Edmonton's police helicopter program may be grounded

[CougarKing]

Will someone in aviation please clarify why single-engine helicopters even need a runway to take off, as highlighted further down below? So you telling me these types of choppers can't even land at remote helipads such as those on oil rigs or mountain tops?

CBC

Police helicopter program may be grounded
CBC – Thu, 27 Nov, 2014

There will be no more police helicopters speeding over the city to crime scenes in a few years if council decides not to fund a replacement chopper.

Police are asking for $7 million for a new twin-engine helicopter, to replace its aging single-engine choppers.
“It sounds like there’s zero appetite on our council to buy a military grade E135 twin-engine helicopter,” Mayor Don Iveson said.

Coun. Andrew Knack asked his colleagues Thursday to reject the request. The choppers are only used about 15 per cent of the time due to to maintenance and weather conditions, he said.

“When it is (used), it does a phenomenal job and it’s extremely valuable," Knack said. "I just don’t think it’s able to be extremely valuable enough to justify having  another one."

He would like to see the money spent on more ground patrols, and crime prevention.

(...SNIPPED)

Coun. Dave Loken proposed council fund one or two single-engine choppers at a reduced cost of $4 million each.

“In a city that’s growing as much as we are, it’s a tool that’s necessary,” Loken said.  “Some councillors don’t see it that way, they’re purely looking at the cost I guess.”

The single engine choppers need a runway to take off, so they must be kept at the Villeneuve Airport or the Edmonton International Airport, which leads to slower response times.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[SeaKingTacco]

I can think of no reason why they would need a runway.

 

[ModlrMike]

They should look at the Robinson R66 or Bell 206. Both come in at about $1M USD and are widely used by police elsewhere.

 

[The_Falcon]

Some posted this in the CBC comments

Not all helicopters are created equally. Yes, all helicopters have the ability to lift off and land vertically but this does not mean that all can lift their Maximum Gross Weight (aircraft, crew, mission equipment and fuel) out of ground effect, vertically, to clear any obstructions. Many, like the EC120's that the EPS operates, need a running start in order to pick up enough speed in order to fly away like an airplane would. This is called "translational lift", in that the air moving over the rotor disk gives it additional lift much like an airplane wing.
The issue for Urban Patrol Helicopters is noise. If EPS moves to the much louder AS350 helicopter as one counsellor suggests, noise complaints from citizens will go through the roof. The proposed EC135 helicopter has an enclose "Fenestron" tail rotor system that dramatically cuts down on the noise produced, this makes it compatible with flights over urban areas at night, and stealthy in certain conditions. How long would the program survive if dozens of noise complaints were received each night.
How long would the program survive if the lone engine suddenly quit working over a residential neighbourhood. Two engines mean safety, and why shouldn't the officers on board be kept safe while they are keeping you safe

 

[GINge!]

The choppers they had in 2006-2011 were already pretty loud. Every Saturday night, flying circuits over our place in the NE. I wondered if there was that much crime that they were responding to, or if they were just up in the air for patrolling?

 

[Good2Golf]

'Runway' is not the best description. 'suitable approach/take off area(s)' would be a better description. In the Canadian Aviation Regulations, such areas are called FATOs (final approach, take off) and while they may indeed look like a 'runway' to most people, 'Runway' has a very specific connotation in air traffic control operations and aerodrome licensing.

That said, there are several helicopter pilots here who will tell you that two engines is not necessarily better, or safer.  In some cases, even twin-engine helicopters need FATOs to operate in certain flight regimes (all up weights that approach an aircraft's max all up weight). Sikorsky S-76, a popular medevac helo, and earlier versions of which whose two engines for the most part had little capacity to provide much more power than half total power required.  They would require generous areas for landing and takeoff when conducting operations where manoeuvre space around obstacles (buildings, etc...) was less than certain minimum criteria.  I'm not certain, but I understood from friends who have flown that particular aircraft that the S-76's OEI (one engine inoperative) performance was one of the factors that led to Ornge's replacement of it with the AW139.  This OEI performance would be in contrast to a helicopter that in many cases could not only remain hovering out of ground effect (one of the most power intensive manoeuvres for helos), but still carry cargo on its hook, for example (Chinook).

In the end, there are numerous single engine helicopters out the that have a proven reliability level that would support.LE operations, but EPS' operational demands (I don't know this myself) may make such an aircraft either impractical or unacceptable.  On thing is for certain, the cost of maintenance and operations climbs significantly for multi-engine helicopters.

Regards,
G2G