Introduction

As Helicopter trained individuals (Divisional Command, SCO OFC+ and CT Sergeant+) you are among the highest quality and most trusted officers in the Police Service and you now have the ability to fly an NPAS buzzard when it is needed. Sometimes NPAS are not available or there are suspects in hard to reach areas, due to this you are now equipped to deal with suspects in any situation that may arise in day to day patrols. Due to the power you are being granted there will be strict guidelines around using the helicopter and if found to be abusing helicopters you will risk losing your helicopter trained position, below are some guidelines you must follow while patrolling in a helicopter.

Rules and Guidelines

1. Transporting

When it comes to transporting on the helicopter you may only transport a suspect when it is absolutely necessary, some examples may include going to the base of a mountain where transport is waiting or during ops / gang RP where the suspects can be trusted to follow the RP. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you ever be carrying someone ( /carry or alt d) on your helicopter

When transporting officers the only people authorised to fire from the side of the heli are AR trained officers, you should never be firing a pistol or taser off the heli

When rappelling from the heli it must be stationary at a suitable height, never rappel from a moving helicopter

2. Landing

When landing your helicopter it MUST be in a suitable location, you should never find yourself needing to land on the road or block traffic. If it is absolutely neccessary that you land on the side of a road where you may be close to traffic you must place scene containment around your helicopter, this goes for landing in busy car parks like HMP too.

Areas you must look for when landing

• open grass areas

• car parks

• alley ways

• rooftops

• heli pads

• dirt roads

• mountains

• within an enclosed area (such as inside HMP)

3. Interacting with NPAS

Be mindful that while you are helicopter trained and in the air you are not officially NPAS therefore any NPAS on scene still take primary communications unless you are asked to take over or they lose sight

4. Flying etiquette

While on a chase do not fly too close to other helicopters incase they suddenly fly up, down or U turn. Furthermore do not fly too low in the city as this is a city rule break under GTA flying

5. Firing from the helicopter

When you are the AR trained officer on the heli you must exercise extreme caution when firing at suspects, if you intend to hit tires and hit the driver when you're not supposed to this will be misuse.

You may fire at tires at the same time tac contact is authed, this is in an effort to help stop the vehicle

Make sure there is valid initiation before disarming someone from the heli and that it's actually shoot to disarm, just hitting the helicopter is not shoot to disarm

Be careful when firing at other aircraft, some have really weird collisions and it's not your goal to blow them up, only try to disable the heli or rotors before they take off

Perks of helicopter training

• Fly the buzzard

• Clock on as your main rank and fly any time

• Auth the tac contact you can as your main rank

• Land the buzzard in suitable locations when it is required

• work on your comms and confidence any time while being able to support ground units

• pick up AR trained officers to fire off the side

• transport officers to hard to reach places

While you have been given this new equipment it is meant more as a tool than something to permanently patrol in therefore if you are caught breaking any rules in the helicopter you may face losing helicopter trained and have to redo the training after a number of weeks, there will be a strike system with helicopter trained to ensure the standards are held to the highest possible state.