Hot but not high
Like the air units of many law enforcement agencies, Pasco Sheriff’s Office in Florida wears a number of hats, carrying out both aerial firefighting and search and rescue missions in addition to its core air support work – as Gideon Ewers discovered when he visited the unit in Land O’ Lakes, Florida.
Pasco County covers some 868 square miles of west central Florida, stretching inland from the state’s Gulf coast and found around a 40-minute drive north of the Tampa/St Petersburg/Clearwater conurbation.
That proximity to the Tampa Bay area has seen the development of the county as a bedroom community, and that development has been rapid – especially over the last 20 years or so – with the population growing from around 345,000 in 2000, reaching 562,000 by 2020, and estimated to be in the region of 675,000 today.
Though development at first centred around the cities of New Port Richey, the skydiving mecca that is Zephyr Hills and the county seat of Dade City, it has increasingly begun to infill the more rural areas in between.
And while that growth has been impressive, it also shows no sign of slackening. The US census forecasts a population of close to 800,000 by 2045, but actual growth seems to be ahead of that projection – with other sources suggesting that a county population of one million-plus may be a more accurate figure.
In terms of demographics, the population is ageing. The region is very popular with retirees – both full-time as well as the seasonal “snowbirds” seeking respite from the cold of winters further north.
While that brings some relief to some aspects of police work, it also sharpens the need for elements like search and rescue.
Furthermore, the level of development has brought its own challenges, with the rural/populated boundaries expansion bringing more wildfire exposure risks.
The Pasco Sheriff’s Office serves a population of around 650,000 people in west central Florida. Image: Pasco Sheriff’s Office
Rising to the challenge
Having a population that has nearly doubled in 25 years demands a sheriff’s office to match, and consequently the Pasco Sheriff’s Office (PSO) has a current strength of around 1,000 – 760 of which are sworn officers, with the remainder civilian support staff.
Located close to the geographic centre of the county, PSO occupies a large campus which plays host to the county jail, as well as a number of specialist teams including the Air Support Unit (ASU).
The ASU is based out of its own heliport, with two hangars – one for storage and the other as the home for line operations, as well as the unit’s offices.
The scale of the helipad means that at a squeeze it would be possible to array all five of its active fleet at the same time. Carrying out the same operation with the front-line fleet of three aircraft is a non-problem.
The ASU was first founded in the 1960s using fixed-wing assets before starting the transition to rotary in the 1990s with a single Hughes 269A.
It now boasts an all-Bell fleet of six aircraft, with five of these being in regular use: two 407s, one UH-1, and two OH-58s.
The 407s are analogue variants, delivered originally in the late noughties to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
The Air Support Unit’s all-Bell fleet includes two OH-58s, two 407s and one UH-1. Pictured are the UH-1 (left) and one of the 407s (right). Image: Gideon Ewers
The UH-1 was acquired from the Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife and is thus free from the restrictions imposed on many UH-1s which have found their way into law enforcement via the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) programme, which transfers military assets to police agencies.
Meanwhile, the two OH-58s which arrived in the mid 1990s as the result of the LESO programme remain active for training purposes and as reserve aircraft.
The sixth aircraft in the fleet is a second UH-1. Like the OH-58s, this was acquired through LESO but is now inactive and due to be returned to the military for disposal.
Meet the team
This fleet is operated by a full-time team of six pilots/Tactical Flight Officers (TFOs) led by Chief Pilot James Collins, who also one of two Certified Flight Instructors (CFIs) on the staff.
In addition, there is also a full-time airframe and powerplant mechanic.
Unusually, the PSO air unit does not have TFOs as a specific specialisation. All pilots are also rated as TFOs and operate in each role on an alternate shift basis.
Indeed, on the day of my visit, Collins as Chief Pilot and CFI had been operating as a TFO on his previous shift, which had concluded in the small hours of the previous morning.
Deputies from specialist units augment the full-time team staffing the Air Support Unit of the Pasco Sheriff’s Office. Image: Gideon Ewers
“We see a lot of benefit in that multi-role capability,” he says. “It means we can be confident on missions that the pilot is thinking like a TFO and the TFO is thinking like a pilot.
“That matters even more on rescue missions when you know the guy calling the hoist is calling the distances for manoeuvre and is doing so knowing instinctively what you want to know as a pilot.”
For firefighting and search and rescue taskings, the core team is supplemented by deputies specialising in search and hoist operations, as well as by colleagues from the Fire Department.
Cumulatively, they provide seven days a week and almost round the clock patrol air support.
As with many law enforcement operators, aircrews at PSO are recruited from patrol and other specialities.
Collins, for example, was a drugs detective before joining the unit.
What is unusual is that all training – both TFO and pilot training – is underwritten by the office.
In taking pilots from zero to CPL(H), there are plans to add an in-house Instrument Rating (IR) training capability in the coming year or so.
Because while the climate allows VFR operations much of the time, they don’t call it the “sunshine state” without reason.
The area can be plagued with radiation and, especially in the late winter and early spring, advection fogs. Though typically the latter are unusual in that they burn off relatively quickly.
While Collins concedes that they have to refuse relatively few taskings a year due to weather limits, he contends that the IR “just makes pilots better and safer”.
