY OWN LOCAL TREASURE, RONNIE RUFO, WAS INJURED WHEN HE TWISTED HIS KNEE. TAK ABOUT HAVING A CELEBRITY MOMENT.

7/01/2006 04:21:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry. That's site and talk.

7/01/2006 04:22:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a boss.......

Can someone tell me what is wrong with a quota? Just how are we able to quantify an employee's work output? Is there a state law barring this? Is there federal law? Case law in a court system? In the union contract? Municipal ordinances? Just where is it?

A guy is out there handling his calls, makes a few pinches, writes a few tickets..... Is he better or worse than the R.O.D. (retired on duty) copper who we have to check for a pulse when he/she comes to work? Should a worker get a few more props than a dog-ass?? Absol-fucking-lutely!!!!

I am not talking about the anomoly here. Hell, on my Monday or Friday, don't look for too much outta me. But the other times, I am putting out something that closely resembles policework.

You know, I came on making a helluva lot less too many years ago. I ascended the ranks, put in my time, laid off the koolaid, and did a good job. Was I the highest activity guy? NO. But at least I did something pro-active as opposed to reactive.

Budget money is getting tight. We (believe it or not, "Y" generation entitlement babies notwithstanding) make a good buck. A darn good buck. More than the greeter at wal-mart, a sword fisherman in the atlantic or a bartender. Lets give the citizenry something for that good buck...... How does a guy do NOTHING for eight hours? Yes, we have guys that do just that.... Where is your pride?

7/01/2006 04:24:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about the people who go out there doing police work, making good pinches then are told they better write more curfews or they don't have enough parkers so they better start doing those or else they will get bumped of the car or split the partners up or some other petty shit like that.

7/01/2006 04:37:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

HEY ASSHOLE!!! WHY DO YOU LAY DOWN ON YOUR "FRIDAYS BOSS?" FUCK YOU "BOSS". SUCK MY DICK LIKE YOUR FAT WIFE DOES 3 TIMES A WEEK!!!!!!!

7/01/2006 04:37:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Any acknowledged quota can attack an officer's credibility in court. It becomes more of a matter of did you have to make an arrest to meet your quota or did you actually see the offender commit the crime.

7/01/2006 04:39:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ron Rufo here. Just to let all know that I'm OK and see everyone on the next exciting episode of CRIMEWATCH starring me, Pete Karl and Jimmy Oszlanski. We also may have a guest speaker. I'll keep all updated. TOODLES!!!!!!!!!!

7/01/2006 04:44:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What about the other asshole-John Casteneda-what a fucking tool.

7/01/2006 04:47:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

2:55 PM

Stop using my name or I will banish you and that Everett guy to a Siberian gulag.

7/01/2006 05:00:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Everett has YOU bring in numbers buddy, so it's obvious you work for him. E.J. runs it.

7/01/2006 05:30:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

TO all P.O.'s. When threatened by a boss with some bullshit, just tell asshat that you're going to file a grievance with the union and do what he/she/it has to do. The asshat then realizes they must leave a report (can't spell, punctuate nor put together 2 Declarative Sentences) and the dumb bitch secretary on the desk is more stupid than asshat's dog,he'll say "SHIT_FUCK THIS". FROM A BOSS THAT KNOWS HOW TO BE A GOOD BOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7/01/2006 05:37:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i's a boss what a decleritive sinetice.

7/01/2006 05:42:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i ount know

7/01/2006 05:46:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

By the way, all of you haven't been swiping have been identified. They want a To-From for any memeber who hasn't swiped on more than two occasions in the month of May. To all you who thought the system didn't record anthing are full of shit.

7/01/2006 05:52:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

fuck mt. canaryville.

7/01/2006 07:19:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

traillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark trash in the greennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnwood

7/01/2006 07:28:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Putin is the non-PC Daley. He'll make the numbers.


Putin is a black belt in Judo and could kick the ever loving shit out of Daley.

7/01/2006 07:59:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
As a boss.......



..............I wish I was a boss......

7/01/2006 08:00:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

see u at roll call bitch

7/01/2006 08:03:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
As a boss.......

Can someone tell me what is wrong with a quota? Just how are we able to quantify an employee's work output?

