Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Air Unit: Longline rescue and air support part 2 | EP 369

Welcome back to the Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical HeliCASTS, in partnership with Valor Plus.

On today's episode, we're taking you to California's Central Valley as we visit the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office Air Support Unit. Joining us are Deputy AJ Nikkel and Deputy Tyler Liburdi, who both serve as pilots and tactical flight officers. 

We'll explore the fascinating evolution of their aviation unit—from its beginnings as a volunteer organization to the professional operation it is today. 

We also discuss long-line rescue operations, the training and proficiency required to perform these demanding missions, and the unit's first successful real-world water rescue. Plus, we talk about the importance of providing support from above and the value of working seamlessly with neighboring aviation units. 

We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Thank you to our sponsors CNC Technologies, Onboard Systems Hoist & Winch and Wysong Enterprises.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:17

The Hangers E Podcast welcomes Deputy AJ Nickel and Deputy Tyler Laberdi of Stanslos County Sheriff's Office Air Support.

SPEAKER_04 0:26

We got there, I got the camera on them and could immediately see they're just clinging onto a tree, middle of the river. So you know any moment they could lose their grip. I had a radio with me, but uh once I got in the water, that wasn't working. So it was just hand signals when the pilot put me in the water the first time. The current was way stronger than it looked visually, and it so it just blew me right by him. So kind of reset, reposition, put me back in the water, and I was able to get onto the tree right next to where the two victims were. One of them was in pretty rough shape, so it took a while, just very slow methodically with uh using a horse collar or the rescue strop to get around them, and then we're able to get the first victim out.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Welcome back to the Hanger Seed Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicast in partner with Vertical Valor Plus. On today's episode, we're taking you to California's Central Valley as we visit the Stansaw County Sheriff's Office Air Support Unit. Joining us are Deputy AJ Nickel and Deputy Tyler Laburdi, who both serve as pilots and tactical flight officers. We'll explore the fascinating evolution of their aviation unit from its beginnings as a volunteer organization to the professional operation it is today. We also discuss longline rescue operations, the training and proficiency required to perform these demanding missions, and the unit's first successful real-world water rescue. Plus, we talk about the importance of having support from above and the value of working seamlessly with neighboring aviation units. We hope you enjoy this conversation. Thank you to our sponsors, CNC Technologies, onboard systems hoist and wave, and Wai Song Enterprises.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Welcome to the Hangar D Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicast. The Hangar D Podcast is the first and only podcast dedicated to promoting and exploring the personnel and equipment behind the missions in public safety aviation.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Okay, the guy he's running through the house, jumping the fence, through the shotgun, through something out, grabbing the shotgun. Don't go over that fence, don't go over that fence, grab the shotgun again. He is armed, stay there, hold your position.

SPEAKER_05 2:40

I think a hang up for us was like getting to the the policy and writing the policy and scared to write this and make sure we cover that. And going to somebody like Texas, having somebody that says, Hey, this this is how you want it worded for this reason, this is how you need to set the situation up or the the the unit up to do this, to protect ourselves, and then understanding that the level of training to maintain proficiency is pretty high. So if if you're at an agency that's not super supportive about you training a bunch and running through a lot of ammo, um it might be it might be pretty difficult. We do we do quite a bit of shooting out of the helicopter. If you think about that situation, it's about as dynamic as it's gonna get for an aviation unit. Um you're gonna be under a lot of stress and you wanna know that you're gonna do it right. It's definitely not for every agency. I would say that it's um you gotta kind of weigh the pros and cons, the the risk versus reward there to see if it fits your agency. But for us, it makes a lot of sense. Um, we actually had an incident that kind of sped the process up a little bit. We didn't have the area use of force in place yet, and there was a situation where it would have been necessary to use. Uh so for us it kind of spurred things along well. Um but yeah, I would say just if if you're in an aviation unit and it's something that you're interested in doing, I would say kind of feel out the level of support that you're gonna have for the training aspect of it before you commit to it.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

That is an important point that doesn't come up often.

SPEAKER_03 4:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

A lot of other stuff comes up about this topic, but I love that you brought that up, Tyler, because you're either all in or you shouldn't be in. Right. Because it on aerial use of force. That is the way it is. If you're not if you're gonna say, Oh yeah, we're gonna train for it, we're gonna have annual uh shoot. No. No, you you shouldn't be doing it. It needs to be regular training. We we did it once a month and we changed it to twice a month because that's how we sold it. If you want to approve this and if we're gonna do it, we want to really be proficient at it. Because let's face it, you schedule two training days a month for every month. Yeah, you know, a quarter of those are gonna get weathered out. I mean, you know, with wind or whatever, uh, you know, and so cow, not not a whole lot of other things, but wind. And you know, we knew that, but we dedicated ourselves to twice a month, plus some uh some additional scenario trainings that that came up. And it was for that very reason that that you brought up, Tyler, that you got to be current, proficient, confident, and otherwise you shouldn't be doing it. And the other thing that I've always stressed with aerial use of force is crawl, walk, run. You guys did it right by going to Texas DPS and and seeing that, and seeing that, okay, these guys have have been training for this for a while, not as long as San Bernardino. San Bernardino's been was way ahead of their time in this area, uh, way ahead of everybody else. But they went through the crawl walk run already. So go to them, you know, yeah, and uh and see what they're doing, especially since your TFOs are the ones with the rifle in the back. I mean, that's perfect. Ours were SWAT guys, you know, it takes a little longer. You can't respond as quickly. That's the negative of the SWAT guys. The plus of the SWAT guys is they really shoot good, you know, compared to the average uh you know, I went from canine where I had monthly eight hour, ten hour training days of shooting every month religiously for five years, to air support where it didn't all I had to do was qualify, you know, my handful of times a year. My shooting went downhill dramatically. So that's the benefit uh of having the SWAT guys. But you guys, as DPS has, have dedicated it to the point where you say, well, we can do it because we're gonna let these TFOs shoot a lot. Otherwise, you shouldn't be doing it. I'm so glad that that you brought that up, Tyler. That's that's a really important thing.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

We were talking to Father Time, also known as Tony Weber, uh VAI.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

That's two, that's two today.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

