Monday, August 18, 2003

By Jan Ackerman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Charles E. Pillar Jr., manager of the Altoona-Blair County Airport, is looking forward to soon having a state police helicopter stationed there.

The state police selected the small airport in Martinsburg, Blair County, halfway between Altoona and Breezewood, as the site for its seventh Aviation Patrol Unit, a group that finds missing children and hunters and spots fields of marijuana as well as fugitives from justice.

Pillar said the new police presence not only will put some added revenues into the tiny airport's coffers but also improve police surveillance for the region.

"There was a hole in their coverage. [State police] response in our area came out of Latrobe or other areas," Pillar said.

As part of the expansion, the state police traded in a 23-year-old helicopter and bought two new ones from Agusta Aerospace Corp., increasing its fleet size from seven to eight.

The new A119 Koala helicopters were manufactured in Philadelphia, cost $2.34 million each and are extensively equipped with police communications and surveillance equipment.

The new helicopters are based at state police patrol unit centers at Capital City Airport in York County and Venango County Regional Airport in Franklin.

When the new hangar is built in Altoona-Blair County Airport, one of the older copters will be there.

Sgt. David Guido, a helicopter supervisor for the state police, designed the specifications that were used for the two helicopters.

"These helicopters are three times more powerful than the one we replaced," said Guido, a native of McKeesport who is based at Capital City Airport and spent two years working on the design specifications.

The Koala, powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6 turbine engine, is an eight-seat, single-engine copter that is versatile enough to be used for law enforcement, emergency medical service and as a passenger transport vehicle.

The helicopters have an infrared and daylight camera system. One helicopter will be able to transmit real-time video to a command post on the ground.

Guido said no standard exists for police helicopters because "every police department does its job differently."

He said police helicopters have had infrared cameras for about 10 years, but the equipment on these helicopters is more sophisticated.

"The range has been increased. For us, that is important, how we can search at higher altitudes. It is a safer operation," Guido said.

The infrared camera in the new copters has a laser that will help the pilot position the helicopter during searches, he said.

Guido, who has flown for the state police for about seven years, said successful searches made the work worthwhile.

He recalled an incident in which a massive search for a missing child who had mental disabilities ended when a helicopter's thermal imaging system reflected a "hot spot" that turned out to be the boy hiding in a barn behind his house.

The helicopters also are used to photograph crime and accident scenes for use in court proceedings, said Cpl. Jeffrey Braid, a helicopter pilot working out of Capitol City Airport.

Last week, Braid said he was heading out on a typical mission -- he searched for a stolen car in the Carlisle area and headed to Gettysburg to search for some marijuana fields.

"We look for lost hunters and lost children," he said. "We look for bad guys, too."

The plans to build a hangar to house a helicopter at the Altoona-Blair County Airport have encountered delays.

The first bidding did not produce a suitable proposal for a hangar, but the state General Services Administration has asked bidders to submit their best and final offers to build and operate a hangar.

"They have been working on this for close to a year," Pillar said last week. "It is going to happen."

Since the late 1960s, state police have used helicopters for surveillance, for finding fugitives and lost people, and for monitoring traffic accidents.

In addition to aviation units in York and Venango counties and the new one planned for Blair County, the state police have helicopters at small airports in Latrobe; Hazleton, Luzerne County; Montoursville, Lycoming County; and Reading.

In addition to the eight helicopters, state police have seven fixed-wing aircraft.

E-mail this story   Print this story