-----------------

I think bosses should have quotas also. They should still write tickets, do contact cards, make arrests, do gang dispersals.

Maybe this dept won't be so fvcked up. Ran by a buch of scared pussies, afraid to do anything that might loose their next "merit" promotion. Oh, sorry, cause you did whole lot to "earn" that prior "merit" promotion!

Lead by example, "boss"!!

7/01/2006 08:15:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

when speaking in the other official language of America, you must not include posessive apostrophe s nor punctuation

As Cleophus he my baby daddy
NOT Cleophus he my baby's daddy

An observer for 29 years or so

7/01/2006 08:16:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There we go bitching about the job again. When will you people learn. The best thing about this job is that there is no accountability. So what if the Watch Commanders, Lts, Sgts, cut out early. The only thing your responsible for is your 911 calls and that's it. Nothing else. You get cut loose every once in a while. If you start sucking ass you can get a nice cushy detective spot or make rank and get on easy street. Promotions arn't just for those with blood relations. Sucking ass can get you just as far on this department. Now if your talking about activity and evaluations and pretty soon your talking about swiping in and swiping out(I mean really swiping in and swiping out, not like we do now). Pretty soon they will be evaluating us on our activity and then we're all in trouble. So SHUT THE FUCK UP.

7/01/2006 08:30:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey asshat. can u say 19 boy. fuck u and your bullshit dreams.

7/01/2006 09:30:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yeah-go back to masturbating about madonna or ozzie osbourne

7/01/2006 09:33:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Had a W/C a while back who called me in an asked "why no parkers or movers lately?"

I replied "sorry boss..but i had more gun arrests then tact and gang teams combined for the period!"

He again asked, "why no parkers or movers lately?"

What-the-F@$&!..I thought to myself.

That was a very good lesson for me, that was when I figured this B.S. all out. Now I do as little as possible!

7/01/2006 09:42:00 PM  
Blogger leomemorial said...

ladies & gents, the holiday drunks are coming out! be safe...

7/01/2006 09:46:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All I have to say is THANK GOD that thing did not land on some black person! I really expeced to see a whole troop of them all laid out around the crash site! I almost had a heart attack thinking about $17 million for each Latnya Hagerty all sqished and shit!

7/01/2006 01:06:22 PM

So you think, if it had landed/crashed on White people, they would not sued??????

7/01/2006 09:48:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

7/01/2006 01:06:22 PM

So you think, if it had landed/crashed on White people, they would not sued??????

7/01/2006 09:48:19 PM


No, they are just not as valuable.

7/01/2006 10:09:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did you hear about the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA player who was drunk, and driving his escalade while watching porno AND masterbating himself?

He crashed into a parked car, owned by an Arab mini-mart owner.

The officers showed up and recognize the NBA star and completely "suck his dick" figuratively speaking. They only write him a ticket for no D.L. and give him a ride home to ST. Paul.

Later, a videotape surfaces from inside the store showing them being rude and arguing with the arab store owner (who's vehicle was hit)telling him that the player wasn't drunk and that they aren't D.W.I'ing him. Rewind the tape..before officers arrived there is obviously drunk NBA star crying and begging the store owner not to call police saying "Man I'm drunk..sorry I was watching porno and masterbating..man no one can find out about this..please I'll buy you any car you want. You want a cadillac? You'll have it tomorrow. You want a Bentley? Well, NOT a Bentley!..What kind of car you want? Just tell me..blah,blah,blah!"

It was so pathetic, that it was funny!

Outcome:

The store owner releases the tape to the media..Now sueing the Police Department saying his civil rights were violated.

The Police chief's response in essence was..an investigation has begun, and if it's true that they violated department rules or left the city limits they will be dealt with!

Both officers are 2 year wonders according to the news.

Sounds like they are screwed. The moral of the story.. "don't go out of your way for Joe!"

7/01/2006 10:19:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Het guys-Ron Ruffo here. Just wanted to say Pete Karl and CRIMEWATCH rocks. At least i'm not like you dog-asses working a beat car! Stay tuned!!!!!!!

