Florida's New Bird of Prey

We are the only agency [music] that's

not federal that is using a Black Hawk

for law enforcement use. It puts a lot

of pressure on us to perform.

It gives us quite a platform that could

do just about anything we needed to do.

Law enforcement, firefighting, and I

foresee in the future [music] being

utilized in mosquito control.

>> The addition of the 60, the Black Hawk,

[music] it brings a great addition to

the assets of the people of Charlotte

County.

As our mission sets have increased,

[music] as our natural disasters have

increased, our population's increased,

we look to source the best tool that

meets our requirements. [music]

We've already had some calls for service

fire related, and it was there on time,

ready, and it delivered what we [music]

thought it and said could sought.

>> We are the first agency that is a

primary law enforcement agency to get a

UH-60. There's other agencies [music]

that have the 60s out on the west coast

that are primarily fire.

As you can see, this is not a fire hawk.

It is a Black Hawk.

It has a fire bucket, [music] so that

gives us the opportunity to use it for

rescue, use it for law enforcement, and

other activities that we have.

And being the first ones to do that,

[music] we needed the aircraft to be a

multi-mission machine.

The Black Bucket at 900 gallons gives us

the capacity of a fire tank, [music]

but also the versatility of the regular

Black Hawk.

So, the fire was moving extremely fast,

and had [music] we tried to fight that

fire with any of our other equipment,

say the Huey or A-Star, it just wouldn't

have had the capacity [music] to stop

that fire like the 60 did. So, it's

already made a huge impact.

>> My name is Shane Gallop, I'm the chief

pilot for the Charlotte County Sheriff's

Office. Uh we're at the Punta Gorda

Airport, where we're based [music] out

of. So, the new addition to our fleet is

our UH-60 Black Hawk. It's an Alpha

model, uh Alpha plus plus, they're 701D

engines, an enhanced durability gearbox,

and a plethora [music] of other

equipment inside to make it mission

capable for rescue, firefighting, and

law enforcement activities.

We were looking at a twin engine for

safety and offshore use, and so as we

were looking at those [music] pieces of

equipment, the 60 started to make more

sense with the amount of firefighting

and rescue activity [music] we have,

especially after the three hurricanes we

had. Acquisition price and longevity of

parts and equipment over 10-year period

[music] we were looking at.

So, my background, I was a former Army

guy. I was a OH-58D Scout pilot,

instructor pilot for the Army. [music] I

went to the State Department. I worked

at International Narcotics and Law

Enforcement Bureau with the Hueys over

in Afghanistan, as well as

counter-narcotics global support with

MI-17s [music]

for a little bit of that before I came

here. And I've been with the Sheriff's

Office over 10 years, currently the

chief pilot here overseeing our aviation

program.

And it is very cool to have a Black

Hawk. [music] It's cool to be the one

entity in the state that has the type

one firefighting helicopter. We can do

things that we've [music] wanted to do

for years. For example, getting fire

equipment out to the barrier islands.

Now we can just sling load small

connexes, ATVs, and take [music] that

8,000-lb piece of equipment and put it

on the island.

>> I'm Tactical Flight Officer Joseph Mills

with the Charlotte County Sheriff's

Office Aviation Division. We are

multi-crew [music] here. Everybody kind

of has a different job. So, my job as a

Tactical Flight Officer is run camera

system, run the mission while we're out

on a call of some type,

>> [music]

>> and then I'm also a rescue swimmer as

well, hoist operator. Um so, we all do

different roles [music] uh within the

unit. So, when I came to the Sheriff's

Office, I was a road patrol deputy for

about either or take 4 years. I was on

the SWAT team for about 5 years. So, I

head up the drone unit for the agency,

for the SWAT team, and for the aviation

unit as well. So, going into the Hawk,

it it's kind of a game-changer. We have

so much more space. Um I effectively say

we have so much more room [music] for

activities. Um and it's great for me

because I can almost stand up in the

back of this aircraft and move around.

Um we can floor load quite a lot of

people or we can load cargo into it,

whatever we need to do uh to facilitate

the mission.

>> The UH-60 has been online for just a few

months. We've been in our fire season,

so we've already done one major fire

that saved number of houses.

We've been [music] looking towards our

offshore use. Our boating and fishing

summer is coming. So, that's another

opportunity for us to showcase its

rescue capabilities offshore. That will

give us the opportunity to provide those

rescues and provide extra support for

either us or our neighbors uh when the

hurricanes do hit.

