Time In The Air Cut By Nearly Half

Budget cuts are forcing the Washing State Patrol to re-assign two of its nine pilots to ground duties, and cut the amount of time spent flying by nearly half.

WSP pilots flew nearly 7,000 hours in the past two years, according to state records. The state budget that went into effect on July 1st cut the number of budgeted hours to 4,000 over the next two.

State Patrol Captain Jeff DeVere told television station KING in Seattle “These are some of the tough times we saw coming this last legislative session.” He told the station that while the state patrol's airplanes will still be used for SAR operations, they may have to start saying "no" to some requests.

According to the patrol website, the WSP Aviation Section uses five Cessna aircraft to perform public safety missions. Two are Cessna 206's equipped with gyro-stabilized FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) camera aircraft. FLIR, with its zoom cameras, thermal imagers, digital recorders, and microwave downlink capabilities has proven to be an effective tool for aerial traffic enforcement, traffic congestion management, and other aerial law enforcement services in support of the Patrol's public safety mission.

Cessna 206 File Photo

The planes have been used in some high-profile rescues in the past year. “If we’re up in the air and we’re available, we’re going to go,” said DeVere, “But with this cut comes our inability to be in the air as much.”

FMI: www.wsp.wa.gov