Story of the week….

7/21/02

I’m not a Trouble Maker but…

I was recently assigned to my department’s marine patrol unit, and for those who are crazy enough to want to fly – there is the option of also working the helicopter unit as a tactical flight officer. Because I love to fly they didn’t have to twist my arm too far back.

They just sent me to a week-long seminar and conference in Arizona for the Airborne Law Enforcement Association. (ALEA) It was my first time to Arizona and I have to tell you, I fell in love with it. I was in Tucson, and in every direction I looked all I could see was blue skies and mountains.

The people were great, and I started to wonder if maybe there is something in the drinking water in California that sets us aside from other States? I didn’t see attitude dripping off young people, I didn’t see rudeness from merchants. I didn’t see anger, hunger, or obvious homeless. I didn’t see filthy streets and freeways, and even most the cops on the street seemed to be in good moods. Hmmmm, What’s Arizona got that we don’t?

Some kid on the street in a slammed (lowered) racey looking Honda cut me off and at a red signal light he got out of the car and walked back to my rental car. I thought to myself, “here we go, junior wants to puff up and show the yard how big he is and start some crap…..”

This kid with the sagging pants and the pierced eye lid came up to me and said,
“Hey I’m real sorry about that dude, I had my head up my ass and I didn’t see you…”
I smiled and told him “No problem, it’s a rental”
He laughed and said “Cool” and away the Arizona kid went.

While waiting for the light to change I thought about how long it’s been since I’ve seen any “coolness” on the streets where I live. I thought about the news I watched the night before in my hotel room, about the 5-year old girl who was kidnapped and killed. I thought about the cops who forgot the “fight is over when the cuffs go on” who just had to get a second lick in while unknowingly being videotaped….. HELLO! What were you thinking? Oh that’s right, the “kid” had a hold of your crotch and you were in great pain….Paleeeeeze!
Sorry, most the guys I work with realize your crotch is rather close to your waist which is where most of us wear a belt with a G U N on it, and we don’t let someone’s hands get that close….

Man kills his wife,
Wife kills her husband,
Son kills his mother,
And that ain’t even getting robbed at the ATM – that’s at home!

Wow, I’m thinking there’s a whole lot of anger going on in California!
The light changed and I guess I was day dreaming too long. The car behind me hit the horn, and I turned around to say sorry and the driver actually waved to me…..with his whole hand not just one finger! Wow, I’m liking Arizona!

The kid at the rental car office in Southern California acted like I was wrecking his day when he actually had to get up off his butt to help a customer. The kid in Arizona jumped through hoops to put me in a Chevy Camaro convertible and made it more than obvious Alamo car rentals appreciates your business….. Ok, Brian, you sold me, Alamo rules!!!!!
I met many new friends, saw many cool things, went to many way too cool places, but most of all, I learned so much about the “Hero’s in the sky”.

On the day before the conference started they flew in 12 police helicopters to the Tucson convention center. Landed them right on the street outside and rolled them in. Of course I had to get up at 4:30am to get there in time to get some killer photos.

I fell in love with this Eurocopter because of the paint scheme…..Check out the tail rotor!
(People really remember September 11th here – the patriotism is amazing)

I went to a place called the Pima Air Museum. They have miles and miles and then even more miles of historic aircraft on display. I spent an entire day there drooling over helicopters, jets, bombers, and things you wouldn’t imagine could fly.

One of the coolest things there was the plane that started it all…..

I toured 4 big hangars that stored historic bombers from WW1 and WWII. I got to look inside these planes and see the cramped conditions the crews had to work in.

One of the coolest I saw was this plane named “I’m not a trouble maker but…”

Check out the size of this gun turrant and the position in which the airman had to sit for hours and hours.

They have an entire hangar dedicated to the crews involved in the Air Strikes against Germany. Most of those crews never made it past 19 missions before being shot down and killed. Some of the really old guys working at the museum were actually on board those planes. I got to talking to a few of them and man…… the stories they tell. And they tell them like it was just yesterday.

I got to actually sit in the cockpit of Air Force One that served for president Kennedy.
I tried to imagine what it must have been like to fly that plane back in those days.

If you love to fly – if you share the curiosity of flight and aviation – if you want to turn your kids onto some incredible history, plan a vacation to the Pima Air Museum in Tucson. You’ll dig the sights, and you’ll love the State!
Thanks Arizona, I had a great time…

So where am I going with all this?

I am 46 years old.
3 years ago I conquered my extreme fear of flying and somehow got into the sport of flying ultra light sport planes. What the heck is an ultra light sport plane you ask?

There is nothing like accelerating down the runway to the point the nose wheel starts to lift off the ground…… In a second, you leave the ground and you see the world open up beneath you. The views are spectacular and for me? There is nothing else like it on Earth.
It is an incredible feeling of freedom.
I fell in love with it to the point I started a part time business with these float planes, turning perspective students onto the incredible thrill of low and slow flight over the river.

