SOP

Roles and Responsibilities

Probationary Flight Officer:

Probationary Flight Officers are Air Support Unit trained employees who are only trained for camera and co-piloting operations. Probationary Flight Officers should patrol as regular units until dispatched. They respond to the helipad when requested and respond with a Flight Officer or higher to the location where their presence is needed.

Flight Officer:

Flight officers are allowed to patrol as one of the branches within the Air Support Unit. They are NOT allowed to conduct flights without being requested (Including maintenance flights) UNLESS there is a TFO or higher available as the pilot. When a request comes in for additional ground units (LEO / Fire) and they are not involved in a scene or no longer needed on it they should break off and activate as said units.

Exceptions can be given by the CTFO.

Tactical Flight Officer:

The Tactical Flight Officer is allowed to patrol as one of the branches within the Air Support Unit. They are NOT allowed to conduct aerial overview but are allowed to do short maintenance flights. When a request comes in for additional ground units (LEO / Fire) and they are not involved in a scene or no longer needed on it they should break off and activate as said units. 

Exceptions can be given by the CTFO.

Senior Flight Officer:

As an addition to the perks of the TFO, the SFO is allowed to conduct Aerial Overview and can apply to become a trainer within ASU. While conducting Aerial Overview, both the pilot and the copilot are required to be SFO trained. With the permission of the CTFO, probationary flight officers are allowed to act as the copilot. 

Exceptions can be given by the CTFO.

Disciplinary Action

ASU members are held to a higher standard than regular officers and are expected to maintain an exemplary standard of roleplay. Disciplinary action will be conducted following Aspirant’s Administrative Policy.

When an ASU Member is removed from ASU they have a 30 day waiting period until they can apply again.

ASU has a zero-tolerance policy on CIV stalking. This means that all ASU members need to follow a set of strict rules. If proven and found that any ASU pilot/co-pilot is stalking in any way, the ASU pilot/co-pilot will be immediately removed from the subdivision.

At all times the CTFO has permission to review flight logs and conduct action on them where needed. This includes and is not limited to contract termination, disciplinary action, or removal of the subdivision.

Both pilot and co-pilot will be held responsible for all actions taken in the aircraft. All actions taken by the aircrew need to be considered safe and shouldn’t be putting both the public, yourself, or others in danger.

Rules 

• Civ stalking: Civ stalking is when PD units continue to monitor regular law abiding citizens, this is banned force wide. It can be easy to do this from the air as you have the bird's eye view. If you see a civ doing nothing illegal, ignore them and do not report the information over the radio. 

If you do see suspicious activity you should put this out over the radio, a higher ranking officer will decide what to do with the information.

• Refueling: The Aircraft spawns with a full tank of fuel and can stay in the air more or less forever, however this would be a bit broken. You should try to keep track of time while flying, return to base every 25 - 30 minutes for a 5 minute refueling. We will look into actual refueling mechanics in the future.

• Lifts:

Don’t use the Aircraft to give your friends lifts to places, this is misconduct and will be treated accordingly

Persistent use:  Air 1 unit is extremely versatile and powerful, if there are not alot of cops refrain from pulling out a chopper as it may be a bit too powerful. Again it comes down to your own judgment here but LSPD Command reserves the right to ground an air unit if needed. 

In-Flight

As an aircraft operator, you are responsible for your passengers and your aircraft. During flight there are several important points that have to be observed at all times:

• Always maintain an appropriate altitude, this means that unless you are landing you should avoid going below the hard deck as much as possible. 

• Stay away from restricted or limited airspaces if possible. During certain operations, it is possible that the suspect or individual enters a flight zone with certain restrictions. Try to keep your distance from this area as much as possible unless absolutely necessary.

• Maintain a decent distance from power lines, cable cars, and other objects that might be a danger to you or your aircraft.

• It’s not allowed to fly under bridges or power lines.

• Always make sure you are able to return to a refueling point. You should not activate with less than 25% of fuel or turn around if this target hits.

• Don’t fly any excessive maneuvers that could damage the aircraft. . 

During Air Operations there is always a certain risk that something unexpected happens, you receive a request or something else happens. While in the air, it’s the job of both the pilot and co-pilot to always be prepared for the unexpected. When all comes to the worst, make sure you put your safety at first, when needed, break off from the scene. 

• Supervisor / Scene Command Request:

It happens that either supervisors or scene commands request something from you. While often there is no risk involved in a scene like this, during certain situations it might be questionable if the request is safe to execute. Think for example landing at an unsecured location, transporting officers to a roof or hovering to look through a window.

All the examples above are situations where either pilot and/or co-pilot should refuse the request, this would put either you, other officers or members of the public in danger. When not sure if something is allowed, it's better to be safe than sorry.

• Weather Change:When the weather suddenly changes, the pilot and co-pilot need to conduct a new risk assessment. Is it still safe to fly in the new conditions?

• Shots Fired:During shots fired, there is always a chance that the suspects will open fire upon the aircraft. The pilot and co-pilot should always take enough distance to prevent this. When the aircraft does get shot at, try to put more distance between you and the suspects.

Regulations for Air One Scenarios

• Self attaching: Self attaching to a call is not allowed unless the pilot or co-pilot are the rank of SFO. Then they need to follow the rules and regulations below. A TFO or FO can advise they are available to assist but need approval from scene command (primary) / supervisor.

• Spotlight Usage: The spotlight is only to be used with approval from ground units, due to the spotlight being a tool that can be useful in certain situations, but it can also give away your position or that of one of your officers. Also, it can be very bright and blind everyone on the ground including the officers which can be dangerous.

• Thermal Usage: Thermal is allowed to be utilized by Air One personnel. Keep in mind that with thermal vision you’re not able to look through any other materials than wood/plastic, etc. You’re also not able to tell how many heat signatures are inside of a vehicle or inside a closed area that is not made of hard materials like concrete, steel, etc. You also can’t see heat signatures below the water surface. 

• Medevac: Air One is not able to do a medical evacuation or transport of an injured patient. This is due to the lack of medical supplies on board of the aircraft. This policy does not change when a medic is onboard the helicopter. Call for County Medflight when needed for medevac.

• Rescue Operations: Air One is not able to do rescue operations, the aircraft does not have the right equipment for this kind of operation. You’re able to assist the ground units or medflight with the search but you will need to get medflight up to do the rescue.

• Board Gunner: Board gunners in Air One are not allowed, due to the safety and risk involved with this it requires special training. If a board gunner is needed, a SWAT helicopter and marksman should be called.

• Tourist Transporting: It can happen that you are being requested to transport someone from location to location. This includes putting someone on a roof or relocating someone to another roof or area. The only time the air unit is allowed to have a passenger is either an additional (co)pilot (training / shadowing purpose) or a board gunner (rules above still apply).

• Unsecured Scenes: Air One is not allowed to land to assist ground units with securing suspects, scenes, or help with active scenes; we are neither equipped nor trained for this.

Landing

Landing the aircraft can happen at different locations, under normal circumstances, the pilot will choose to land at a designated helipad. When a landing needs to happen at an unmarked landing area it's important that during the landing procedure the pilot and copilot make a risk assessment. During this assessment, you would check for any possible hazards like loose objects, obstacles, or people. When the landing zone is deemed safe the pilot can land.