7/01/2006 11:29:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

HEY RUFO. IF U GET AWAY WITH YOUR 9 YRS ON THE JOB WITH THIS BULLSHIT SO BE IT.WHO DID U CATCH SMOKING A COCK? OH SHIT-LET ME GUESS-CMDR MIKE ACOSTA

7/01/2006 11:36:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Instead of Walking a Beat, Flying One

By ANDREW JACOBS - NY Times- July 2, 2006

The two officers were on routine patrol heading up the West Side Highway in Lower Manhattan when the call squawked across their radio: A burglar who had just looted an apartment on East 49th Street and Second Avenue was making his escape along the rooftops. The address may have been several miles and dozens of traffic-clogged blocks away, but in less than two minutes Sgt. Jon Goldin and his partner were on the scene.

Or more accurately, above the scene.

Flying one of the New York Police Department's new Bell 412 helicopters, they hovered over the pinnacles of Midtown, boring down with the telephoto lens of a video camera. If it had been nighttime, their infrared sensors would have been used to reveal whether the thief was hiding among the ventilation equipment. But the suspect, it turns out, had already escaped into the throngs.

"If there's a bad guy down there, we're going to see him before he sees us," said Sergeant Goldin as he banked over the United Nations and continued on his beat. "And it's kind of hard to outrun a helicopter."

During the next 90 minutes, Sergeant Goldin and his partner, Detective William Lapaugh, responded to a half-dozen requests for assistance: a suspicious plane flying over Staten Island, a brush fire beside the Cross Island Parkway and reports of a kayaker in distress near the Statue of Liberty.

Once confined to trailing stolen cars from 1,000 feet or throwing their powerful klieg lights on nighttime demonstrations, the Police Department's aviation unit has quietly taken an aggressive role in law enforcement, transforming the age-old model of policing.

These days, there is almost always an airborne cruiser over the city, providing bird's-eye advice to traffic officers, chasing teenagers out of cemeteries at night or giving a lift to fire chiefs who want an overhead view of a raging blaze.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, they have also taken on a front-line role in thwarting terrorism. Outfitted with the latest mapping, tracking and surveillance technology, the department's seven choppers spend much of their time peeking at train yards, shipping terminals and high-profile landmarks that a would-be terrorist might find irresistible. Often police officers hover so high — or fly in their new $10 million "stealth bird," which has no police markings — that those on the ground have no idea they are being watched.

"We used to be more about observation," said Assistant Chief Charles Kammerdener, who oversees aviation as well as the department's other elite units, including emergency services and harbor patrol. "Now we're more involved in tactical operations. It's really a militarylike approach to terrorism. These days we're trained to handle just about anything."

New York's two dozen pilots are also undergoing training on how to carry out such operations as rappelling into "hot zones" to fetch injured comrades or using an officer's formidable weaponry to, say, take down an unresponsive Cessna buzzing toward Yankee Stadium.

Although Los Angeles has twice the helicopters, New York's choppers are faster, more powerful and better suited to rooftop evacuations, air-sea rescues and counterterrorism operations, officials said.

New York is also the only city whose aviation unit has scuba divers on standby 24 hours a day.

Urban police departments across the country have been swept by chopper fever. Inspired by new devices worthy of James Bond and buoyed by grants from the Department of Homeland Security, aviation units from Philadelphia to San Diego have been expanding their use of helicopters, said Officer Daniel B. Schwarzbach, president of the Airborne Law Enforcement Association and a pilot with the Houston Police Department.

"Sept. 11 opened up a whole new world for aviation," he said. "We're doing missions we never did in the past. It's an exciting time."

Not everyone is so enamored of New York's embrace of aerial policing. Civil libertarians worry about the potential for abuse, citing an incident during the Republican National Convention in 2004 in which a police helicopter's night vision camera secretly recorded a couple during what they thought was a private moment on a Manhattan rooftop.

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said she was concerned about overzealous use of aerial surveillance equipment so powerful it could scan the headline of this article as it was being read in Central Park.

"We worry that it will be used to monitor the innocent comings and goings of New Yorkers or to create personal dossiers on people who haven't done anything wrong," she said.

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said he thought such concerns were overblown. "We're not able to, even if we wanted, to look into private spaces," he said in an interview. "We're looking at public areas."

Although they are considered an elite unit, the city's aviation police are at the disposal of any beat officer who needs an eye in the sky. They are also at the service of a prosecutor who wants an aerial picture of a crime scene or a building inspector who needs to peer inside a fenced-in construction site. During protests or high-speed car chases, the images can be transmitted to a command post on the ground.