And now, my department has given me the proverbial once in a lifetime opportunity to be a flight officer aboard our beautiful Bell 407.

The 6 years I worked as a K-9 Officer, we pursued some pretty serious bad guys. Most all the serious and dangerous calls we went to, it seemed there was always a police helicopter overhead. It was always reassuring to me and the other ground units to know the “eye in the sky” was there, watching our backs.

Flying in a helicopter is a trip….They describe it as being a machine with a million moving parts all working against each other trying to pull apart! But when you look at the maintenance that goes into them, and the hours and hours of training for pilot certification, the accident rate is almost non-existent compared with that of cars and vehicles.

Over the past 16 years, I have seen some pretty incredible helicopter flying during emergency calls

The police pilots are “like Gods to me”.

While working marine patrol I remember holding the limp body of a kid riding an inner tube who got catapulted into a drainage pipe during a “whip turn” when the ski line broke. While holding this kid who had almost every bone broken in his body, I remember this blue and white helicopter hovering overhead, and then getting lower, and lower, and lower.

I remember thinking where the hell is that guy going to land? And the next thing I know, this medical helo pilot is setting down on a 5-foot wide levee road.
2 Paramedics got out, they scooped up the kid and away they went.
Wind, minimal landing area, wires all around – Wow….

I remember looking at the pilot as he lifted off the ground and because both hands and both feet are busy doing six things at once he couldn’t return my salute, but the nod he gave me said it all….It will all be good….the kid will be OK.
8 minutes later they were at the hospital.
In an ambulance it would have been 45 minutes from where we were at.

We were doing training with the Coast Guard out in San Francisco Bay on a really crappy day. They simulated our patrol boat having rescued someone from the water. It was windy, raining, and the boat was rocking from the waves. The Coast Guard Helo crew
Hovered right over our boat and lowered a cable right at the feet of my partners.
We hooked up the cable to the rescue basket and they raised the “victim” to safety.
They put that helo over a moving boat, in rough seas, in high winds, like they were grabbing a coke out of the fridge!

I’m telling you this right here and now.
There is NOTHING more exciting than flying into a crime scene where the ground units are looking for a guy who just did something really bad. Shot a cop, shot a person, robbed a bank… That helo circles around with that 100 million candle power spotlight – or finds the bad guy with the infrared camera, and directs the Calvary right to where the guy is hiding.

It is an incredible tool in the fight against crime.
It is an incredible tool to be used in medical emergencies.
It’s one thing to be a cop, a firefighter, or a paramedic.
It’s a whole different arena to be one who flies.

I met pilot after pilot at this conference who did nothing but amaze me with the stories of some of the missions they have flown in the interest of public safety.

To those of you who fly for the public as a “job”
To those in the past who have perished in that effort,
To those who have the fever as I do and are just starting out,
To those who proudly wear those wings on their uniforms I say with all my heart…

“You are like Gods to me!”

And in closing……
Every now and then I meet someone out of the blue who makes a lasting impact on me in one way or another…Wise people, wise words, big hearts, you know the type,
the type there’s a serious shortage of in this world.

In this case it was at the Tucson airport waiting to fly home.
Met a way too cool woman who shared the flight to San Diego with me.

We talked about the difference between Arizona and California, attitudes, this and that, society in general. Talking bout something, talking bout nothing… Eating Southwest
P E A N U T S < private joke She was a smart girl. And she made an impression on me enough to the point where even If our paths never cross again, I’ll always remember her. We traded a couple of quotes. I gave her one of mine used on this website quite a bit, and she gave me one that is now hanging over my desk. It explains why there are so many “attitudes” in this world, and why there is so much evil and hatred. And sums up a lot of the difference I saw between the people in California and Arizona. I won’t ever forget the power in this statement. “So many people are angry with this world, Which isn’t the least bit angry with them…” Think about it. Read between the lines. Are you like the kid at the rental car desk in San Diego, or the one in Tucson? Are you like the kid In Arizona who cut me off and , choke, choke, cough, cough… Apologized? (Say what?) Or are you the road rage moron we will read about in the paper tonight who shot a guy in front of his family because he accidentally cut you off….? “So many people are angry with this world, Which isn’t the least bit angry with them…” Wanna do yourself a favor? Wanna do your kids a favor? Wanna do California a favor? Wanna do the world a favor? Wanna do me a favor? Lose the anger, Lose the attitude, Lose all that wasted energy…. And I promise you, The skies get much more Clear, The water will turn much more Blue, The sunrise and sunsets will look like Fire in the Sky, The air will become much easier to Breathe, The stars will become much Brighter, Lose the anger, Life is too short, And to that special little girl from Tucson who shared those wise words…. “Thanks Melissa” – I’ll always remember you. You rule! JL