Category: POLICE

Essex police operate G-ESEX, this Eurocopter EC-135T, from the Police Air Support Unit based at Boreham.

G-MPSA is one of three Eurocopter EC145s that came into service with London’s Met Police in July 2007. Based at Lippits Hill, Essex, they replace white Twin Squirrel helicopters. The registrations of the other Eurocopters are G-MPSB and G-MPSC.

G-CHSU is a Eurocopter EC135T which is operated by Chiltern Air Support Unit.

This is a photograph of G-NEAU, one of the two police helicopters used in North East England covering the Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland forces. This Eurocopter 135 is based at Durham Tees Valley Airport. It carries a Nite-Sun searchlight, daylight and thermal imaging video camera and a stretcher.

G-PSNI is the police air support helicopter for Northern Ireland.

G-CAMB is Cambridgeshire Police’s helicopter.

Here we have a G-WPAS, the Wiltshire Police Air Support Unit. The MD Explorer helicopter is jointly operated with Wiltshire Ambulance Service as an air ambulance.



The helicopter lifts off. You can see the gyrostabilised camera mounted below the nose of the helicopter and the night-sun spotlight mounted at the end of the port skid.



G-WPAS is not equipped with a tail rotor. Instead, hot air is ducted out of the rear of the boom providing stability. This makes the aircraft quieter to operate and easier to control when landing in confined places. It also makes it safer for persons moving around the exterior of the aircraft when its engines are running.

G-WCAO is the air support unit of Western Counties Air Operations Unit. This Eurocopter EC 135 T1 was built in 2001.



The same aircraft in flight.

This is the West Yorkshire Police Air Support Unit, a MD902 Explorer. Its police callsign is Xray-99 and the CAA callsign is G-YPOL. West Yorks got a Messerchmitt Bolkow Blohm B0105 DBS4, registration G-WYPA, in December 1989 and this helicopter replaced it in February 2001.



The Explorer was built in Phoenix, Arizona by MD Helicopters Inc. and cost in the region of £3.2m. Equipment carried includes loudhailer, cameras, video equipment, night vision cameras, stabilised binoculars, searchlight, and tracker unit for stolen vehicles.



The helicopter is able to reach anywhere in West Yorkshire within 12 minutes. It has a maximum range of 238 miles, and a top speed of 143 mph. The Explorer has no tail rotor, making the helicopter much quieter and safer on the ground.

Above is the first type of police helicopter to be used in the North East of England: a Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm Bo 105DBS/4. (G-PASD)

This helicopter is the Aerospatiale AS 355F-1 Twin Squirrel. (G-PASF)



This is the front shot of G-PASF, a helicopter once shared by Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland police forces.

This is the Eurocopter EC135T (G-NESV), based at Newcastle Airport.



The side view.



The cockpit.

Below is G-NESU, the North East Spotter Unit. This is a Britten-Norman BN-2B-20 Islander.

The North East police helicopter (G-NESV) with the Great North Air Ambulance (G-NAAS) in the background and a Durham Honda motorbike in the foreground.



The North East police helicopter (G-NESV) with one of its pilots.



Here is a picture of the the Eurocopter EC135T (G-NESV) as it takes off.