Helicopter Up and Running?
Helicopter story out of Markham. We remember someone telling us that the CPD chopper was going to be utilized in "sharing agreements" county wide because County put up some of the operating cash. And this article quotes a CPD sergeant:
Chicago Police, with help from the Cook County sheriff's office, used a helicopter equipped with thermal imaging to find a suspect in an early-morning police shooting in Markham.
It was the first of two helicopter busts Saturday.
The man, who had fled after the shooting, was hiding in a heavily wooded area when he was found and arrested after 1 a.m. Saturday.
Spotting the suspect in the dark without the chopper "would have been very hard," said Chicago Police Sgt. Raul Moreno, with the department's helicopter task force. "There were [officers] right by him, and they couldn't find him."
Don't get us wrong, we're happy to have a helicopter. But we heard that for every hour of air time, this thing needs 8 hours of down time for maintenance. Is this typical of helicopters? Anyone from the military care to comment? It seems a bit over the top. Even Paris Hilton isn't this high maintenance.
Labels: department issues
posted by SCC at 12:03 AM
35 Comments:
choppers can run for days without any maintanance, even with multiple bullet holes// remember viet nam .gulf war .somalia. only the city of chicago..love to have that contract///400 bucks an hour for my shop//// but i dont come from bridgeport///
Please tell us that our helicopter is not being maintained by fleet management !!!!!!!!!!
helipcopters do need maintenance but 8 hours for 1 no way unless it is like a model "t" type of aircraft! But these are old copetrs that the city sent to rehab on a budget and that means not top shelf work! Typical city cutting corners unless it comes to stealing from us they daley and friends can take millions and never go to jail! must to nice to be king! It is also funny to watch daley lord over his flock of alderthieves who are so spineless they do whatever the master tells him to do!
If the way that fleet management maintains our cars is an indicator, our helicopters are in big trouble.
With old used equipment expect lots of down time.
What do you think the chances are that Mike Picardi and his golf pro lackey, Glenn Tatara had something to do with the maintenance contract for that helicopter. "Picardi and Tatara, where they always spend more money." Hey Glenn, did the maintenance company through you a big luncheon catered by your buddy Phil Stefani. Oh, what a cash cow that police motor maintenance was!
We need at least 3 helicopters in our big city. L.A. has at least 9 copters for air support, and they use to have a fighter jet.(I think the jet was P.R.) And
This is pure mis-appropriations of federal funds. We got the money from Homeland Security, but yet we got the fire departments used helicopter.
doesnt l.a. have three birds up at any given time?
I also happen to be a certified aircraft mechanic as well as an officer,I have experience with Kiowas and no it doesn't need 8 hours of maintenance to fly one hour. The aircraft will of course need regular maintenance,but it is meant to fly, how many hours (in the air) before scheduled maintenance is due. A daily inspection is normaly done before a flight and should take no more than an hour and a half to complete and I'm sure this is ongoing regular maintenance performed by qualified Airframe and powerplant mechanics( not lt. so and so's kid,or at least I hope),in other words the aircraft would be maintained in a flight ready status unless maintenance is being performed.
LOOK HOW MANY POOLCARS ARE IN THE DISTRICTS AND HOW LONG IT TAKES TO GET YOUR REGULAR CAR BACK FROM A BRAKE JOB.
BOY A HELICOPTER UNIT, WHERE CAN I SIGN UP AND THE BIG QUESTION IS "DO I NEED POLITICAL WACK TO GET IN IT.? PS I DO NOT LIVE IN THE 11TH OR THE 19TH WARD.
I'm suprised they don't get our squads off of a used car lot.
The city charges the suburbs for our helicopter use. Why use it in the city when others will pay? The city does not have bad guys running in the woods. The helicopters systems do not see under porches. With numerous structures on the ground it is better searched on foot. (P.S. You don't call for the mounted unit to help search the parks do you?)
Of all aircraft, helicopters are the most complex. There are numerous universal joints per drivetrain on each rotor, mechanical linkage, hydraulics...etc. The flight controls alone are a miracle of engineering. Helo's take countless hours of maintainence and inspections in order to keep them running. They cannot run for days without maintainence. They are highly expensive machines to run, especially older models. Not very fuel efficient either. That's one of the reasons we are splitting the cost with the county. I would hope that the department can make this work, it would be an awesome asset to have in the air as often as possible. We could really use them.
Don't forget your parachutte!!!
"Anonymous said...
BOY A HELICOPTER UNIT, WHERE CAN I SIGN UP AND THE BIG QUESTION IS "DO I NEED POLITICAL WACK TO GET IN IT.? PS I DO NOT LIVE IN THE 11TH OR THE 19TH WARD.
5/07/2007 01:46:00 PM"
___________________________________
Actually, applications were opened to all who have a license to fly a helicopter. Are you a helicopter pilot or do you just whine on the internet?
It was posted and the department wanted to know who had pilot's licenses.
If you don't stfu because you don't have the skill nor the license to fly a whirly bird!
Every person in the Helicopter crew can fly the bird. If you can't, you have nothing to cry about.
How many on our department can fly a chopper? Can you?
The department did not train anyone to be a pilot, they already were.