Tony would love you. Uh that was one of the things that we talked about. We were talking about, you know, training for specific mission sets. And he said if if your agency is considering adopting a mission, a new mission, no matter what it is, you know, don't look at just the cost of investing in the mission equipment itself. Look at the cost to support the ongoing training that that will be involved in that. Airborne use of force is huge. Because it's not just the the ammo and the rifles and and that that you're paying for. It's bringing all the part-time TFOs in on those annual, or not annual, but on those training days. So it's increased costs for personnel and everything else. So I agree with you guys, it's a huge point. Make sure that your agency is willing to support that financially and time-wise. You know, a lot of agencies don't want their air unit being tied up in training all the time. Well, sorry, but we gotta be we gotta train to be proficient if you want us to do these things. So it would never fail for us. We'd put ourselves out of service for training and a pursuit would kick off or something would kick off requiring us to leave, and the watch commander would always be yelling for the air unit, you know. So, but it's that's what it costs to do business. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Aerial use of force is high risk, high liability. I mean, that's a given. Even if you do it great, it's high risk, high liability. And so if the department wants it, and they say, okay, that's approved. We want you guys to be able to have that that tool, it's gotta be all in. It it can't be well, okay, it's sir, we'll we'll do that. Uh we're gonna have um once a month or twice a month, and they go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, no, then you shouldn't be doing it. If they're balking at what it's gonna take to do it right, it shouldn't you shouldn't be doing it because somebody's gonna get hurt or somebody's gonna go go to prison. You know, there's it's it's a really uh a challenging topic. You know, it's it's not it's not for everybody, like we said. That's that's a good conversation. So let me ask you, Tyler, you mentioned what was the biggest takeaway from DPS when you were there observing that initial that first time. What what did you walk away with other than the things you talked about, or maybe it is one of those things, that that you walked away and went, wow, we gotta make sure that we do that.

SPEAKER_05 9:16

Honestly, it was just what we're talking about, how big of a deal it is to be allowed to shoot out of your helicopter and how seriously you should take it. Yeah, going to it, I was thinking it was kind of like a lot of other things, like long line, oh, we gotta train it and this and that, but it's kind of its own thing. Um, and it needs to be how how frequently, just like we're saying before, how frequently you have to train it and how seriously you have to take it. I didn't anticipate that going into it. So leaving there, I realized that we kind of need to mentally prepare ourselves to take on that big of a role.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Yeah. Good. We we were just in on the Blades of Valor Tour in Florida, Broward County, when we went to them. We actually met them for the first time in the middle of the Everglades uh at their airborne user force training day. That's where we hooked up with them, and it's out in the middle of nowhere, in the glades. Great place, great place. They had vehicles, buildings, all sorts of stuff. They had moving, moving targets behind a bear cat. I mean, it was very professionally done, and they were qualifying. I mean, they were doing the qualifying runs, and everybody, everybody was doing them. Pilots, TFOs, you know, everybody was was uh getting their quals done. They took it very seriously, and it was we were impressed. Yeah, it was a fun day too, wasn't it, John?

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Yep, yeah. Uh the last point I'll talk about as it relates to Everborne Use DeForest is what you brought up, Jack and Tyler, you did as well. Uh having the the pilot and TFO both qualify, especially for you guys, because you're you're switching roles. But even if you don't, I think the benefit of of having your pilot qualify allows your pilot to understand what position you need to put your shooter into to get a good site acquisition. You know, understanding what you know what the different airspeeds mean as a shooter versus just as you know in the front control in the aircraft.

SPEAKER_04 11:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

So I thought that was huge. Uh we we did that. I I think that was recommended by uh Mike Peck, who who led the the training program that we were part of. But talk about from your guys' perspective that thought and that benefit of of having the pilot and TFO both qualify.

SPEAKER_05 11:19

I think the as the shooter, it feels really good knowing your pilot knows exactly what he's doing, right? And having run through that or kind of rehearsed it over and over hundreds of times, uh knowing he's qualified, he knows exactly where the helicopter needs to be for you to get a shot off. As far as crew resource management goes is great because then I don't have to I don't have to explain to him, hey, we need to be 20 feet higher or 50 feet close or whatever. He knows we've done it so many times, he can shoot that profile over and over and over with his eyes closed. And I'm just in the back to you know get rounds on target. Uh so it the reduction in the communications, having to tell him, hey, slower, faster, whatever, once he's dialed, it's a lot safer, obviously, because we're not talking while we're trying to do other dynamic things. Uh and it uh it's just like anything else, right? It's like a sport, the more you practice it, the better you get at it. So having the pilots have to be qualified to do it, not just assuming because you can fly a helicopter, you can go, you know, shoot these profiles. Because some of them are pretty dynamic.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:26

And trusting your pilot to be able to put you on target uh in in the safest manner possible is important.

unknown 12:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

AJ, you want to add anything to this?

SPEAKER_04 12:36

Uh yeah, I was just gonna I was thinking, you know, if you're shooting on the ground, it's you have the rifle, you're shooting, you're aiming. Where in the helicopter, it's your pilot, you're relying on your pilot to put you in the optimal position and give you the chance to you know put good rounds on target. So he's controlling your your ability essentially to be effective. And another thing for us, I think it's helpful is that all of our pilots also qualify not only as the pilot, but as shooters also. So everybody on our unit can be a shooter, and I think that helps even a little bit more because they they've been the one uh with the rifle understanding what's happening and what what affects your shots and round placement and everything else as well.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Here's here's something that we've John and I've talked about a couple times with people where one of the other benefits of your tactical flight officer being the shooter is uh the is the communication on the navigation as well as where that target is. You you as a SWAT, an experienced SWAT sniper out on that bench, and we had we used the benches. On the scenario training days, there were some challenges there. We're trying to explain to them, you know, I'm the TFO or I'm the I'm the co-pilot in this case, I can see the bad guy. I'm looking at him and and then urban and I'm right or sometimes not so not urban. And I have to explain to that sniper where that guy is. Pilot and TFO, we do that all day long. That's what you do. I'm explaining stuff. Okay, bring it around, partner. I'm at he's right here, you know, one block over, blah, blah, blah. Explaining that to a sniper that's not used to being up all the time, you know, five hours a day, that can be very challenging. Some were good at it, uh, some struggled with it. Whereas the two of you, doesn't matter which one's flying, which one's shooting. You're used to talking about where something is and to pinpoint it. Give us your feedback, talk about that for a second. Tyler, start us off. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_05 14:39

That's actually that's actually part of the reason that we uh made the determination to that the TFOs were going to shoot, because we feel like it's it's easier to teach somebody how to shoot out of the helicopter than it is to teach somebody that can shoot all the helicopter side of the house kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Interesting.

