The Department's new helicopter demonstrates its maneuverability

October 23, 1970 marked the appearance of a new police tool for the Baltimore Police Department. After many months of planning and researching, a light observation helicopter was officially placed in service by this Department. Availing itself of a Federal grant, the BPD purchased an FH 1100 helicopter.

Assembled by the Fairchild Hiller Aircraft Co., Inc., Hagerstown, Md_, the "chopper" met standard requirements and specifications for its service to the City of Baltimore. Special equipment was installed for the unique Departmental "vehicle" a hoist with a lifting capacity of 300 pounds, a 3.5 million candle power spotlight, a combination siren/public address system, and a "police communications network."

Officials involved in the original planning of helicopter use were admittedly awaiting with anticipation the inception of this aid to municipal law enforcement. And now that helicopter patrol is a reality, the five men assigned to that unit have inherited this feeling of anticipation, and even excitement.

Officer-in-Charge, Sergeant Regis Raffensberger, 31 years of age with 10 years in the Department explains it this way, "As an aerial platform, the helicopter has tremendous potential and capability as an instrument to support law enforcement efforts. We are anxiously looking forward to exploring and implementing this capacity to assist in combating crime in Baltimore."

The two pilots, Officers Henry Lippincott and R. Scott Miskimon, were appointed to the Department in 1970 and have a total of 4,400 hours of helicopter flight time between them prior to their police assignment, which filled the need for highly competent pilots who are police trained.

The two aerial observers, Officers John Rourke and Weston Bousman have 6 and 7 years police experience with the BPD, respectively. These officers were chosen because, in an effort to achieve the goal of combating crime through enhancing the apprehension/suppression capability of the Department, they qualified as aerial on servers who are police oriented and experienced.

However, every member of the Baltimore Police Department can feel justly proud of this pioneering step in modern law enforcement, since the BPD is only the second east coast department to use helicopters in its patrol efforts.

An example of the effectiveness of helicopter patrol surfaced on Friday, January 15, 1971, when a Northwestern District patrol unit was assisted in the apprehension of a burglary suspect by information supplied by the hovering police craft. Using radio communications between the helicopter and the ground unit, the helicopter crew provided a very accurate and prompt description of the suspect leading to his capture.

Effectiveness is the key word when discussing the helicopter. With a cruising speed of 0 to 127 MPH, maximum weight of 2,750 lbs. - fully loaded, and a capacity of 5 passengers (including the crew), an active imagination can visualize the use of a helicopter in pursuits, preventive patrol, immediate description broadcasts, coordinating ground unit response efforts, and other operational aspects.

Currently, the helicopter receives logistical support from Friendship International Airport. The maximum flight time is 2 1/2 hours between refueling which are accomplished by a return time of just 5 minutes to its fueling location.

Rapid response is a most important capability of this new tool and the 3 1/2 minute response time in a recent time test from the Northwestern District to the Southeastern District is evidence of the response/flying quickness of our flying machine.

With an air intake device known as the "Snow Kit" the copter can be flown even in poor weather, however minimum weather requirements are three miles of visibility and a 1000 foot ceiling.

While weather limits the ability to respond, once the "go - no go" decision is made, response time is basically unaffected.

Since that October date, the Department has taken great care to evaluate helicopter use in this City. As a result of this evaluation two additional helicopters are on order. These smaller Hughes 300 C machines are scheduled for delivery in late March. They are three place (seat) helicopters with lights and P / A system, but no hoist; and are in the 1900 lbs. class of aerial machines.

Funded through a Federal grant, the arrival of the two new helicopters will permit the Department to intensify aerial patrol of the City substantially and eventually to have a helicopter on alert status at all times with ranging degrees of response time. Current planning is to fly about 3200 hours per year for all aircraft combined.

Whatever the weather and whatever the time of day, the citizens of Baltimore will he assured of greater safety with the Department's helicopter(s) on patrol.

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April 1971

Two new versatile crime-fighting tools touched down at Friendship Airport Wednesday, April 7, 1971 piloted by Baltimore Police Department Flight Officers James Vincent Daly, Hank Lippincott and Scott Miskimmon. The Hughes 300-C Helicopters ended a cross-country flight that had begun from Palomar Airport in California seven days earlier.

The flight, a first for the Department, was accomplished under the supervision and direction of Fiscal Affairs Division Director C. Jared Glauser and was accompanied by the Department's newest helicopter pilot, Flight Officer James Vincent Daly. The trip climaxed many weeks of intensive preparation prior to the actual acceptance of the new helicopters from the Hughes Tool Company, located in Culver City, California.

By taking delivery of the machines on the West Coast, the Flight Officers were able to take advantage of orientation and familiarization periods offered by Hughes engineers and test pilots. In addition, the Officers were able to observe, first-hand, the assembly of the helicopters for valuable future reference.

The Baltimore Police Department contingent arrived in California on March 23, 1971 and spent their first day with the Los Angeles Police Department, since that Department has employed helicopters for over five years and possesses invaluable experience in the techniques of helicopter employment in police work.

