By Lyn Burks Photos: Dana Maxfield / GSP Video: Lyn Burks
you might be thinking, what is a tradi- tional mission? Some might think it’s to take off from a dolly, fly little circles, pa- trol a highway, and then land back on the dolly. Well, in a general sense, if you throw in some pretty cool technology like a FLIR, an impressive stack of radios, and a few other high tech gadgets, that descrip- tion might define a traditional law enforce- ment helicopter mission. There are a select few however, who
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live by a modified version of the axiom, “necessity is the mother of invention”. They live by the mantra, “diversity is the key to survival”. In a world of shrinking federal, state, and local budgets, law en- forcement agencies nationwide have been fighting for their existence, especially when it comes to aviation units. Although times have been tough for the Georgia State Patrol Aviation Division, their ability to diversify and adapt to the needs of their State has positioned them to maintain an impressive level of capability not seen by many helicopter operators, let alone a law enforcement agency.
Pilots of the Georgia State Patrol Aviation Unit, pictured here with Director, Billy Smith, recently upgraded their attire from the green military flight suit and Army helmet to a confederate grey flight suit and a metallic blue flight helmet. The new flight suits are a Nomex fire resistant material and the helmets are state of the art technology with active noise reduction hearing protection and are part of the equipment used in the unit's new Safety Management System.
here are hundreds of law en- forcement helicopters operat- ing in the US today and most fly traditional law enforce- ment missions. Naturally,
Digital subscribers and online users can see video on the Georgia State Patrol by pressing the start button.
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