SPEAKER_05 14:56

Um we already know the the safety issues with the rotor blade. We don't want to shoot through the rotor blade, we know where we can and can't shoot. Like you said, we know the lingo, we have the the communication skills already built between you and the pilot. So it's it's easier to get somebody qualified on the rifle than it would be to train somebody with the rifle how to ride in the helicopter and commute communicate.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Interesting. AJ?

SPEAKER_04 15:19

Yeah, I think uh yeah, the communication, like you said, everyone who's behind the rifle is knows how the helicopter feels, how it moves, what it does, how to talk and communicate with each other. And then back to the training aspect. We're we're a unit, we can train with ourselves kind of whenever we need to. Once you start bringing people in from outside, bring the SWAT guys in now, what's their availability? Are they gonna be able to come train with us? And then the response, okay, now we need where are they? Can they respond? How are we gonna pick them up? Where are we gonna meet if we needed to deploy? So all those kind of factored into our decision of I think to keep it in-house and safety and everything was kind of the leading decision there.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Good. Good it's a good fit for you guys. It is for all the reasons you gave. Really is. It's uh it's a smart way of doing it. I think you guys got got into it in the right way too. You know, that very good. This is a good conversation on this.

SPEAKER_03 16:13

When when we launched our program, the the training that we initiated, we had one of our SWAT snipers go through the training with us, and our thought was we'd we'd plug him in when possible. So the thought being, you know, execute a high-risk search warrant or some other pre-planned event, we could bring that sniper with us who's you know obviously very capable behind the rifle. So he went through all the training with us, and the first pre-planned event that he that he flew with us on, he had a really hard time picking the target up, which was in the backyard of a residence. The TFO and the pilot could pick the that target out clear as day, but the sniper had a hard time. And the reason I bring that up is you know, we're used to acquiring our target visually from the helicopter, whereas if you're not used to that, that could be really challenging. We've acquired that ability over a lot of uh a lot of hours, thousands of hours of spinning in circles looking at something that's that's either moving or stationary on the ground. Uh so I think that additional part of it is is a good reason why it's good to have a TFO who's used to you know seeing that visual uh element from the helicopter.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

I've said this a thousand times because I did it a thousand times with ride-alongs cops in the backseat. Hey, where do you live? They give me the address and we take them there and they can't pick out their house. Okay, that that just proves to you that they're not stupid. They're they're experienced coppers, but they're now you know, at about hundreds of feet in the air looking down. It's a completely different visual. You guys know what the first time you went up as a brand new TFO, so do we. It was hard. I mean, it was hard to orient, and some people never got it, but I was amazed at how many people they'd say, say, Well, there's your there's your house. They go, No, that's not it. How many kids do you have? Three. They're all in the backyard waving to you. Oh, there's your wife. No, no, no, no, no. And we I mean, we actually had that happen all the time. So that's a good example of what we're talking about. You know, once you're once you've been an air crew member for a while, man, it's it's a no-brainer, you know. Whereas now you bring somebody up that's on that helicopter occasionally and you're gonna expect them to find somebody in a backyard, it's an it's not really it's an unrealistic expectation. I think um think about and all you have to do is think back to the first month you were in the helicopter as a brand new TFO, all of us. Wow. Could you could you do it the first month? No, not consistently, you know. But now you can because of experience, training, technology, all those things put together. This is really um I'm glad that we went down this path because we haven't talked about it in a while, uh, this topic in a while. And and it was great that um you got the ball rolling there, Tyler, with mentioning that you gotta be all in, you know, you gotta dedicate yourself or you shouldn't be doing it. So wow, time is flying by. Good conversation on aerial use of force. We'll we'll definitely come back to it. But uh let's we gotta get to you guys. We gotta get to you guys and uh um find out more about who we've been talking to for the past hour and a half. Uh AJ, let's let's start with you. All right, let's tell us about yourself. Where where'd you grow up? How do you end up in law enforcement, and then what drew you to the aviation side of law enforcement?

SPEAKER_03 19:42

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SPEAKER_04 20:00

Yeah, so um I was actually born and raised here in Modesto and went to ended up going to college, getting a business degree, but did an internship and realized that desk job just wasn't gonna cut it. Bored out of my mind, can't sit behind a desk all day. Law enforcement had kind of always been in the back of my mind. So I was like, well, I realized this isn't gonna work for me, so let's go give that a shot. Applied to a few spots and Stanus uh was kind of the first one that came through. And so I went to the academy. Um, that was back in 2014. And one of my one of the guys I went to the academy with, so he after being a couple years on, he ended up joining the airsport unit um as a TFO. And then a year or so after they had another opening, um, and so he gave me a call and he's like, hey, uh, you know, we have this opening. I think you know you might be a good fit. You should come out for a ride along and check it out and see if it's something you'd be interested in. So I went and as got in the backseat, was ready to go. As soon as they just started firing up the helicopter, just started the engine. I was like, I was sold. It's like, all right, this is cool. Yep. Oh, and I was like my my wife was with me at the time, and she she looked over, she was like, Yep, he's gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

That's a good story. It's amazing how that happens, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 21:16

Yeah, yeah. Maybe it hadn't like I knew we had an air support unit, hadn't really crossed my mind to like apply or do it or anything really. And luckily he gave me that phone call, and yeah, I was hooked immediately. Applied, was fortunate enough to get selected, and um now been on the unit for about eight years.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

So they stayed to that helicopter there just for for new recruits and they come through and they fire it up.

SPEAKER_04 21:42

Yeah. So yeah, so it's uh yeah, started off as a TFO, and then after a couple years of being a TFO, went and got my uh fixed swing private license. And then I was fortunate enough with timing. We had uh another pilot that was there that had just retired. So that kind of opened the door for me to quickly move through the the training on the pilot side of things. So after being in a TFO a couple years, ended up finishing my certifications for both fixed swing and rotor craft. We're started off. Uh the unit was just a collateral assignment. So it was we'd work Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Sunday, Mondays, and pretty much everyone on the unit would pick a day that was their overtime day. So you either you had a normal shift and you worked Friday and it was all an overtime, every shift. And then when COVID hit, uh, we ended up, they wanted to make sure that air support was kind of during the first the hysteria of it when it very first started. They wanted to separate air support from patrol just to make sure that you know the helicopters and everything would would be available if needed. So that was kind of our foot in the door full time. After that, we went back to patrol for about six months and then we were able to get back in as a full-time unit. So I went back full-time and I've been full-time air support since. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

And you were correct me if I'm wrong, first full-time TFO?