How about when Picardi and his golf buddy Tatara extorted the tab for a big Christmas party at the area one garage, from the Ford dealer that sells our squad cars to the city. Pretty sure Phil Steffani was Tatara's caterer of choice for that event also. Evidently it was'nt enough though because Tatara switched us into those unsafe, tight, little Chevy Impalas. Thanks alot Glenn and Mike, you fuckin jagoffs!
To save cash each district will be given Beanie equipped with porpellers on them. Each officer will be instructed to run real fast and be lifted off the ground by momentum and wind current. Reasearch on the old Beanie and Cecil cartoons from long ago have provided the inspiration.
Hear the copters are being maintained by Walsh (copter) Construction.
Let's see some CPD helium balloons up there, could have the CAPS logo for good measure and maybe some Bridgeport boys advertising on the basket, how about baskets by Walsh Construction?
That's "man hours" which means the total time of several people doing their aspects of maintenance and related paperwork, (which is significant). The mechanics, whoever they are, must have an FAA A & P (Airframes and Powerplants) license. It does not in any way mean that the helicopter is down 8 times as much as it is up.
a new helicopter will be delivered during May of 2007, then there will be two... geez, they are expensive, both to buy equip and run, lets get these going, then try for 1 or 2 more in the future.
Raul,
congrats and keep up the good work. Make all your old friends proud! EEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH-HHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!
Next time you are interviewed..remember to include the above verbal cue!
I here G.A.P.A. has formed an exploratory committee to look into bringing back the Zepplins (70 years after the Hindenburg disaster) as they are much cheaper to operate then helicoptors.
Plus since they will be owned by the City, and thus a NO SMOKING area, the chances of explosions on-board are greatly reduced.
i am a little confused by the whole helicopter thing. when i was working during the illegal march... i mean the rights for hispanics... well i don't really know what it was called. i observed a huey flying around. I have also observed huey out and about on the street from time to time. hearing Air one on the zone at the same time. then at st. jude i saw a smaller copter i belive a Kiowa type air frame. Do we have two or just one? And if we only have one who and the hell is flying the huey?
Anonymous said...
How about when Picardi and his golf buddy Tatara extorted the tab for a big Christmas party at the area one garage, from the Ford dealer that sells our squad cars to the city. Pretty sure Phil Steffani was Tatara's caterer of choice for that event also. Evidently it was'nt enough though because Tatara switched us into those unsafe, tight, little Chevy Impalas. Thanks alot Glenn and Mike, you fuckin jagoffs!
5/07/2007 05:24:00 PM
More boy wonders! They are clouted in like the rest of the dysfuncional daley crew!
For the guy looking to get in to the Air unit, from the way it is looking, if you are a certified helo jockey you have a good shot at getting into the unit. One of the pilots came to roll call last week gave us a little shpeal on the unit and how the chopper works then told anyone with a helo pilots license to put in a to/from with a resume. He said that they really need more pilots. So if you have the license and want the job can't hurt to put in for it.
With all the graft that has been going on at the police garages you would think that the G or David Hoffman would do something, anything. Remember when Commissioner Picardi's brother was caught and fired for residency? Please don't have us believe that the Commissioner did'nt know. Did he suffer any consequences, fuck no! If that was a police case it would be a different story though would'nt it. When is somebody going to realize that Picardi and Tatara had the coppers removed from the police garages so they could set up their system of kick backs and payoffs undetected.
The Keesing Bandit says---
I really miss Beanie and Cecil.
Now, kees me you fool!!!
"Anonymous said...
For the guy looking to get in to the Air unit, from the way it is looking, if you are a certified helo jockey you have a good shot at getting into the unit. One of the pilots came to roll call last week gave us a little shpeal on the unit and how the chopper works then told anyone with a helo pilots license to put in a to/from with a resume. He said that they really need more pilots. So if you have the license and want the job can't hurt to put in for it.
5/08/2007 09:05:00 AM"
___________________________________
That's just it, he isn't a pilot but whines on the internet about not being able to be one.
You know it was open to all pilots and so do I.
Be a pilot learn to fly a chopper and then maybe you too can be in the unit.
"i am a little confused by the whole helicopter thing. when i was working during the illegal march... i mean the rights for hispanics... well i don't really know what it was called. i observed a huey flying around. I have also observed huey out and about on the street from time to time. hearing Air one on the zone at the same time. then at st. jude i saw a smaller copter i belive a Kiowa type air frame. Do we have two or just one? And if we only have one who and the hell is flying the huey?"
You saw the "CFD Bell 412 show", they love flying fast and low, but then again, they crash sometimes. The CPD bird was flying higher and safer away from all the commotion of the TV birds. They can do this because they can zoom into the crowd with the technology aboard.
Chopper #2 will be here soon and the crew will have to train and get familiar with that one.
Give them a break. A lot of manpower was and still is being spent getting the unit "back up." Fly time will be increased as the crew and shift times become more steady.
All in all the birds and their crew are a fantastic asset to the department and I wish them the best of luck.
To 5/08/2007 03:23:00 AM
I believe the huey is filming the Batman movie downtown/ West Loop
What happened to the homeland security money 4 years ago for 2 choppers? Fat ass cline used the money to create units to promote his buddies like dumb fuck risley and the rest of his band of fools. Maybe the mayor will move so he can put a chopper pad on his roof and keating can give him a piggy back ride the the door everyday.
Do you have to be a sworn member to fly the CPD birds?
yes you have to be a sworn department member, to fly helo
<< Home