Police Aviation News November 2010

Police Aviation News November 2010 10
cently delivered EC135P2+ airframes offer commonality. Floater pilots will face a nightmare
of minor differences in how the aircraft are laid out. Not a problem when the flight is going
smoothly, but potentially critical under pressure.
It is expected that the proposals will create their own firestorm so detailed discussions will
last beyond the end of 2010.
In London on October 26 th the Association of Chief Police Officers [ACPO] held a briefing
on the future of police air support in the UK [effectively just England and Wales]. The ACPO
lead on air support, Chief Constable of
Hampshire Alex Marshall, spelled out as
much as was to be public domain – effectively
the listing above.
Long before the briefing the Chief Constable
of South Yorkshire Police Meredydd
Hughes QPM broke ranks and went to the
media expressing concerns about the deletion
of the force's Sheffield-based helicopter
base and seek to obtain air support
from other bases in Derbyshire, Humberside and West Yorkshire.
CC Hughes, who in the past has been at the forefront in bringing air support to the region
[three forces he was connected with each chose to buy the MD902 Explorer during his tenure
with them] states that he supports the National air wing proposal as a more effective
way in which to bring about air support. But, it seems, not if his aircraft base in South Yorkshire
is lost!
He is to fight to make sure the service stays in Sheffield. It might be supposed he is not going
to be the only NIMBY but he is unusually close to air support and may well be the only
senior rank with sufficient knowledge and fervour.
The plot makes many changes in East Anglia, not lest the loss of the Cambridgeshire and
[very much part time] Norfolk operations. Suffolk moving only a short distance from one
military base to another to be closer to Norfolk abandons the engineering set up that served
three forces. Clearly that concept is to be out of favour in the brave new world - so abandon
the engineers and their expensive equipment at Wattisham. It was easy to justify the police
helicopter in Cambridgeshire when it was used as an air ambulance by MAGPAS who
were located in the police building at RAF Wyton. But having an air ambulance parked next
to the police helicopter at Wyton the case for the police aircraft became less obvious recently
– but see under the Air Ambulance section, that is to change.
The MD902 at Wyton was also the odd man out with EC135s in Essex and Suffolk sharing
a group maintenance base at Wattisham but the whole model is to change with the Essex
helicopter moving to Southend bringing it closer to Kent, an area it already serves.