SPEAKER_04 23:02

Yeah, first lucky enough we're full-time TFO, yeah. So nice.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

That's a good thing to have under your belt. The first full-time TFO. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 23:10

Yeah, we started off with just one crew for about like a year and a half or so. We got one crew full-time. I mean, so we we worked Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then our everyone else would cover Mondays and other days um on overtime, and then we're able to work our way into um getting that that second unit there and being seven days a week.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

Nice. That's a good, that's a good, good story to travel through that. Uh, was there any I know you said you were bored at a desk, but what was there any law enforcement influence? Was there something media, TV, relatives, friends? What what what made you say, I don't want to be at this desk, but I'm gonna go that route? Was there something specific?

SPEAKER_04 23:56

Uh no, I wouldn't really say anything specific, just growing up, uh, you know, just seeing uh, you know, seeing police and deputies out and about, just running code three as a kid and seeing it and you know, thinking that was cool. And had a couple of my friends' parents were uh in law enforcement and um just kind of like hearing the stories of what they did and everything going on, just it was kind of always just um was in the back of my mind. But going through school, I was just saying, okay, go to college, get my degree. That was just kind of like autopilot for me. And then when I realized that that just wasn't gonna cut it, I was like, okay, let's let's go back to this other interest and see what it's all about.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

That's cool. That's good. Tyler, same thing. Give us your background.

SPEAKER_05 24:40

Spent most of my life here in California, kind of here here in the valley, lived in Tracy and Mantica and Modesto, and was interested, kind of similar to what AJ was saying, just as a kid growing up, it seemed like law enforcement would be a cool job. I was always interested in it. Uh, I first started trying to get into it in 2008 when the recession hit, and then nobody was hired. So I went and uh worked in the electrical industry actually for uh several years, did some other things, and then people started hiring again. And I applied to a few different places. I applied to uh Stanislaus County and Stockton and Tracy and a few places, and Stanislaus County was the first one to get back to me. So they um they put me through the academy and been here since 2015. So uh and it's been great. I worked patrol, uh did some different assignments, worked the boat unit. I worked with uh AJ uh at in in a contract city uh prior to him going to the airsport unit and uh they had an opening coming up and he actually told me about it. Uh asked me if I was gonna put in for it. I really hadn't thought much about it, but the more I looked into it, I thought that'd be a cool assignment. Um went and put in for it, did the testing and uh got selected and I've loved it ever since. It's been my favorite assignment by far. Oh yeah. A lot of fun. Uh but then um AJ was actually in the pilot succession program when I got selected for the unit. Uh, and he was kind of coming to the end of it. So he's almost done with all of his endorsements. And the uh supervisor of the unit at the time uh hit me up and said, Hey, you know, you're next in line of seniority for the succession program. If you want it, you just have to go get your own private pilot's license. Uh and I never like any other kid, right? I always thought aviation was cool, but I never thought about it seriously as a career, right? Until he said that. I thought I could actually go get a pilot's license. So I went and uh uh maxed out a credit card and paid for a bunch of flight lessons and and then they uh they took over and then they sent me to the commercial school and instrument school for both fixed wing and rotor craft. And it's uh definitely been the best decision I've ever I've ever made. It's been amazing.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

No doubt. No doubt. That's great. Um was uh was again, I'll ask you anything specific where the law enforcement uh you said early on you you wanted to do it, but the the recession hit. What what was the influence back then? Uh was there a person or an event?

SPEAKER_05 27:26

Yeah, I had a friend that was in law enforcement, and I went and did a ride along with him. Yeah. Uh and I loved it. Just being up, uh we were up all night just going to crazy calls and chasing people. And I was like, this is a cool job. I want to do this.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

And I and I will note that good for Stanisloss. Both of you said, Well, I applied a few places, Stanislos got back to me first. Yeah. Well done, Stanislos. Uh that note note to self uh departments that are pokey and slow. That I I mean, John, how many times have you heard that you know over the years where people say, Well, I just was waiting for I applied to three places. The first one called was this department. And it it's funny how often it's the same departments that you hear. And the ones that don't get you are the ones that take forever, you know, and ridiculously slow. I mean, slower than a California vote. I mean, we're talking slow. Um, you know, election counting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But uh yeah, good, good. That's interesting that that happened to both of you at different time frames, you know, uh that uh you both uh got called first. Well done, Stannis loss. They did it right.

SPEAKER_03 28:37

Something you brought up, AJ, that I thought was interesting was how COVID was kind of the launching point for the full-time unit. That's I've always been interested in in what COVID's done both positively and negatively, you know, as it relates to society. That's the first time I've heard, you know, that was the kind of the launching point for a public safety aviation unit. You know, that's pretty cool. Uh I'm I'm sure that the county is beyond happy that they decide to go all in on a full-time unit.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

Yeah, yeah. So they we'd we've been pushing for it for quite a while, but just could never you know get get that decision made to you know get through now, you're taking a body away from patrol and everything else, and just couldn't ever make it quite make it happen. We're collecting all the stats, trying to do everything that we could to show the justification, the need was there. Um and then yeah, COVID hit and with all the OES stuff and everything else and the and the hysteria of it when it all first happened. Uh yeah, they wanted to make sure that uh the air crews and the helicopters would be available if needed to supplies or you know, whatever it might be. And um, so they made a decision to pull us off of patrol. Um, we were quarantined from each other. Uh so each crew, we had two crews. Once one crew finished their work week, then the whole office would get cleaned, and then before the other crew came in and everything else, the whole the whole craziness of it. So thankful I missed all that.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Oh God.

