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| By Carmelo Turdo |
The St. Louis Regional Helicopter Safety Seminar featured several helicopters on static
display, including an MD-500E from the St. Louis Metro Air Support Unit. The
Metro Air Support unit is a model for medium-sized metropolitan areas using
aircraft to assist ground units in apprehending suspects, performing search and
rescue and transporting critical personnel and items in the shortest possible
time across three jurisdictions: City of St. Louis, St. Louis County and St.
Charles County.
The St.
Louis County aviation support services were initiated in 1971 using three Bell
47 helicopters. Air operations continued, making their current home at Spirit
of St. Louis Airport in 1981. In the mid
1980s, budget cuts reduced the air support unit to two pilots flying the MD-500
(Model 369) as the standard aircraft type. Federal block grants following the
September 11, 2001 terror attacks helped in the purchase of additional MD-500
aircraft and systems upgrades including night vision, FLIR and 30 million
candlepower search light. Today, the unit trains its own pilots, flies 3,000+
hours per year and has several aircraft flying pro-active patrols within the
1500 square mile area. Each pilot and
observer flies at least four hours per day/night shift and are fully qualified
law enforcement officers from one of the three sponsoring agencies on a mixed
crew basis.
Here
are some views of the aircraft on display during Saturday's safety seminar:
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