Indian River County Sheriff's Office

The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit began utilizing helicopters in 1996 starting out with 2 Army surplus OH-58 helicopters. Currently the Aviation Unit is operating the 2 original OH-58 helicopters and 2 TH-67 helicopters. The helicopters are outfitted with latest sensor equipment to include FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) Star SAFIRE 380-HDC, CHURCHILL moving map system, Troll Downlink system, Technisonic multiband P25 airborne transceiver and Garmin / Aspen avionics package. All pilots are also equipped with white phosphor night vision goggles.

Equipment
The FLIR system gives the tactical flight officer the ability to detect heat signatures which assist in the locating of hidden suspects and or missing persons. The Troll Downlink system allows video being taken by the helicopter to be streamed to a command post so supervisors and incident commanders can view the video in real time.

The Aviation Unit is housed in a newly built state of the art hangar facility located on Sheriff’s Office property. The Aviation Unit is staffed with 4 pilots as well as 2 full time aviation mechanics and is capable of daytime as well as nighttime operations. The Aviation Unit assists road patrol deputies in a variety of calls for service such as robberies, burglaries, vehicle pursuits and missing persons. The Aviation Unit also responds to marine emergency calls such as overturned vessels in the Sebastian Inlet as well as in the Intercoastal Waterway. Deputies who are interested in a career path as either a pilot or a tactical flight officer are able to come out on specified training days with the Aviation Unit to become more familiar with the helicopters as well as the equipment onboard.

Supported Manufacturers

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