From acquisition to uh fully mission

capable, it was 10 months. So,

>> [music]

>> there was nothing else we could have

touched in that time frame to have

something fully mission capable, clear,

[music] shot over, fast rope, hoist,

hums, health monitoring equipment from

RMCI. All these things came together in

10 months.

So, we

>> [music]

>> we weren't able to touch anything else

in that time frame and put it online. As

soon as we did, we had a large fire

right actually really really near the

airport. And uh we had 12 houses

exposed. We had a bunch of horses.

[music] A dozer was stuck and it was

almost 40-knot winds and it was pushing

through a housing complex. Here in

Florida, the forest goes right to the

doorstep.

And uh sometimes it's difficult for our

dozers and stuff to get around those

houses. So, the fire was rushing towards

four exposed structures as well as the

Bobcat driver that was stuck and as well

as the uh horse farm that was there. So,

we were able to take that 900-gallon

bucket, fill it up, and stop that that

head of that fire [music] from reaching

those structures, reaching those horses,

and and getting that Bobcat driver out

of out danger.

The Sheriff's [music] is uh

intelligence-led policing directive has

allowed us lean heavy into [music]

intelligence and and gathering

information. And this is one of those

pieces that supports the community in

that way. So, with his leadership, we we

are always looking at new technology and

new ways to to get ahead of crime, get

ahead of anything that would impact our

residents, whether be fire or rescue.

The County Board of Commissioners

understands that all of our equipment

here is is multi-use. So, when we do

mosquito control and law enforcement and

fire fighting with one piece of

equipment, it's good for the taxpayer,

[music] it's good for the Sheriff's

Office, and it's good for the Board of

County Commissioners to have all their

assets being able to do a plethora of

things instead of just one thing for

each individual discipline.

Another piece of our community here is

we have a large fishing and boating

community. It is routine [music] for our

community to go 30 to 60 mi offshore to

go fishing. And so, that was something

[music] our Sheriff wanted to make sure

that we were protecting those

individuals when they do the leisurely

activities that we do here in Charlotte

County. So, the Coast Guard has aircraft

out of St. Pete, [music] and they have

out of Miami sector. So, it's not a

missing gap, but it there is a gap in

between those two spots. We have an MOU

with the Coast Guard provide [music]

search and rescue capabilities with our

equipment. So, we're able to augment the

Coast Guard in that capacity. And this

60 gives us

the capability to go 50 plus miles

offshore, do a hoist rescue, come back,

and augment the Coast Guard in the way

[music] that the community expects. The

Sheriff's Association links all 67

counties. So, when

County A needs something, County B calls

that Sheriff. Sheriff to Sheriff, they

say, "Hey, I need this asset at my place

cuz we just got hit with [music] a

hurricane." There's no squabbling back

and forth that

the equipment is sent, the manpower is

sent, and we just take care of each

other that way here.

We had we had a number of partners

helping us build this build out this

aircraft from Fulcrum Concepts to

Brunner Aerospace who did the install of

all of our Garmin glass cockpit. We had

a number of agencies [music] that help

out

Ventura County Sheriff's Office with

their 60s. We leaned on a lot of

different people. The 60 community has

been great. Everybody wants to see these

aircraft succeed, and everybody you

reach out to has been super helpful on

hey, this worked [music] for us, this

didn't work for us. These are some of

the missteps that

And as these things come online more,

there's going to be more of them out

there and and more agencies getting

them. So, [music] it's going to be

exciting to see where these things go.

Jerry and Cam over at the BEST program,

they're they're outstanding [music]

people. The BEST program is a a great

opportunity for agencies, local agencies

to get a good product that has enhanced

[music] capabilities at at a reduced

cost. You're looking at a 22,000-lb

helicopter with an 8,000-lb hook. So,

for firefighting and rescue, civilian

organizations or or local governments

can get into something like this

for less than the cost of a 412 or 429

at half the capacity or a third of the

capacity.

This aircraft came to us from the

California National Guard. Uh it was

then put into the BEST program, and then

it was the inspections were completed,

and the aircraft was updated, and we

were able to get it through a program

after that program. So, it served in

Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan before it

came to us.

Uh as well as our Huey served in

Vietnam. So, we have a long [music]

legacy of of military aircraft in

serving in wartime.