SPEAKER_04 30:09

But yeah, then that that got us there seven days a week, and then patrol started realizing how useful we can be, yeah, um, when it even if it's not the weekend. And so we were there, you know, you never know when crazy stuff's gonna crack off. So we were there seven days a week. People started getting used to us being there, being available, able to call us to go fly this or do that anytime they wanted. And so we there was a brief period where we went back to patrol, but it was with it was kind of with the understanding that once the you know the the next shift change and that cycle starts, that then one crew would be going back full time. Yeah. Um and then once we got that first crew, it's just a matter of time for waiting for staffing and everything else to get the the other two bodies there. Wow. But yeah, luckily it it kicked it off and they got used to us being there and then they didn't want it to go away.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

So a a positive story about COVID, John. You got it. You found one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

It's interesting with command staff, they always talk about justifying, you know, oh, we can't we can't give you a body because you know, patrol numbers are low. But you know, what they fail to realize is that aviation is a for force multiplier. And so while you might be giving one body up, you're getting much more in return because of the service that that are providing. Uh Lieutenant Aaron Kelliher from Chino PD really described that really well in his justification for their airborne public safety program. But yeah, interesting that that that's the kind of the thing that launched your guys' program. Pretty cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

I'm glad you mentioned Aaron. Aaron, if you're listening, we're calling you. You gotta remind me. I mean, Chino, they just launched their their program in the past two months, yeah. I mean, with their Bell 505. And uh Aaron worked hard ten years to get that program off the ground. Uh off the ground. See what I did there? We we gotta get Aaron on here to tell everybody his story. It's incredible. So what this brings me into my next question. Um be because uh you know, support uh from above. Your department's had two sheriffs in a row now that is very air support supportive. I mean, very much so. And and I was telling Tyler before we came on, uh AJ, that I actually texted uh Sheriff Christensen the other day and said, Hey, I'm having a couple of your old guys on here. And uh and I said, Tell me uh g give me something to work with here uh about the air unit in Stanislaus and how important that was to you. And typical Adam, he sent me five paragraphs and and it was just so complimentary uh of the work that was done for all those years and the work that's being done now. He's been gone for a while now, and he's still so proud of that unit. I can't even tell you. And he's genuine. I mean, Adam doesn't blow smoke. And he just said we we realized how important that was early on. And he said, as a share, as the sheriff for that time, I was all in. We we gotta keep this rolling and keep it moving and keep it evolving. And then Sheriff Durst comes in and he just takes it to the next level and keeps that support going in a big way. I want you to both comment on that about how important it is to have the person at the top being supportive of air support and what that means to your unit.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

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SPEAKER_04 34:02

We've been very fortunate. Um, like you said, Sheriff Christensen, Sheriff Jerksy, both super supportive of the AirSport unit. I think they they both realize you know the value that it provides and they they want it to be there and be available. And aside from that, also um they under um they kind of treat us as a regional asset. And you know, because we're we're right in the middle of two CHP bases, Fresno and Auburn. There's not there were for a long time there wasn't very much air support in the valley. And so we we would go on all of our neighboring counties, and it was kind of a no questions asked. If someone calls asking for help, we're gonna go, we're gonna go help them out and respond. And so it's uh it's it's game changer. We're with uh county supervisors as well, getting the funding, um, being able to, you know, acquire that the 407 a few years ago and everything, the county, our administration, everyone is extremely supportive of the unit. And without that, I don't you're you're gonna struggle just the cost, the budget, everything else is it's gonna be hard to keep one going and be effective as well.

unknown 35:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:11

Tyler. Like we were talking about before, Jack, that having uh admin like ours that's so on board with us doing it is a huge deal. I mean, we're the typically aviation units are one of the smallest or small smallest or smaller units in the agency and typically cost more than just about everything else. So having an admin staff that understands the value that the air unit brings it is huge. And we've been very lucky. With the last two sheriffs, they've they've understood that the importance of keeping the the aviation unit intact and uh what we can provide for the county. Yeah. Uh we're not I mean they're they're really good about they don't limit us on flight time, they they let us assist other agencies, so they like not just our agency, but the agencies around us benefiting from the assets.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

No doubt. Uh that's great. I mean, we we chatted before about this, how there are plenty of places in this country where the sheriff changes and the air unit goes away, or it gets uh cut dramatically. So you guys are very fortunate, both Adam and and uh Sheriff Thirsty. I mean, he to have that support and uh and keep you guys going so that there continues to be an evolution. That 407 was a big, big one. I mean, that was a big game changer for you guys, and I was so thrilled to see that happen. That's great. Uh we're gonna talk about um Modesto for a second. Modesto is the largest city in Stanislaus County. You guys covered that for years from the air, your air unit. And then uh not that long ago, Modesto PD uh started an air support program with a fixed wing. And it's they're they're gonna be coming on the podcast very soon here. It's a great story how they how they did that. I want to talk to you guys about the cooperation between the two units. So, Tyler, uh talk about the relationship with uh the fixed wing program at Modesto PD.

SPEAKER_05 37:16

We have a uh good working relationship with those guys. It's a good bunch of dudes over there. Their hangers right next to ours, so we're always walking back and forth and over stealing sodas out of the fridge all the time. So uh it's good. And um the coverage now is is good, right? So there's a lot of times if we're down and we hear them landing for fuel, we'll jump in the helicopter and go up. So we're trying to keep we work to keep an aircraft burning fuel at some point during the day, right? So we're not there's overlap between us and them. Uh and we jump on each other's calls all the time. We don't uh we don't hesitate to help each other. So if I hear that they're getting hammered in their city and and calls are coming out and they're on a something priority, we'll go take calls for them and they do the same for us. So it's been it's been really good to have them up. I think I mentioned to you before that there's been a couple uh instances where we're chasing a car, they're chasing a car, and the other airship isn't doing anything, and they want to get in on the action. So you got two aircraft chasing one vehicle, so you get whoever comes out of that car and leg bails, you got a pretty high probability of of taking them to jail.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

So very high probability. That's great. That's good. AJ, anything to add to that uh relationship and cooperation between the two units?

SPEAKER_04 38:30

It's been a great addition um for our area as well. And you know, like Tyler mentioned, if we're on the ground and a call comes out, it might be a sheriff's office call, they can they can go get on scene first pretty quick, and then we can go relieve them and let that air support, you know, that coverage is there quick. They're not having to wait uh for our response time if they're already up and vice versa. And I can mention handling calls for each other. We don't we we're listening to their radio, we're listening to our radio, multiple radios, and we won't really discriminate on whose call is whose. If we hear a call that's worth going to, we're gonna go, um, yeah, whether it's sheriff's office or not. And they they act the same way as well. So it's yeah, it's only been beneficial to everyone having multiple units up, more coverage. Yeah, and the pursuits are huge as well. If you know we're in the helicopter and we're getting low on fuel and they can take over in the fixed wing, or vice versa. They could be you know coming to the end of their flight and we can go help take over. Like it's it's uh it's only only beneficial, and yeah, it's great to have them right next door. So it uh get to work together pretty well.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

That's important. That's so important. I think most units do that, but not all. We've heard some stories over the years of units that don't have that cooperation and and uh relationship. That's cool that you're next to each other. That doesn't that way you can grab your stickers and put it on their aircraft. You don't have to walk real far. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_05 39:56

That's never that's never happened, Jack. I don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

John John was thinking that as soon as as soon as you guys said, Oh, they're right next door in the hanger next door. John's going, oh, stickers. Yeah. They probably put stickers that you just walk over there.