The new acquisitions were formally accepted and registered for the Department on March 26, 1971

During the next several days the Flight Officers received transitional flight instructions from Hughes Company test pilots who familiarized them with the new craft. At the termination of the three day orientation period the Officers were certified to fly the 300-C model.

On the first of April, the crews were ready to begin the return transcontinental trip. Due to a heavy fog which blanketed the area, the departure was delayed almost three hours. Further, because of extremely turbulent winds over the mountains, the route for the first leg was modified. The planned route for the return trip was through the southern section of the country to avoid adverse weather and high mountainous terrain farther to the north. This route would cover approximately three thousand miles and necessitate a projected figure of forty-two hours flying time.

The largest physical obstacle to be crossed were the San Jacinto Mountains.

Altitudes during crossing varied from five hundred to two thousand feet above the terrain to a maximum of 6500 feet during the crossing with a cruising speed averaging eighty-five miles an hour.

With the exception of fuel stops, made every 1 hour and 40 minutes, the pilots flew continuously from 8 :00 A.M. until 6 :00 or 7 :00 P.M. Using landmarks, major highways and pipelines as guides, the crews averaged five hundred miles each day.

Overnight stops were made in Tucson, Arizona; Pecos, Texas; Shreveport, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama.

For the most part, flying conditions were ideal until the final stop prior to reaching Friendship Airport. In Greensboro, North Carolina, the helicopters were delayed because of snow, nevertheless reaching Baltimore a single day behind the projected schedule.

Equipped with fuel-injection engines the Hughes 300-C helicopters are capable of a maximum airspeed of 105 miles per hour. Each is equipped with a powerful set of searchlights rated at 1.2 million candlepower. Both. are equipped with siren, public address system and police radio.

The two new helicopters raise to three the number of such craft available for tactical deployment in the Department's continuing efforts to combat crime. Purchased under a Federal grant, the Hughes 300-C models represent a maximum combination of utility and modernization within the Baltimore Police Department crime fighting efforts.

During a two week experimental period the Fairchild-Hiller Helicopter has demonstrated itself to be a very effective crime fighting tool. With a total of 150 flying hours on patrol the Helicopter Unit has been instrumental in arrests for assault and robbery, burglary, escapees and stolen autos.

On April 15, 1971 the first day airborne one of the Hughes Helicopters gave an indication of its crime fighting potential, by assisting in the apprehension of three suspects in an assault and robbery case in the Northeastern District.

At the time of the call the helicopters were on a communications test flight over the Northwestern District. The Hughes, in company with the Fairchild-Hiller, responded to the scene of the offense within 1 1/2 minutes and pointed out a suspect to radio cars which effected the arrest on the ground. Several hours later two more suspects fitting the description for the assault and robbery were sighted in a near-by commercial area, but because of heavy traffic congestion the radio car that sighted the suspects could not make the arrest. Again the helicopter responded in time to see the suspects enter a store, and broadcast their description to ground units which made the arrests.

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June 1971

It was a Saturday afternoon. The two youthful burglars had managed to force their way into a window of a Baltimore City Junior High School. The simplest part lay before them, to exit the building with their stolen property; undetected. But on that particular Saturday something went wrong. Upon leaving the school, the youths found themselves between converging patrol cars. In panic, each fled a different direction with Tactical and District officers close behind. After a time, the burglars outdistanced the Police Officers. Within a few minutes both were safely out of the area.

Realizing that their description would be broadcast over the Police radio, both boys shed their distinctively colored jackets, then mingled in a group of young people blocks away from the location of the burglary. Both were confident of their anonymity.

Their confidence was of short duration. Without hesitation two Officers approached the standing group, immediately identified the suspects and took them into custody. It was not guesswork on the part of the arresting Officers. Though they could not have observed the escape or its destination, a helicopter hovering five hundred feet above the scene had distinctly observed the entire incident and relayed the information to ground units.

The incident illuminates the progress made by the Helicopter Unit in its Aerial Patrol procedures. The following article is a commentary on that progress.

From 500 feet, Baltimore's appearance is radically altered and even fundamental considerations such as direction and location require a new, basic attention to the city's landmarks. Rows of homes stretch seemingly to the horizon, hampering instant identification of streets and businesses.

To overcome the difficulty, personnel of the Helicopter Unit must constantly use Baltimore's geographic layout as references for location. The central business district, harbor, numerous parks and major arteries provide a few of the important landmarks necessary for location identification.

The identification itself plays a crucial role, one that must be efficiently performed if the use of Helicopters is to be successful. The Department's "Foxtrot" Units respond to all calls broadcast as in progress. Maximum response time from anywhere in the city is only slightly more than three minutes. With effective use of standard reference points, specific locations can be found with minimal difficulty.

Those locations not readily apparent are immediately referred to the Communications Division. Through a grid coordinate system and excellent street guides, the Aerial Observers can receive the relayed information almost immediately.

Once over the sight, it is difficult for Aerial Observers to miss much even at night. Felons who have tried changing clothes, losing themselves in crowds or hiding beneath porches or shrubbery have inadvertently borne witness to the visual perception of the Helicopter Unit's Aerial Observers. As always, however a prompt and accurate description of the suspect is a necessary prerequisite to success.