So, the 60 was a logical next step.

[music] Those aircraft are good

aircraft. They work well. These have

been overhauled. They have fresh

inspections [music] on them.

Uh back in the day when you got Hueys

out of the GSA, sometimes they weren't

in the greatest condition. You spent a

lot of money fixing them up.

Well, the 60s are in a kind of a

different program. They come out as a

flyable aircraft, [music] and then you

can put them through the inspections,

the PMIs,

and then bring them up [music] to the

standard of whatever your agency needs

it to do, whether it be firefighting,

rescue, law enforcement.

So, the expense on the 60 [music] for us

was parts and uh inspection. That would

be the biggest cost. The [music]

acquisition cost is actually less than

uh 429 or 412.

So,

we were able to offset that by buying a

second UH-60, a flyable spare. So, we

have spare engines, transmissions, rotor

blades.

And so, it made the [music] acquisition

cost was less and the cost over the long

haul should be relatively [music] the

same because we have the extra parts to

work with.

>> John Bautista, I'm a warrant officer and

LEO pilot for the Charlotte County Air

Division.

We're situated at the Punta Gorda

Airport where we have our four

helicopters based for the Charlotte

County Sheriff's Office.

>> My name is Casey Cloar. I'm a mega test

pilot here at the Charlotte County

Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit.

>> From left to right we've got the Garmin

500s. Obviously [music] this is not how

it came from the factory. This is how

it's been customized to [music] our

needs. A little bit of updating, a

little bit of office redesign.

We've got the macro blue where we're

running the Churchill. [music] Basically

what we see off of the Fleer and the

mapping system is displayed to our

co-pilot or TFO. We're running dual

displays in front and back so we can

operate from the front if need be or

from the back.

And then we have some co-witnessing so

we can kind of [music] see as the

mission evolves or whatever we're

getting into. We've got two

>> [music]

>> two potentially three sets of eyes on

the same

heads up display.

Same if we cross cockpit, we're looking

at the same symbology. So we've [music]

got duplicate units. So if we needed to

take out displays or swap [music] them

if we were troubleshooting or things

like that, it's almost a plug and play.

It gives us a little bit of latitude to

kind of work [music] down to one system

if necessary.

>> So the role of a tactical flight officer

here in the Black Hawk specifically is

going to be

provide tactical insight. They manage

the the call for service that's on the

ground [music] whether that be through

communications using our dual band

Technisonic TD FM 9100s

to talk to the road units or sister

agencies like FHP, FWC.

>> [music]

>> Obviously also the to

utilize our Trakka Beam 800 search light

and our flare 380.

Um,

again, we're running macro boost front

and back, so we're able to use

uh, both screens,

whether it be the SIC can work the

camera, run the macro blue. If the crew

chief is doing something outside of the

crew TFO station like running a hoist or

something like that, or vice versa, the

TFO can run all the mission profile from

the rear seat.

>> [music]

>> The UH-60 gives us a number of options.

It helps with a lot of an options

multiplier.

The helicopter fleet is diverse, and so

is our mission set. So,

>> [music]

>> bringing the UH-60 on board, you know,

we have all the dual redundant systems,

updated [music] technology, and then

obviously it takes a larger crew to go

into larger calls for service. So, we

end up running externals, we end up

running, you know, night time missions.

The thermal imaging, all these tools are

at our disposal. And then the addition

of crew members in the back, that

increases both our responsibility, but

also our strengths. We're able to get

out further,

into more more calls as they may be

generated. So, it really becomes an

options multiplier.

If we have a full crew, and everyone is,

you know,

all invested. So.

>> So, as a as a new up and coming pilot

today, or pilot block off, it's

obviously amazing. Um,

I'm a little spoiled in the sense that

this thing is very powerful, and has a

very strong tail rotor. So,

uh, people that might be in the same

flight experience as me or 44s, you

know, worried about, um,

immersion their rotor blades and low G,

and well, we tail rotor wrap. Kind of

spoiled in the sense that, you know, I

get to fly a block off. So, on the 60,

we have a onboard systems internal

hoist, along with a basket. We also have

a rescue seat, a We like to

affectionately call it screamer suit,

basically [music] a backpack for picking

people up. Um and then we have a water

um strap that we use as well.

Um and [music] in the back over in this

station, we have a TFO station set up

here for operating the camera from the

back. So, if we're over water and we're

heading out to locate somebody, the TFO

in the back or the crew chief can

actually [music] use the camera

um to locate a victim inside the water.

Uh we use a 380HDC

um [music] X camera that has AI built

into it. You basically could say, "Hey,

I'm looking for a head in the water."

and it'll kind of box out all the things

that it thinks is a head in the water,

which will help draw [music] your eye to

that location. We have a mirrored

station at the co-pilot of the aircraft

who also has the same screen, who can be

watching it as they're flying and or

operating the camera if they're sitting

up there as well. So, in the back we

have an ARS um

water rescue strap, uh quick to deploy,

quick to uh put onto a victim. Uh rescue

tube that we can deploy quickly as we're

kind of circling the area to get an idea

of what we're going to work on.

Um we have a raft, inflatable raft, in

case the aircraft were to go down. We

have a medical kit uh that's full of all

kinds of BLS [music] equipment, um stop

the bleed stuff, airway management, all

that good stuff.

>> [music]

>> And then in the front here, we have two

um rescue seats. We have an ARS and a um

CMC rescue system. Um our idea is that

we can bring both down and [music] we

could be constantly picking somebody up

and down as we go. So, while we're

bringing somebody up, the next uh bag is

going to go on to the next person, and

[music] then we just drop it back down

and bring them right back up. So, we

came from an A-star and a Huey. Huey has

good floor space. [music] Um however,

this is almost twice the floor space.

There's no transmission housing in the

way.

>> [music]

>> Um we can load plenty of people onto the

ground.

Um and we [music] can work both sides of

the aircraft easily.

Um

we have TFOs that'll will sit on the

left side,

um, TFOs [music] that will sit on the

right side, and we just have a lot more

hands to be able to do an operation. Um,

if we have a water rescue operation, we

can have your hoist operator, your

rescue swimmer, and your backup rescue

swimmer, and still have room to add

people to the aircraft. So, the C-deck,

uh, saves knees. I'm 43 years old, and

kneeling down on a solid piece of metal

all day isn't fun. Um, so this C-deck

just gives you a little bit of sponge.

Um, and it actually gives you really

good traction. When it gets wet, it

doesn't become slick. Um,

so if we bring in a basket that's wet,

we really don't have to worry about it.

The water's going to run off to the side

of the aircraft anyway.

Um, but it just gives you that nice

little bit of foam padding on your

knees. Um, so you're not just beating

your knees up all day. Um, and you

really do not get a slip hazard inside

the back of the aircraft. So, the

advantage of the Hawk for me is a far

more stable platform.

Um,

you know, coming from the A-star doing

long line rescue operations or the Huey,

[music]

um, when we pick up a load on the Huey,

you could feel it in the aircraft. The

aircraft kind of dips a little, and the

the pilot has to

>> [music]

>> basically

um, counter that movement. Um, we've

picked up

>> [music]

>> some pretty heavy loads with the hoist

for testing and, uh, conditioning of the

line, and the aircraft didn't move.

Pilot didn't even know that we were

lifting the load yet, other than me

telling them that the load [music] was

coming on.

Um, it's very stable. It handles wind

gusts very well.

>> [music]

>> Um, and for being one of the most

hurricane areas in the last 10 years,

[music]

um, it is going to be a fantastic tool

for rescue operations in the future.

>> If you're looking down this [music]

road, understand that you're you're

building a program out. You're not just

purchasing a helicopter. If you were to

go get a 429 or 412, you're purchasing

that helicopter and the support that

Bell has or Airbus has or Agusta,

whoever you buy. But this, you you have

to build your own support into it. So,

making sure you have the right tooling,

making sure you have the spare parts,

making sure you have the aircraft. You

have to have all those pieces in place.

We probably would have not recommended

the 60 had we not had the crew that we

had. Members that had extensive

experience maintaining Black Hawks,

we've had crew members that have type

ratings on UH-60s. And so we were able

to take this crew that we have and

whether it be our hoist operators or our

maintainers or our pilots, we have a

small crew, we have three pilots, we

have somewhere between seven and uh nine

tactical flight officers depending on

where they are in their in their career

and schedule.

But having this group of people that are

able to come out and be rescue swimmers

and hoist operators and really put the

time and effort into learning the

equipment, [music]

I can't say enough about the crew we

have operating this machine.