SPEAKER_05 40:07

We've never stuck stickers on.

SPEAKER_02 40:10

I'm sure they've never done that to you. Oh my god, we live over there.

SPEAKER_03 40:16

Uh the pranks that happen. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 40:19

And that the time's flying by, man. We're talking about modesto, and uh, they're you know, like I said, they're gonna be coming on. And uh AJ, you'll be shocked to know that I know the following Modesto, water, wealth, contentment, and health. I've known that phrase since November of 1983 because one of my classmates, you who I think you probably know, Pete, uh also known as Van Diemen, uh my entire academy class knew that phrase because we and we hammered him about it all the time. He said it one day, and we said, Oh, we're never gonna let you forget that. He'd get done speaking on anything, and we'd go, water, wealth, contentment, and health. Um the art. The art. So that's my connection to Modesto. So nailed it. Yeah, yeah. Tyler, most impactful incident as a member of Air Support. And by the way, I always add this impactful is defined by you. It's gonna be an incident that you take to you to your dying day and you'll remember it uh in air support.

SPEAKER_05 41:29

There's a few calls that kind of popped the front of my mind. There's one specifically, it was um victim calls in saying that her ex is breaking in the house and he's armed with a gun. Um, we were airborne and we headed that direction. That's in the south part of the county, so it's a considerable flight to get out there. By the time we got there, they had already left. Her child was still there, uh juvenile was still in the house, said that she was taken by I don't know if it was the child's father or just an ex-boyfriend or whatever, but he took her. And they didn't know where he went. But where's position in the county is no surpr it's not surprising. It's flat out there, and there's only like two or three main ways to get out there. So from where we were over the call, I just pointed the camera south because we came from the north. Uh, we came southbound up to the call. I I pointed the camera to the south and I picked up uh heat signature running between the orchards. I could see it flashing between the orchards. So I knew this car, you could tell it was moving pretty good and it was putting off a lot of heat, so it was working pretty hard. So I just had the pilot head that direction. Got close enough, identified the car as possibly a suspect's vehicle. We're under IR, so you can't, you know, absolutely identify it, but it matched. So I start getting units going that way, and the guy is working his way to our South County line. He almost makes it to the South California line. He comes to uh a bridge where they had these big concrete barriers up. The bridge was closed due to the flooding, and uh stops, gets out of the car, snatches her out of the car and starts dragging her across the bridge. And I remember thinking afterwards, like if we hadn't found the car, identified where he was going, what was he planning on doing with this woman after he got out of the car and going across the bridge? We were able fortunately, we were able to get units there, got him in custody, nobody was injured. Bad guy went to jail, so it all ended well. But that one stuck with me because it's the understanding that us being on scene and being able to get the cops to where the bad guy was doing the bad thing at the right time worked out great.

SPEAKER_02 43:43

How far how far do you think you were when you first got that glimpse in the of the heat source at the orchard? Probably ten miles, twelve miles.

SPEAKER_05 43:51

Oh so we were it was just a it was just a black dot, a heat source, black dot. So he was already he had been gone for several minutes by the time that we arrived on scene.

SPEAKER_02 44:03

That is awesome. That is really cool. Uh outstanding, Tyler. Well done.

unknown 44:13

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 44:13

It's it's horrible at times for us to quantify the value of of an aviation program. Yeah. But that that that incident you just talked about, I I think it'd be hard to argue that it wasn't a life saving incident. Yeah. You know, had had aviation not been involved, if you were relying just on ground ground you know patrol patrol officers to respond out there, the pat their response would have taken a long time and the suspect wouldn't have been in the location that they were looking for. It would have been, you know, assuming that he was going over the bridge with malintent, which I'm sure he wasn't going there to to do something nice. It would have been a recovery at some point days later. You know, but but the fact that you guys were airborne, which is a huge part of of that by itself, picked up the target, worked the ground units, coordinated everything, gosh, that that sh highlights the value of an aviation program. It does. In ways that many can't talk about. You know, so kudos to you guys.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

Let me ask you this, Tyler, another follow-up how far was the suspect when you first saw that blip going through the orchards, how far was that from the original location of the call?

SPEAKER_05 45:22

So we were we were about we were on scene over the house. So he he had made it about 10 miles from the house.

SPEAKER_02 45:30

That's see yeah I mean you're seeing him from 10 miles and the fact that he was already 10 miles away goes back to what John just said. How is Patrol going to find him? There the answer is luck. The answer is you can do anything and it's just luck. And whereas with technology from the air it's not luck. You go okay it's been a while since he left I'm going to scan out here. There's only a limited area it's flat I can work this yeah bam there's something and it leads to the arrest oh that is that is that it just got even better uh the fact that he was that far away from the the house because we all know cops show up you know robbery just occurred and everybody shows up to where the robbery was it's like well the one place we know he isn't is where you guys all pulled up from you know here. I mean let's start out here and and uh people go they drive fast when they leave crime scenes and they're gonna get far far away 10 miles.

SPEAKER_04 46:31

I mean fantastic great job Tyler great job AJ most impactful incident in air support go for it I was initially going to say the uh the water rescue that we had already um talked about but uh another one that comes to mind it's the coldest the coldest yeah exactly the coldest yeah I think I uh I think for that our pilot snapped a picture of me afterwards when we landed and I'm in my soaking wet flight suit so I'll make sure to send that one to you guys. Oh please do soaking wet please do I got back to the hangar I probably dumped out about a gallon of water out of my leather boots.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

Oh that's great.

