Sussex Police Air Support Unit Facts and Figures Aircraft Type Sussex Police have purchased an MD902 Explorer which arrived at the Air Support Unit in February 2000 bringing with it a substantial upgrading in terms of operational capability. Capable of 140 knots it has an endurance of approximately 1 ½ hours when flying with its normal crew of three and standard fuel state. The MD902 Explorer was developed as a new generation eight seater light twin engined helicopter incorporating all of the newest technology that reduces maintenance and increases safety and reliability. Incorporating the unique notar (no tail rotor) anti-torque system the helicopter is ideally suited for emergency service operations offering a higher degree of crew and passenger safety, reduced pilot workload and lower noise levels. Area Covered The county of Sussex is an area of 1,460 square miles with over 100 miles of coastline and the crew can reach any part of Sussex within 20 minutes. Details of Operation The unit is based at Shoreham airport and is operational from 0800 hours to 0200 hours, seven days a week, after 0200 hours the duty crew can be called out for incidents where life is at risk or a serious crime has been committed. The budget allows for approximately 730 flying hours per year- an average of two per day. The present operating costs of the unit are £500,000 per year- less than 0.5% of the annual Sussex police budget- approximately £650 per hour. For the 1.5 million people who live in Sussex this equates to a yearly cost of less than one penny per week per person. Crew The duty crew consists of a police observer, a pilot and a paramedic. There are three full time observers based at the unit ( one sergeant and two constables) with an Inspector in charge. The pilots are ex-military, each with over 3,500 hours flying experience, the paramedics are on attachment from the Sussex Ambulance Service for a four year period. Tasks Each year, the helicopter undertakes over 1,500 tasks within Sussex, a quarter of which are for the ambulance service, responding to medical emergencies. Tasks are also undertaken for other forces when requested such as Kent and Surrey. The helicopter is a flexible resource and the following are examples of tasks frequently undertaken: Missing person searches The speed at which large areas of open ground can be searched make great savings over the conventional use of police officers on foot. Home office figures show that helicopters are 38 times more cost effective than searching on foot. Searching for offenders Whether by day or by night the view from the helicopter assists greatly in searching for persons making off from a crime. Even though the crew may not always see the offender, the containment of the scene often allows an offender in hiding to be tracked and arrested by a dog handler. Suspect and stolen vehicles can also be identified from the air, allowing the aircraft to search roads over a very large area. Vehicle follows The helicopter crew can safely follow and report the progress of stolen or suspect vehicles without the need for police cars to become closely involved in high speed pursuits. Rapid transit of police officers Police dogs and handlers can be picked up by the helicopter en route to the scene of a crime. Once the handler has been dropped off the helicopter can then contain the area while the dog is searching for the offender. Firearm teams and other specialist personnel and equipment can also be collected and taken to the scene of incidents. Search and rescue There is a close liaison with the Coastguard and beach and cliff searches are regularly undertaken looking for bodies or people in distress. Medical Tasks The crew attend serious road traffic crashes and less serious accidents in locations with access problems for example a mountain biker injured on the Downs. Patients can be flown to hospitals with suitable landing sites. Landing Sites Police helicopter operations are governed by Civil Aviation Authority regulations and this includes where and why the helicopter may land. During the day, the aircraft may land at any rural location that the pilot judges to be safe. Hazards such as power cables, debris and uneven ground can be seen by the crew, reducing to a minimum the dangers associated with ad hoc landing sites. For the purpose of saving life, the police helicopter can also land in town or other congested areas. However at night, the various hazards cannot easily be seen and the danger to the crew and members of the public generally outweighs the potential benefit to a casualty. Safety All helicopters are dangerous. The main rotor blades may be at head height when the aircraft lands at the scene of an accident. The crew will ensure that no one approaches the aircraft until it is safe to do so. This will be after the engines have stopped and the rotors are no longer turning. Communications The aircraft is equipped with radios which enable contact with Police, Ambulance, Firebrigade and Coastguard. Contact is always maintained with one of the Police resourcing centres, whilst divisional personal radios (PRs) are also monitored when dealing with incidents controlled on this medium. There are legal restrictions on the use of PR frequencies by aircraft. For that reason the helicopter operates on channel 95- an approved air to ground channel- to communicate direct with units at a scene.