The process is for the new recruit to the unit to begin TFO training in tandem with their pilot training – and because that takes less time than the flight training, it means that they can join the roster and gain experience as soon as possible.
Ab initio training is carried out on the OH-58, where the student will typically log around 100 hours before transitioning to the 407s.
Post-CPL, the expectation is that the new pilot will log another 150 or so hours in training or on operations (assuming completion of the CPL(H) in the minimum time) before they add the UH-1 to their licence.
Once fully qualified, all the Pilot/TFOs will fly both the 407s and the UH-1 as missions require.
In terms of missions, the 407s are employed on the type of mission thought of as a typical law enforcement role – patrol, pursuit surveillance, generally speaking the “catching the bad guys role”.
But since both aircraft had a previous life as at Volusia County in a multi-mission role and therefore arrived configured in terms of layout with a clear rear cabin, they can also be used for search and rescue as well as evacuation missions. They also have cargo hooks and are thus capable of firefighting missions.
A triple threat
While known for its warm weather year-round, nature exacts a price from Florida in the form of severe weather events such as super cell thunderstorms and hurricanes.
While Pasco County has had a dramatic expansion in built-up areas, much of the land is rural with large stands of trees – and so search and rescue is a significant part of the mission mix.
The UH-1 was acquired from the Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife, meaning it is free from the restrictions affecting former US military assets. Image: Pasco Sheriff’s Office
Collins says: “There a are a lot of trails in the woods and too often people head out on a hike that they are not prepared for and find themselves in trouble one way or another – either lost, injured or both.”
Similarly, the large rural areas and stands of trees – especially in the north and eastern part of the county – mean that the aerial firefighting mission is a regular part of the mix.
“Primarily, aerial firefighting in Florida is the responsibility of Florida Forest Service,” says Collins.
“But they are not based nearby, and since speed is important to attack a fire while it’s still small, we can get anywhere in the county in 10 or 15 minutes – so we are there to hold the line until they can get on scene.”
Last year, the PSO was involved in the fighting of seven significant wildfires, both within Pasco and neighbouring Hernando County – which has no aerial firefighting (AFF) capability.
For the AFF as well as the search and rescue missions, the hoist and Bambi bucket equipped UH-1 is the preferred platform.
“Our Huey is fitted with the L703 version of the T53,” says Collins. “If we had a fast fin fitted it would probably be better than a 212.
“Also, while we can get pretty hot here in the summer, we are also very low altitude – so we don’t really run out of power with it.”
Elevation-wise, Collins’ point is hard to argue with. Much of the terrain is just a few feet above sea level – the highest point in the county has an elevation of just 246 feet and the average is only 56 feet.
Hot may be a thing, but high certainly isn’t. Either way, it’s clear that the 1,800 shp potential of the T53-L703 has significant reserves of power.
While the bulk of SAR operations are land-based, Pasco is a coastal county with around 20 or so miles of coastline, as well as the offshore barrier islands of the Anclote Keys – a chain of four islands that lie about three miles off the mainland.
While the Keys are not inhabited, they are a popular destination for hikers, campers and boating enthusiasts – with the latter inevitably meaning that the PSO are often called out for sea rescues too.
Collins says: “Sea rescue is something that we have carried out in co-ordination with the Coast Guard because we are much closer than their nearest base in Clearwater. We have carried out offshore rescues, but with single-engine aircraft we don’t like to go too far offshore!”
Training is everything
The unit has recently acquired the Axnes wireless intercom. Image: Pasco Sheriff’s Office
The day of my visit to the PSO just so happened to coincide with a hoist operations recurrent training day for deputies more typically employed on other missions, as well as members of the Fire Department who also augment the full-time component of the ASU.
The unit has recently acquired the Axnes wireless intercom system for use in search and rescue operations, and the training day gave rescue teams the chance to work with and understand the new equipment – which, as anyone who has used the Axnes system will testify, is a real game-changer when it comes to SAR operations.
For these exercises, the PSO has a purpose-built training ground that can simulate a wide variety of rescue scenarios and, quite frankly, is more than likely to engender a good deal of envy from other police and sheriff’s departments – and with good reason.
If options available for training scenarios were not enough to engage envy mode at other departments, then doubtless its proximity to the helipad would.
If it’s more than 150 metres from the edge of the helipad, I’d be very surprised – meaning that the number of sorties and scenarios that can be flown in a given day with very little fuel wasted in transit has got to be a very good thing in terms of budget and training efficiency.
“We are lucky to have this place as well as the training ground,” says Collins. “But just as important, we have a Sheriff who is willing to invest in the equipment that will make us as effective as possible.
“A good example of that is the Axnes buy. Once we explained what it would do, there was no problem getting the budget.”
One of the things we did not go into great detail about was that just beyond the training area is the home of the Florida Institute of Forensics, which besides researching more effective forensic science also carries out some of the grislier aspects of their training and research.
This means that another training dimension is a possibility, though probably not one that many would seek out.
The bottom line, though, is that the leadership of the PSO is determined that the quality of the equipment the deputies have at their disposal, as well as the training available, has one purpose – to make the work more effective in terms of both mission effectiveness and deputy and public safety – and if that means cutting-edge, then the budget will be found. A refreshing concept.
This article “Hot but not high” was published in the Volume 20 Issue 4 of RotorHub International. To read more articles like this, apply for your complimentary subscription today.