SPEAKER_04 47:08

But another one that comes to mind is it started off as just a another motorcycle pursuit. Started in locally in Turlock um ended up going all the way down 99 into Merced around the city of Merced for a while uh which is about see about a 20 minute flight uh some miles and trying probably like 50 miles or so down 99 down to Merced then all the way back up into our area and then it started going out west out towards uh Patterson and the mountains that um where we border with Santa Clara County and by this point we were pretty much empty on fuel and so we ended up headed back to the airport um hot fueling and getting back up there but before we were able to get back he had been weaving through it's uh Del Porto Canyon Road and it's I think it's a highway 160 and it dumps you off um on the other side of the mountains like in Santa Clara County and I think one way you can go up into Livermore. CHV had lost him at that point so we were up there we're just looking checking the roads you know it's at this point I think it was like 4 a.m no other cars on the road we're just not seeing taillights anywhere we probably searched for another 30 45 minutes just checking everywhere seeing if he pulled off to the side of the road or anything and we can't find them. We finally we just we go UTL TLC HP they're like yeah we can't find him either we're everyone's getting ready to just kind of drive back down the mountain back into the valley. And we're flying back and I just as we're flying back I'm just kind of scanning the road back as we go and I saw the little little tiny glimmer something that just looked off and I was like huh and I didn't say anything to the pilot yet but I kind of just zoomed in with the camera a little bit and then he kind of noticed that something caught my attention. So then he makes a hard left turn and sure enough on one of the hairpin turns um on that canyon road he had just gone right off the side and he was maybe 15 20 feet kind of and probably 15 feet like off the road down an embankment and trapped under his motorcycle. CHP had multiple units that had driven right by him going up there searching and no he's down the embankment no one could see him and so just kind of wondering like what would have happened if we never found him he's pinned under his motorcycle injured it was 4 a.m like he he would have been there all night would anyone ever have found him would he have able to get get up um you know just kind of what what would have happened if we didn't happen to find him down there. Yeah. And that coupled with the two hour long pursuit that preceded it and then to cap it off of that it's uh it always kind of stands out as one for me.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

Thank you to our sponsor Weissong Enterprises. Weissong Enterprises offers specialty rotorcraft completion facility focusing on solutions and installs for customers in various industries including EMS law enforcement energy utility forestry tourism security and corporate applications across major OEM platforms visit us at weissongusa.com that's a good one that's a really good one again life saving probably probably you're trapped under a motorcycle and you're nobody finds you maybe they don't find you even the next day I mean right I mean nobody's looking for them right it could have been a long time so that's that's a good one and again technology and it would have been easy for you to stow the hand controller sit back and say take take me home partner and sit back and fly back to the hangar.

SPEAKER_02 50:51

No you didn't do that you were you were scanning yeah especially especially at the end of a long pursuit right you're mensally tired uh two hour flight you're you're you're ready to go home and and and de stress you know but you stayed engaged that's that's cool that is really good two good ones man those are saving lives save the life of of that that woman for sure and save the life of of a bad guy I might add you know uh people just don't realize what what we do you know the the average the average citizen uh just has no idea what how much great life saving work is done in many different ways it doesn't have to be plucking somebody out of a river to save a life it can be other things on the law enforcement side I mean it's it's one of the reasons John created this podcast because he recognized that these stories aren't being told I mean the people just don't realize what law enforcement aviation does and the benefits of it. And so that's been a big goal and hopefully we're we're uh continuing to succeed at sharing those stories. Two great stories no doubt yeah but in the in the couple minutes we have left let's let's talk about two two things real quick the future of air support as Stan Sloss County Tyler why don't you run with that first and uh what what do you what do you think what is there something on the horizon that maybe you want to share or what what what's if if you were the king for the day what it would be what however you want to approach that but what does the future look like?

SPEAKER_05 52:27

Oh man if I was king for a day we'd have we'd have a whole fleet of 407 stuff yeah maybe um we'll be thrilled with that by the way man Jack I think uh I think our air unit is in a good spot and I see us going in good places so I think we're we're more driven uh we have got a really good group of very dedicated driven guys even the overtime guys when they have a chance to come in they show up ready to give 100% um they're all go getters we're we're training more than we have ever trained I think we're doing things safer than we've ever done it so I see I see the unit going in a great direction. I feel like we're just getting better and better.

SPEAKER_04 53:03

Good AJ I agree with uh everything Tyler just said I wouldn't say there's anything that's actually on the horizon or in the works for things but you know maybe work towards eventually replacing the the 78 long ranger with another 407 so that way when one's down we have the exact same capabilities um I think that would be the next big um game changer for us. Yeah but that's obviously that a lot of money and everything goes into that so but hopefully you know a few years down the road we can something can get into the works. But yeah I think we're we're in a good spot we're in a moving in a good direction and I don't really see anyone getting too complacent. And so it's uh it's everything's going good.

SPEAKER_02 53:47

Good. Well that's a that's a good goal. That's what I thought you would say. You know get that second 407 that'd be great uh no doubt about it. And it sounds to me like you guys are doing a wide variety of such good work that it's gonna come. It's gonna come you keep documenting what you're doing you keep getting the word out social media you know you guys do that you know getting that word out and getting that support and you got a good sheriff you know we'll see what happens but we're we'll wish the best for you on that. AJ I'll go back to you for this final thing and Tyler you can add to the anything you want to tell us about this too. There's an air support association that that you listed on uh some information that you sent me and it's a 501c3 that that supplements some funding for training and things for your unit. Tell us about that association and what it does for your unit how it enhances you guys.

SPEAKER_04 54:42

Mm-hmm yeah I think so when it it first started it was definitely as you know an enhancement for training equipment and everything you know when budgets are tighter not full time you're trying to get by initially starting now we're very fortunate like we've talked about already the support that we have we have a great budget we have state of the art equipment now we're able to utilize the that 501c3 to help give back to the community. Nice so we work quite a bit with our canine association um and one of the big things we do every year is the a toy drive near Christmas and we'll fly Santa in and you know deliver presents to kids and go around um with the canine association and other department members to the crisis homes and deliver presents and everything during the holidays. So that's one of the one of the main bigger things that we do with the association now.

SPEAKER_02 55:36

Very nice. Tyler anything to add on that association benefits for your unit?

SPEAKER_05 55:41

I guess if anybody wants to see it they can find that SC SD Air Sport right Nicole?

SPEAKER_04 55:48

Yeah on Instagram or air101.org air101.org yep nice um but yeah and we're and with that we're able to have uh like you said social media and repost through use it as our association and uh with approval obviously we're able to make you know the videos and kind of showcase the work that we're doing on the unit and do that on there and um highlight videos, rescues, um other things that are going on so it helps just the interaction with the community they get to see what we're doing, you know what even just what the camera looks like the flare camera and all that and um it's a it's a good asset to have.

