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Pennsylvania State Police had one of their airplanes up in the sky in the Pittsburgh area today. They were mostly in the northern part of the city, targeting the 55mph PSL roadways.
Lines were 1/4 mile apart, traffic stops began at 75mph (20 over)... I heard a lot in the 76/77 range.
They finished up around noon...it was mostly a morning thing. I know we don't have many Pgh members here but it might be of interest to other people too. :)
Hell yeah! Time to bring out the airplane detector.
They're out again right now and have been for the past hour or so. Different location though, .33 mile distance between lines this time!
People are driving a little bit faster today...there's been a few 82s, 83s, and so on. Still a 55mph zone.
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/y...eedin/zaon.png
Let 'em try ;)
No money for education in PA budget but we can afford to fly these planes around when radar would do the same job with less resourcesQuote:
Originally Posted by krypton2
for real you think the only reason they do use planes is to scare a radar detector users but in reality im sure very few people being pulled over actually own a radar detector.Quote:
Originally Posted by dtraill27No money for education in PA budget but we can afford to fly these planes around when radar would do the same job with less resourcesQuote:
Originally Posted by krypton2
And probably like 75% of detector users are using cobras which I/O can take care ofQuote:
Originally Posted by jpk226for real you think the only reason they do use planes is to scare a radar detector users but in reality im sure very few people being pulled over actually own a radar detector.Quote:
Originally Posted by dtraill27No money for education in PA budget but we can afford to fly these planes around when radar would do the same job with less resourcesQuote:
Originally Posted by krypton2
It's really not that cost prohibitive like people think it is.Quote:
Originally Posted by dtraill27No money for education in PA budget but we can afford to fly these planes around when radar would do the same job with less resourcesQuote:
Originally Posted by krypton2
I made a rather lengthy post back around when I first joined RD.net explaining about the positives and negatives of running airplane enforcement. With the proper planning, in the end doing speed enforcement this way brings in more money than just running radar from the road.
In this second airplane mission there were almost non-stop speeders...the airplane would call out a driver who looked to be going too fast and a trooper would prepare to go after the vehicle once the airplane timed them. I think there was probably 5-6 troopers working from the road in addition to the airplane.
These troopers are probably working overtime details and these airplane speed details only last a few hours...so in the end the overtime for all of the troopers is probably only around $1000, plus the cost of the fuel (which isn't much) and the cost of the airplane... when you're stopping people for 25 over, the fine is $85... to pay for the entire detail you only need to write like 20 citations, and I'm sure with 5-6 troopers on the road there were many more than 20 people stopped and cited...
I have to agree, using a plane is far tougher to beat, even using a CB and hearing police are ahead. The couple I have seen the police usually sit on the side of the road and just wave cars over as they approach them. Many times the airplane is a mile or two back so they got you long before you ever get to where the police are located. PSP use it since they have claimed in the past it is the most efficient way of catching lots of speeders in a short period of time.
When the last time you seen someone flash head lights for two miles after they pass a officer on the side of the road, and when you get a smoky report in the CB, do you slow down miles before hand, most slow right before the mile marker. In PA is hard to spot that plane in the sky with all the trees along side the road and bends in the road, I never heard of a smoky in the sky report in all my driving.
How u pickup the activity?
Scanner?
Best way to detect them is drive a car with a convertible top and look up.
Me? Or in general?Quote:
Originally Posted by nitricacid
I have some...additional knowledge, you could say. But if you know what to listen for then I suppose you could use a scanner...or if you're driving through the area and see 5 trooper cars, it's generally not a regular speed enforcement mission. A targeted speed patrol (using radar) generally consists of 2-3 troopers...when the airplane is used, it's more like 5-6 troopers on the road.
The PSP road cars use OpenSky, which is a radio system (if you can even call it that..) that cannot be monitored with a scanner. The airplanes aren't equipped to use this system, though, so when they do airplane speed enforcement they use a VHF channel solely for that purpose...which could be monitored with a scanner, yes.
Florida Highway Patrol may still be using 154.9200 or they may not. That was the "car-to-car" and "aircraft-to-car" frequency. I still see the aircraft occasionally.
Believe it or not, I did once get a bear in the air report on the CB from a distance of 39 miles. It's remarkable as most truckers in my area don;t bother with bear reports, since traffic around here makes them much less helpful.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maestro
Still, your best bet at beating this is an airplane detector. I would never rely on anything else for this purpose.
[QUOTE=krypton2;879053]Thanks. I have long wondered about this. The troopers down here also use encrypted communications, so most figure a scanner would not be helpful. It appears that there would be a benefit to using a scanner for the VHF traffic, though one would need a Ham Operator license in my state to stay out of serious trouble.Quote:
Originally Posted by nitricacid
I'm getting mine on the 8th ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by switch626
I think I'm starting to see the light on scanners. More stuff to buy, lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by SteadySpeedinI'm getting mine on the 8th ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by switch626
Just keep an ear out for someone calling in a flying bear trap over the CB radio. :cool: