Riverside County to request new aircraft
California’s Riverside County Sheriff’s Department seek local government approval to acquire new aircraft worth US$18.46 million
The request will be submitted to the county’s Board of Supervisors by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco on 18 April, according to a report by local news outlet My News LA.
The request would cover the acquisition of an Airbus AS350 helicopter worth $7.72 million, and a Pilatus PC-12 fixed-wing single engine turboprop valued at $10.74 million.
The aircraft would be funded entirely on internal accounts, and would join the department’s existing fleet of six Airbus helicopters and one Cessna 182 Skylane.
In a statement, the department said that ‘with the addition of one AS350, the sheriff’s office will be able to provide uninterrupted patrol support for the east and west ends of the county, day and night, seven days a week’.
Meanwhile, the Pilatus ‘will be available to fly investigators to time-sensitive tasks in the most critical types of criminal investigations, be utilized in department extraditions, shuttle staff annually to complete jail inspections, aid transporting executive staff to required meetings in and out of county’, and provide ‘search and rescue’ support.
Illinois’ Cook County Commissioners approved funding for a new police helicopter in November 2022.
Oliver Cuenca
Oliver Cuenca was a Junior Editor at the Voyageur Group. He was previously a News and Features Journalist for the rail magazine IRJ until 2021, and studied MA Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. His favourite helicopter is the AW169 – the workhorse of the UK air ambulance sector! He also led the creation of Waypoint: The AirMed&Rescue podcast, serving as its Production Editor and co-host.