Cooperation is the key word. Assigned as they are to the Crime Analysis Section of the Planning and Research Division, men of the Helicopter Unit have worked ceaselessly to develop, initiate and refine procedures for joint air-ground action. They are aided, in part, by other municipalities that have adopted the helicopter as a crime-fighting tool. But since the problems faced by widely separated jurisdictions can differ widely, the bulk of responsibility for formulating meaningful procedures must rest with the Baltimore Police Department.

To facilitate the process at present, the Hughes 300-C craft are undergoing operational trials while simultaneously flying regularly scheduled patrol. The experiences will serve as the foundation for much of the new procedures.

Neither of the smaller craft has yet been equipped with police radios. Using hand-held walkie-talkies, however, the Unit's Aerial Observers have assisted ground Patrol Units in several arrests including burglaries, narcotics offenses an assault and robbery and assaults on Police Officers. During the weekend of May 23, 1971 eight such arrests were made with direct assistance from the Helicopter Unit personnel, bringing to twenty seven the total number of arrests made with Helicopter Unit assistance since early February.

The arrests themselves are significant in several respects. They have served to illuminate the inherent value of helicopter use, particularly in light of the fact that the Unit is not fully operational, and that much of its procedures are still being implemented. More importantly, the majority of assists rendered in arrest situations took place after the subjects had effected their escapes from the general vicinity of the crime. It is readily apparent that the suspects might have successfully eluded ground units had not the Helicopters been available to detect and broadcast the direction of escape.

Besides fighting crime, the Helicopters have responded to situations necessitating crowd control, employing both the public address systems and trilling sirens. The hovering craft have elicited a definite psychological deterrent to unruly groups, and large gatherings have been dispersed with no injuries.

The Helicopter Unit's schedule is a busy one. Presently they fly three overlapping shifts. At least one craft is over the city throughout the day and much of the night. In addition Officer-in-Charge, Regis Raffensberger attends weekly In-Service Training classes at the Gunpowder Range to familiarize all Departmental members with the versatility and value of the helicopters in police work.

The weekly session is valuable in several ways. It acquaints Departmental personnel with new systems that will be implemented for use in conjunction with ground units. Sergeant Raffensberger also touches upon those procedures being given consideration, in the logical belief that the combined experience of the assembled officers will contribute much to the success of the new systems. He emphasizes, above all, the helicopters will be used as a supportive unit, specifically to assist and help protect ground units, and that cooperation is needed to make that ultimate function a reality.

Much, indeed has been accomplished since the advent of helicopter use in Baltimore. Air priority systems have been originated to minimize the danger of mid-air collisions over the city. Detailed contingency studies were carried out, including the selection of emergency landing sites throughout the city.

Presently, Unit personnel, in cooperation with the Planning and Research Division, are preparing a manual on helicopter procedures expressly for crime fighting, and a General Order delineating these new procedures to every member of the Department. Both should appear within three to six months.

As normal procedure since its inception, the Foxtrot series has responded to all in-progress calls broadcast by KGA.

This procedure resulted in a significant number of arrests, even before the unit became fully operational in May of this year.

On August 31,1971 for example, while on routine patrol over the southwestern section of the city, 44 foxtrot monitored a call for an assault and robbery in progress. The incident was reported to have happened in the 4300 block of Liberty Heights Avenue in the Northwestern District.

The helicopter, Flight Officer Scott Miskimon and Aerial Observer John Rourke aboard, responded to the scene in less than 90 seconds. The response was so fast, in fact, that the suspect was spotted before he had gotten a block from the crime scene. The suspect, who had become aware of the Helicopter's presence, attempted to secrete himself twice unsuccessfully in the bushes of nearby yards. The helicopter hovered above him until ground units in the area arrived and effected the arrest. It was later discovered that the subject was wanted on an assault and robbery warrant for an earlier offense.

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Still another Departmental first took place on Wednesday, October 25, 1972 with the first helicopter landing on the new Headquarters Building roof. The newly functioning Heliport is only the second of its kind located in the city of Baltimore. The first is located atop University Hospital.

All three of the Department's helicopters were used during the landing ceremony. They flew a tight v-shaped pattern from their starting point, Pier 4, Pratt Street.

Approach to the heliport was made at 2 :00 P.M. With faultless precision, the pilots set each craft down in succession.

The first and largest craft disembarked Deputy Commissioner C. Jared Glauser of the Administrative Bureau, who was piloted by Flight Officer Scott Miskimman.

After taking off again, the first craft was followed by Flight Officer Henry Lippincott piloting one of the two Hughes 300 C craft. With him was Sergeant Regis Raffensberger, Officer in Charge of the Helicopter Unit.

The final touchdown was made by Flight Officer Thomas Howard, with Aerial Observer Weston Bousman.

Greeting the craft passengers as they debarked on the new Heliport was Police Commissioner Donald D. Pomerleau, together with members of his Command Staff, and representatives of the local media.

The remaining Flight Officers and Aerial Observers of the Helicopter Unit were on hand at the Heliport to take part in the ceremonies.