"We can save the cops from having to climb 16 stories to get to a roof," said Sergeant Goldin. "From the time a call comes in, we can get anywhere in the city in 15 minutes."

With the nearest Coast Guard station 125 miles away in Atlantic City, the unit is also responsible for the waterways that weave through the metropolitan region, and 25 miles out into the Atlantic.

In a department known for its tough-guy swagger, the 56 men (and one woman) who make up the aviation unit are an eccentric collection of self-described technology motorheads.

"We're basically a bunch of big boys who like big expensive toys," said Deputy Inspector Joseph Gallucci, the unit's commander, whose office is packed with model helicopters.

Sergeant Goldin, 39, is so consumed by flying that he spends much of his down time in the unit's simulator, a recent acquisition that teaches pilots how to fly in heavy fog or tests their wiles when faced with engine failure. "Planes are cool, too," he said. "But when you watch TV, all the really cool stuff is done with helicopters."

In the middle of the night, when calls for help dwindle, the pilots and mechanics lounge around the muster room, a windowless box nestled within an old Coast Guard hangar at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn that is filled with castoff sofas, aviation memorabilia and a television that is almost always tuned to the Discovery Channel. When they are not filling out flight logs or reinspecting the guts of a helicopter, they eat takeout Chinese or rewatch a selection from the video library: "Mission Impossible," "Dangerous Pursuits" or "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral."

But rarely is a film, or a meal, consumed uninterrupted. During a recent shift, the blare of electronic bells sent the officers running a half-dozen times, not counting the regular hourly patrols. Within two minutes, the pilots, support crew and a two-man scuba team were strapped inside a blue-and-white Augusta Koala and were headed out over Jamaica Bay. The mission, in response to a 911 call of what someone thought was a boater in distress near Far Rockaway, turned out to be a derelict rowboat, its interior encrusted with barnacles.

An hour later, Sergeant Goldin and Detective Lapaugh were up in the air again, making their rounds over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the ventilation towers of the Lincoln Tunnel and a half-dozen rail yards scattered across the city.

They twirled around the spire of the Empire State Building and dipped over Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, their aircraft casting a fleeting shadow over the turquoise orbs of backyard swimming pools. Naked sunbathers on Rockaway Beach waved from their sequestered haunts in the dunes.

The pilots might be forgiven if they sometimes sound a bit prideful. "When I was a kid, I thought police officers mostly handed out tickets," Sergeant Goldin said as he zipped along the peaks of Lower Manhattan. "Boy, was I wrong."


Copyright 2006 The New York Times

7/01/2006 11:38:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

CRIMEWATCH ROCKS

7/01/2006 11:44:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry but it is not cmdr Acosta. It is Inmate Acosta. Fuckin thief, liar etccccccccccccccccccccccc

7/01/2006 11:54:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good for the bitch but unfortunately he will enjoy his stay

7/01/2006 11:57:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The fire dept. helicopter is repaired with only city approved parts (nappa auto) from a city approved vendor (in bridgeport) at the fire dept. repair shop by certified fire dept. mechanics who graduated from devry technical institute.

I challenge anyone to find better paid union mechanics than the fire dept. guys (who use to work on hired truck programs on their days off).

Respectfully yours,
Cortez Trotter (boss of all bosses)!


This message was approved by Mayor Daley. (Inmate ID#069069).

7/02/2006 04:29:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This thing is an old UH-1E. The Echo model was used from app. 1969 and was superceded in the 70's (I believe it was 73 but don't quote me) by the H model with 2 engines. So, we are looking at a piece of machinery that has been in service for over 30 years....

7/02/2006 05:56:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kind of like you?

7/02/2006 10:43:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

New York's two dozen pilots are also undergoing training on how to carry out such operations as rappelling into "hot zones" to fetch injured comrades or using an officer's formidable weaponry to, say, take down an unresponsive Cessna buzzing toward Yankee Stadium.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
HAHAHAAHAHAHAHA

Coudl you imagine this in Chicago????

7/02/2006 02:12:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

7/1/2006 4:37:19 am

couldn't have said it better myself

7/03/2006 12:40:00 AM  

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