CHP Airplane down in Imperial CA

[Flying Pig]

Confirmed one dead.  Single Pilot. 

http://www.10news.com/news/23492004/detail.html

[mynetdude]

ouch,

sorry but I couldn't help taking my intrerest in the article that it said that the plane was used for speed enforcement.

How do you enforce speeds from the air?

[Flying Pig]

Thats primarily what the CHP uses them for.  Its timing  over a known distance.  It gets challenged all the time in court but I have yet to see anyone every win one.
They work in conjunction with a ground unit.  The plane calls the ground unit and tells them what car to stop and for what violation.  The officer in the car writes you the citation on behalf of the guy in the plane.

[mynetdude]

Thats primarily what the CHP uses them for.  Its timing  over a known distance.  It gets challenged all the time in court but I have yet to see anyone every win one.
They work in conjunction with a ground unit.  The plane calls the ground unit and tells them what car to stop and for what violation.  The officer in the car writes you the citation on behalf of the guy in the plane.

So they must be using some kind of camera on board to see up close which vehicle they are going to stop.

[Flying Pig]

No, they fly at about 1000ft agl using the MK-1 eyeball on a shoulder mounted swivel.  Its not hard at all to keep your eyes on the target vehicle.

[mynetdude]

No, they fly at about 1000ft agl using the MK-1 eyeball on a shoulder mounted swivel.  Its not hard at all to keep your eyes on the target vehicle.

wow they must have eagle eyes... ok my vision is crap so I wouldn't see anything at 1k AGL

[SarDragon]

If you're ever on a freeway somewhere, and you see airplanes painted on the road, that's a strong clue that airborne enforcement is being used. They are typically one mile apart, so it takes a car going 60 mph 60 seconds to get from plane to plane. 65 = 55.4 sec; 70 = 51.4 sec; 75 = 48 sec. The guys in the plane have a chart that converts time into speed, and it actually really easy to time cars.

[bosshawk]

sometimes called "The Bear in the Air".  God's blessings on the soul of this fine officer and his family.

[N Harmon]

A lot of places have signs saying speed is enforced by aircraft, and then don't do it. This is mostly because they find they can not write enough tickets to offset the costs of the aircraft. So they put the aircrew back on the road where they answer other types of calls.

[Flying Pig]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gf1GQAMRxGyCey78499eT2pfaNJAD9FIKL900

Officer Danny Benavides.  Wow...interesting.   I've flown that exact area a number of time.

[bosshawk]

Rob: I suspect that you have flown that area once or twice: I know that I have and so have probably 200 other CAWG folks.

[Flying Pig]

Im going to try and find out exactly where.  I wonder if it was CFIT or the winds.  Only speculation for now.  Being that there were no radio communications is odd with all of those airports and El Centro NAS being right there.

[Outrider]

It is a shame that this has occurred, but more that it happened on a day when Peace Officers and their families were in remembrance of other fallen officers in Sacramento.

Robert Nield, Capt
Director, CAWG Counter Drug Operations
MP/Examiner
CA-001
Retired USAF and Peace Officer

[Spike]

Sad story.

A terrible waste of a life.  To die in the duty of catching speeders. 

Perhaps a wake up call.  Is it worth the risk (and cost) to fly in pursuit of a non-violent person who may be speeding??  I know this is a debate for another time, but I am sure the family is asking the same thing. 

[Flying Pig]

Dont use his death in an attempt to pursue whatever opinions you have about Law Enforcement and how its done.   And unless you are "sure" (as you claim) the family is asking this question, dont attempt to speak for them to validate your position.

[AirAux]

And exactly at what moment did you become the powers of who could or couldn't express an opinion on Captalk??  Locally we have had several innocents killed by LE while pursuing car jackers, speeders and others.  A valid question in my opinion.  Perhaps an apology would be in order?

[Short Field]

Is it worth the risk (and cost) to fly in pursuit of a non-violent person who may be speeding?? 

How do you know it is a non-violent person?  Sounds like you are just advocating that we ignore speeders.  Tracking speeders in the air has to be safer than tracking them on the ground.

[Flying Pig]

An apology?  Negative.  You can have all the opinions you want.  If you dont agree with using aircraft to pursue speeders, fine.  But unless Spike knows the family personally, putting words in the mouths of the family, or guessing about how they feel in an attempt to add credibility to his opinion is crossing the line.

[california IC]

The aircraft appeared to be in a straight and level flight, no weather issues.  The aircraft was consumed by fire.  Looks like CFIT based on radar track, witness reports and intel.