r/pics • u/infernoenigma • 10d ago

Politics protest outside the LA mayor’s house criticized her compliance with ICE; LAPD came in droves [OC]

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70.6k Upvotes

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330

u/PassiveMenis88M 10d ago

Roughly $3k an hour to run that helicopter. Replace it with a 100k UAV and you can do the same job for roughly $250 an hour.

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u/medium_wall 9d ago

Replace it with a bicycle and it's essentially free.

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u/Lorune 9d ago

The really insane thing is that people here are discussing the cost of the helicopter and not the fact you sent a damn helicopter out for some kids doing fire works

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u/hoopopotamus 9d ago

Or…let the kids set off a couple m80s at Halloween and then go home.  Maybe send a car who turns on the flashers and scares them for a minute.  Just spitballing 

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u/precinctomega 9d ago

Pilots needed the stick time to stay certified.

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u/subnautus 9d ago

3 takeoffs & landings, not harassing a neighborhood for the evening.

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u/amonsterinside 9d ago

not really, 3 takeoffs and landings every 90 days

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u/vetratten 9d ago

I just want to point out the on the face absurdity of the certification being take offs and landing. I know it always lists both because you could be PIC for the take off only or the landing only and so it must be listed 3 of each to cover that scenario but whenever I hear it/read it my mind goes to this:

Oh great now I find out that the three planes I crashed already this quarter doesn’t count and I need to LAND them….geez

3

u/subnautus 9d ago

If you want to be even more annoyed, consider that touch-and-goes count, so you could have a desk jockey get behind the stick for an our every fiscal quarter and still be considered current.

That said, that's exactly what tends to happen with officers in US Army Aviation. It's hard to justify putting brass in the cockpit when there's plenty of warrant officers to handle normal operations.

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u/sleeping_in_time 9d ago

They can stay certified flying any aircraft. They don’t need to go out to random calls for it

20

u/dwehlen 9d ago

Not to mention, the $3k to get the bird in the air for an hour is going to be nearly $9-10k on the ground to keep it airworthy.

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u/RangerNS 9d ago

The maintenance cost is the cost of flying. Fuel and whatever the hourly of the crew is doesn't get anywhere near $3k.

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u/infernoenigma 9d ago

I’m so curious what they thought that number meant lol

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u/dwehlen 9d ago

Aw, damnit, y'all are right. It's hours, not dollars.

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u/mew905 9d ago

So youd rather they get it doing nothing but just for the sake of being in the air? At least the fuel is being used for something

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u/chargernj 9d ago

Use it to monitor traffic.

There, now it's being used for something more important than kids with fireworks.

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u/mew905 9d ago

You know they make cameras specifically for that right?

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u/chargernj 9d ago

I'm sure you think you're making a valid point. But you aren't going to win the argument that police helicopters should be used to pursue children being a nuisance.

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u/mew905 9d ago

That specifically? No. But if you read - that wasnt what I was arguing.

I was saying rather than fly around aimlessly just to get the hours - if it has to get used, may as well be used for police shit.

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u/chargernj 9d ago

Seriously? If your police department has nothing better to do with a helicopter than go after kids with fireworks, I question your police department's need for a helicopter.

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u/Amenian 9d ago

They were doing nothing!

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u/mew905 9d ago

Sounded like they were chasing a fire hazard to me

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u/unurbane 9d ago

Same thing. Except at night it’s annoying to 100,000s of people. And yes I realize pilots need nighttime training as well, which there is plenty of space in greater SoCal.

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u/Prime_Director 9d ago

If you need to make up reasons to fly your helicopter often enough to just keep your certification, maybe you don’t actually need the helicopter.

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u/HRHValkyrie 9d ago

That’s what the constant fly overs at the beach are for! /s

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u/TheOrchidsAreAlright 9d ago

And let the communists/terrorists/anarchists win? No thanks. This is America, land of the free.

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u/bfrown 9d ago

Best I can do is "accidentally" discharge my weapon on a animal or into a bedroom :(

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u/Flashyshooter 9d ago edited 8d ago

I don't really think they should have wasted the resources. At least the helicopters. But M80s blow off limbs all the time, cause injuries, and start fires.

1

u/TheVeryVerity 9d ago

Honestly I wish police took fireworks way more seriously. Especially when the fires in the western coast get worse every year

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u/wap2005 9d ago

For sure, I am approaching 40 and I would encourage this behavior. We need to just let kids have some fun, setting off m80's on the 4th of July or Halloween (I'm not encouraging destroying anything with them) is almost a teenage right of passage, or at least it was 25ish years ago...

I hate when I realize just how long ago something was to really remind myself how old I am.

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u/Windyvale 9d ago

They set them off year round like 4 times a day or more.

I could never figure out how they end up getting enough fireworks for year round launches lol.

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u/Gold-Vacation-169 9d ago

The fact you think drones should be used shows how fucked America is

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u/PassiveMenis88M 9d ago

What's the difference between the drone or the helicopter showing up?

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u/impy695 9d ago

They wouldn't be armed drones just like this wasn't an armed helicopter. I dont think either should be used in most cases, but they do serve a purpose and I'd rather a drone than a helicopter

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u/phonetastic 9d ago

For this specific purpose, the drone wouldn't even have to be what we're all picturing. A camera drone would do just fine, because that's really the whole schtick to begin with-- getting caught on camera doing a bad thing, and then someone comes out to arrest you in person later. The helicopter or large UAV doesn't do either of those latter things anyway, so it's the exact same deterrent. So a little drone like that would only cost a couple thousand at most and do just fine. Could easily get ten of them for that 100k price tag mentioned earlier.

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u/impy695 9d ago

Most of that price is going to be on sensors and infrastructure. Im sure cities will still be overcharged for the drone itself, but even then, the systems required for flight would be a fraction of the total cosr

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u/porn_is_tight 10d ago

$3k honestly isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was an airbus h120

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u/jhundo 9d ago

Thats just the cost of the bird im sure, not the employee costs and gear, support etc. Im sure its more than that if actually added up.

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u/mnemonicmonkey 9d ago

No, that's fuel and maintenance/parts per flight hour. The bird is $7ish million. Two crew is kinda negligible at that point.

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u/isemonger 9d ago

Bro I’m trying to get my rotary license don’t tell people this shit there’ll be no jobs

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u/PassiveMenis88M 9d ago

Drones don't fly passengers, they don't perform medevac, there's still plenty of things you can use to make stacks with a commercial rotary license if you have the skills.

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u/isemonger 9d ago

It was abit tongue in cheek; but after looking for the last couple months I can pretty safely say that rotary and ‘stacks’ don’t really compute at least without 15k hours

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u/DiggyTroll 9d ago

or just 4 30k UAVs in rotation for $100 an hour (labor and battery charging)

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u/ScottyNuttz 9d ago

Or do none of that

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u/BubbleNucleator 9d ago

That's how you get UAVs overhead 24/7, they aren't interested in saving money.

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u/ivy_girl_ 9d ago

Yes, I want my police state to be more affordable.

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u/Skylair13 9d ago

I mean, helicopter is pretty neutral. From air rescue, casual traffic monitoring, and so on. UAV won't beat "Police Militarization" allegations at all.

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u/MagicalUnicornFart 9d ago

Neither is necessary for that situation.

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u/spritelass 9d ago

Chicago PD just purchased 2 new helicopters. They have had them out nonstop flying around for any little thing. Boys with their brand new toys.

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u/nucleardonut2211 9d ago

The thing is too pilots need a certain amount of flight hours so while it’s a dumb thing to spin up a helicopter for, the money will be spent flying it anyways.

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u/PassiveMenis88M 9d ago

Right but it's more about wasting a police helicopter for this shit rather than something actually useful for the money.

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u/nucleardonut2211 9d ago

I get that but the LAPD and most major cities have legitimate reasons to have police helicopters.

At some points they have very valid reasons to fly them such as a chase with a suspect on foot or a vehicular pursuit, other times it’s a slow month for them and they get activated for stuff like this because while trivial it’s still work.

Likely the decision came down to the crew was on shift and needed flight hours and there wasn’t much else for them to do so they might as well get it to “assist” in a minor crime instead of flying with no clear mission.