SPEAKER_02 56:25

John, you want to follow up on that topic and you love this topic and I know and you always keen in on that no heck yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:33

I I met you guys a couple years ago at one of the AppsCon uh events and and I've been following you guys ever since. Your guys' social media presence is great. You know we talk about the the value that social media brings whether it's community engagement, transparency, internal, external recruiting uh, or marketing uh you guys have done a good job of that you know and I think it's really important for agencies to to look at what you guys have done and try and model that for for what they're doing. The 501c3 is interesting too that was something that that I was trying to get accomplished and implemented at my unit and they're still trying to do that. It's no uh easy task it's a lot of work but the benefits that come from that are huge. You know there's a lot of goals that we had in developing that and getting that status uh allows you a a lot of unique opportunities like what you guys are doing with for the community. So whether it's through social media you guys are recruiting the next generation of of you know police officers, TFOs and pilots through that or whether it's through the the toy drive and and you guys showing up and being a part of that it's really cool to see you guys engaged in the community. As we talk about uh some of the obstacles that a lot of agencies face when it comes to the uh successful funding of the program uh part of it's political and part of it's monetary that you guys have been able to tackle the the political side you know through all these different avenues which is really cool. You know these all play a big role in in uh the community's desire and and and willingness to support a program like this as if it you tomorrow got a new sheriff uh and they said well I don't know if I want to have an air support unit I'm pretty sure you had a long line of folks you know from from the county and from the the you know the overall citizen group within within your area of operation that would say otherwise you know so you guys have done a really good job with that.

SPEAKER_02 58:24

That's important. That's important. An example John we were talking about him earlier Sonoma Henry won they've gone they've had periods where there was discussions among the county officials to uh this is too expensive and the public came out of the woodwork to support them they would line up people that whose lives were actually saved and they would come to the commissioner county commissioners meetings and say I'd be wouldn't be here if it weren't for Henry one and I mean it was amazing all the great work they were doing and they still had to battle a couple times. So it it goes back to you know always selling yourself and and and showing people what you're doing so that if that day comes where somebody says uh we're gonna do this or cut that you can show them what you what you've been doing and how do you argue with that you know uh when you're saving lives you can't put money on that so great points.

SPEAKER_03 59:26

Jack and I will we'll be running uh a short class talking about social media and internal and external marketing and if you know definitely utilize and promote your guys's social media content as as part of that. You guys have done a good job.

SPEAKER_04 59:39

Very good. Well thank you. Yeah it's uh we got we're lucky that we have a lot of good community support and we don't hear too many negative things. Um everyone loves the helicopter and I think like you mentioned the social media and be able to see what we're doing is a big part of that.

SPEAKER_03 59:55

Dogs and helicopters dogs and helicopters yeah that's all right well John uh any closing thoughts so when we talk to you guys what you guys remind me of is is uh kind of like Nashville PD you know Nashville uh came into existence long time ago and have gradually improved their their operation to where they've become an essential part of of their department's operations and it seems through talking to you guys you guys are now an essential part of the operations of of your county uh at least as it relates to to law enforcement and and search and rescue and that's been done you know while the existence or the program's been in existence for a while you guys in six years of a full-time program have done a lot so I'm excited to see you guys develop you talk about what's in store for the future of of your agency based on what we're talking about today it seems like uh the the political willingness to spend money on additional aircraft and resources for you guys is going to be there because of the result the product that you guys that you guys make a lot of agencies are getting away from the flying club mentality but you still talk to them they're still out there you know but you guys are not that flying or that agency that sits back and and just watches things you guys actually make things happen so uh kudos to you guys uh it's been uh an honor to talk to you guys thanks for taking a couple hours out of your day to to talk to us and and share your stories and insights it's been really cool yeah thank you for having us it's uh been a good time and yeah it's just thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:22

Well I'll I'll just close this out here and and say uh here here's another example John of a small unit making a big difference in their community and the last time that we really stressed that guess who Henry won. You know it it's that's a s another small unit making huge differences. So keep up the great work. I this is this is wonderful. We love we love talking to to these the units like yours that that keep doing great work. They don't have this huge fleet they don't need it. They they're they're getting the job done with what they got and they're dedicated they're professional and they're hard working and uh the community is seeing the benefit and the sheriff is seeing the benefit. So great great job uh and I want to thank you too for both being on I got to thank Kyle Christensen too. Kyle was my first text I said we got to get a hold of Stanislos and see we can get a crew and so I got uh Kyle's uh number and texted him said hey get this ball rolling and he referred me to your sergeants who referred me to you guys well he gave me four names you guys had the cage match to decide who was got in you guys won and we want video of the chokeout but I'm so glad that it all worked out but thanks Kyle and thanks to your supervision for for cooperating with us to uh to get the both of you on the podcast to share your stories and share your unit story and we're thrilled to profile it and share it with all of our followers and listeners and people that watch. Tyler AJ thank you thank you for your time and uh keep up the great work. Thank you guys I appreciate you that thank you John it was fun and like I said we're gonna follow up with the Modesto PD in the near future uh which is which will just dovetail onto what we've started here with Stanislaus and in the meantime uh we've we're keeping at it we we appreciate everybody that's listening and supporting us MHM Publishing uh for everything they do uh for us all of our sponsors all of our listeners we really appreciate it keep keep watching and listening and and commenting and and giving us a thumbs up and a share and we appreciate it. So uh with that we want every all of you out there to stay safe and we will catch you the next time on the Hanger Z Podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:51

Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Hanger Z Podcast. Don't forget to like and subscribe to hear more stories that promote the personnel equipment behind the missions of public safety aviation. Lastly stand by for a message after work from our sponsors cheers.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:05

Thank you to our sponsor Whiteong Enterprises Wipstong Enterprises offers specialty rotorcraft completion facilities focusing on solutions and installs for customers in various industries including EMS law enforcement energy utility forestry tourism security and corporate applications across major OEM platforms. Visit us at WipongUSA.com take to our spotter CST Technologies CNC Technologies serving law enforcement government and military markets with tailored solutions system training and live 247 support with cnc.live platform explore more at cnttechnologies.com with your mission is taking live reserves and high value assets onboard systems hoist is great post test features such as two point payout reduce the potential for hoist to do points and overall safety for more information go to hoist dashwin.onboardsystems dot com thank you for joining us on this episode of the Hanger Z podcast we hope you enjoyed learning more about the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office Air Support Unit from deputies AJ Nickel and Tyler Laburdi.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:21

It was great hearing the history of the unit the unique paths that brought each of them into aviation and especially the story of their first successful long line rescue and the valuable lessons they took away from that experience. Thank you for the continued support to our listeners and our sponsors be sure to follow the Hangers E podcast on social media for the latest news in law enforcement aviation stay safe and we'll catch you the next time on the Hanger's E Podcast