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A very high-tech market
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Having worked with helicopters ever since the late
1970s, the UK police service today regards them as
one of its principal resources providing support to
forces on the ground. The aircraft used by the
police in Britain are considered to be the most
advanced in the law enforcement sector. The police
forces operate a total of thirty or so helicopters,
based with 27 air support units spread throughout
the United Kingdom. Eurocopter holds a more than
70% share of this market, mostly supplying EC135s
and EC145s. The missions accomplished by these aircraft mainly
involve airborne surveillance and reconnaissance activities,
command and control in exceptional situations,
searching for missing persons, criminal offenders and
stolen/suspect vehicles, and emergency medical transport.
The two police observers on board make use of
highly sophisticated optoelectronic equipment linked to
a digital map system. Their work is simplified by large
multifunction, high-definition screens on which information
from numerous different sources, either retrieved
from various databases (map data) or captured during
the mission (video material), can be combined and displayed.
Security is the watchword in all air operations, which are
strictly regulated and conducted according to special
flight rules. The individual air support units own 95% of
the fleet and have great freedom in managing their operation.
The aircraft are flown under Civil Aviation Authority
regulations, but according to special flight rules that are
similar to those generally applicable to visual flight (VFR),
but more flexible. Only twin-engine aircraft qualify for this
treatment. They must meet the requirements for Class I
single-engine flight and be chosen from a list of
approved models compiled by the Home Office.
Eurocopter’s local subsidiary, Eurocopter UK, offers customised
solutions to Britain’s police forces. Its added-value advantage is that it is capable of handling the complete
integration of the special equipment required for
police operations, and perfectly matches these needs
with the most suitable aircraft in terms of performance,
reliability and cabin space. The company’s base in
Oxford, which also handles maintenance work for the
majority of the aircraft, has developed into a specialised
completion centre supplying police forces all over the
world. Demand in the UK market today is focused on
replacing helicopters equipped to operate under visual
flight rules (VFR) by aircraft that can be flown under
single-pilot instrument flight rules (single-pilot IFR),
including those built by competitors.
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London’s Metropolitan Police accumulates some 3,300 flight hours yearly at a rate of 9 hours per day, and is operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. |
 | | Since August 2007, the East Midlands air support unit has been using a single-pilot IFR EC135 P2i. By the end of the year it had already clocked up over 410 flight hours without the slightest mishap. |
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IMPROVED MISSION
CAPABILITY
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London’s Metropolitan Police is one of the most
active forces in the country, accumulating some
3,300 flight hours yearly at a rate of 9 hours per day,
and operational 24 hours, 7 days a week. Because it
often comprises several missions, a single flight
can last up to 2 1/2 hours. This summer, the force’s
air support unit became the first to operate the EC145
after acquiring three of these aircraft to replace three
AS355 Ecureuils. Sergeant Richard Brandon,
Technology and Training Manager, is openly
enthusiastic: “We can now work more efficiently
using more advanced equipment. But most of all, the
EC145 will allow us to extend our range of activities.”
The advantages are such that he would like to see
greater scope to exploit its capabilities in the current
regulations, which he considers “too restrictive in an
emergency situation.” As well the aircraft’s general
performance, the capabilities he most appreciates
are the increase in payload capacity and cabin space,
which now allow five monitors to be installed
onboard and permit all the necessary personnel
and material to be transported to the site of an
emergency. The EC145s have had two recent
occasions to demonstrate the support they can
provide by sending images to command and control
units on the ground: firstly assisting fire crews
fighting a blaze at a famous London hospital, and
secondly lending support to the Metropolitan Police
during the New Year celebrations. |
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100% ARREST RECORD
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The air support unit operated by the East Midlands Police Consortium covers the three counties of Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire. Since August 2007 it has been using a single-pilot IFR EC135 P2i, which replaced the VFR EC135 T1 that had been in service since 1998. “By the end of the year, we had already clocked up over 410 flight hours without the slightest mishap. This corresponds to a yearly average of 1,000 hours,” reports unit executive officer Mick Dunn. We have 2-3 minutes to prepare for takeoff and spend an average of 25 minutes in the air on each mission. We are highly satisfied with the aircraft’s availability, which exceeds 95% and has recently been improved still further by the Eurocopter Maintenance Reduction Programme (MRP) for the EC135 fleet which has seen the removal of all scheduled maintenance inspections less than 400 hours.”
The most remarkable feature of this unit is the level of technology it employs during its operations, including the use of night vision goggles which it claims has improved flight safety and enhanced the police capability of apprehending suspected offenders and missing persons. To illustrate, Mick Dunn relates an anecdote in which a suspect was located one night in dense woodland owing to the light emitted by his mobile phone when it started ringing! |
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