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Palm Bay paragliders sail as the latest craft in crime-fighting
By Anika Myers Palm | Sentinel staff writer
April 25, 2009
In a few weeks, some unfamiliar birds will soar through Palm Bay's skies: Paragliding police officers.
In what may be a first nationwide, the Palm Bay Police Department is launching a paragliding team for special operations.
The Search Operations Aerial Response team — SOAR — will deploy for surveillance, to locate missing vehicles and other property, to photograph crime scenes, to search for missing people and to assess damage after disasters.
The department is convinced the paragliding team will be particularly effective at curbing residential burglaries and the rising number of auto break-ins in the city of 510,000.
The team is the brainchild of Lt. Joe Eakins and Lt. Mark Renkins, recreational paragliders. They pitched the program to Chief William Berger.
"The more we started flying, the more we saw the possible application for this for the department," Eakins said. The two sat down with the chief, who approved of the idea, and later went to Palm Bay's city manager and city council, who also approved.
The department will deploy two gas-powered Dudek paragliders donated by Ray MacMahon Powered Paragliding Equipment in Cocoa Beach. The police department will test the equipment for six to eight months, and it can then purchase the gliders for about $25,000. The aircraft's manufacturer has applied a custom logo on the gliders that will distinguish police gliders from recreational users.
Four officers are training to use the aircraft. They're expected to be ready to deploy in a few weeks.
"One of our biggest crime problems is residential burglaries, and we can use this to fly over some of our residential areas and use it as a prevention method," Eakins said.
The aircraft, which looks like a modern parachute powered by an oversized lawn-mower engine, spans 35 to 40 feet from wingtip to wingtip and sails up to 63 mph. It can fly as low as two inches from the ground and soar thousands of feet in the air.
It's also convenient. It can be transported in the back seat of a patrol car and assembled in about 20 minutes, Eakins said.
But will other law-enforcement agencies sign up to buy their own powered paragliders?
Maybe not.
"Interesting," said Jim Solomons, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, when told about the Palm Bay gliding team. "We're using more conventional aircraft, I guess you could say."
Although it is watching the amount of time it uses them because of the price of fuel, the sheriff's office has an aviation unit that includes helicopters.
The Orlando Police Department, which uses sheriff's office helicopters when necessary, also was unfamiliar with the initiative from its counterpart in Palm Bay.
"It sounds like a good idea. You've got to try everything in this job," OPD spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones said.
Federal Aviation Authority regulations require privately owned ultralight aircraft such as powered paragliders to be used for recreation, according to Scott Adair, owner of Merritt Island-based Time2Fly, which provides powered paragliding training. Adair worked with the police department as it developed its paragliding program.
Palm Bay is thought to be the first municipality to purchase the machines for use in its operations. Eakins suggested that paragliders might be especially useful to agencies with beach search and rescue operations, but to date, those agencies haven't adopted the light aircraft.
Chris Brewster, a spokesman for the United States Lifesaving Association, a group of lifeguards, said he could not recall any lifeguard agencies in the U.S. that used paragliders in water rescue or search operations.
By Anika Myers Palm | Sentinel staff writer
April 25, 2009
In a few weeks, some unfamiliar birds will soar through Palm Bay's skies: Paragliding police officers.
In what may be a first nationwide, the Palm Bay Police Department is launching a paragliding team for special operations.
The Search Operations Aerial Response team — SOAR — will deploy for surveillance, to locate missing vehicles and other property, to photograph crime scenes, to search for missing people and to assess damage after disasters.
The department is convinced the paragliding team will be particularly effective at curbing residential burglaries and the rising number of auto break-ins in the city of 510,000.
The team is the brainchild of Lt. Joe Eakins and Lt. Mark Renkins, recreational paragliders. They pitched the program to Chief William Berger.
"The more we started flying, the more we saw the possible application for this for the department," Eakins said. The two sat down with the chief, who approved of the idea, and later went to Palm Bay's city manager and city council, who also approved.
The department will deploy two gas-powered Dudek paragliders donated by Ray MacMahon Powered Paragliding Equipment in Cocoa Beach. The police department will test the equipment for six to eight months, and it can then purchase the gliders for about $25,000. The aircraft's manufacturer has applied a custom logo on the gliders that will distinguish police gliders from recreational users.
Four officers are training to use the aircraft. They're expected to be ready to deploy in a few weeks.
"One of our biggest crime problems is residential burglaries, and we can use this to fly over some of our residential areas and use it as a prevention method," Eakins said.
The aircraft, which looks like a modern parachute powered by an oversized lawn-mower engine, spans 35 to 40 feet from wingtip to wingtip and sails up to 63 mph. It can fly as low as two inches from the ground and soar thousands of feet in the air.
It's also convenient. It can be transported in the back seat of a patrol car and assembled in about 20 minutes, Eakins said.
But will other law-enforcement agencies sign up to buy their own powered paragliders?
Maybe not.
"Interesting," said Jim Solomons, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, when told about the Palm Bay gliding team. "We're using more conventional aircraft, I guess you could say."
Although it is watching the amount of time it uses them because of the price of fuel, the sheriff's office has an aviation unit that includes helicopters.
The Orlando Police Department, which uses sheriff's office helicopters when necessary, also was unfamiliar with the initiative from its counterpart in Palm Bay.
"It sounds like a good idea. You've got to try everything in this job," OPD spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones said.
Federal Aviation Authority regulations require privately owned ultralight aircraft such as powered paragliders to be used for recreation, according to Scott Adair, owner of Merritt Island-based Time2Fly, which provides powered paragliding training. Adair worked with the police department as it developed its paragliding program.
Palm Bay is thought to be the first municipality to purchase the machines for use in its operations. Eakins suggested that paragliders might be especially useful to agencies with beach search and rescue operations, but to date, those agencies haven't adopted the light aircraft.
Chris Brewster, a spokesman for the United States Lifesaving Association, a group of lifeguards, said he could not recall any lifeguard agencies in the U.S. that used paragliders in water rescue or search operations.
