March 2013 - Police Aviation News

Police Aviation News March 2013 8
NEW MEXICO: The New Mexico State
Police's air wing is getting a special mission
addition, courtesy of an Albuquerque based
aviation management company.
CSI Aviation is donating an SB7L-360A
Seeker surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft
N381GC for use by the state air support
operation. The company no longer needs the
$250,000 aircraft in its demonstrator fleet for
the Seeker.
"The Seeker is too valuable of a resource to
let it remain underutilised," Tommy Dunn, CSI
vice president for marketing and business
development, said in a release about the donation.
"The culture of this company is to give
back to the community and we saw this as an
excellent opportunity to do something for public
safety in New Mexico."
The Australian-designed aircraft has a high,
fixed wing with a rear mounted pusher engine
and high visibility helicopter like cockpit.
The State Police operates an Agusta A109E
helicopter for surveillance and reconnaissance
and most other missions but Dunn believes
the can undertake many of the missions
with the fixed wing at a fraction of the
cost. The State Police also has a Cessna 421
Golden Eagle twin but the plan is to phase it
out.
CSI provides a range of aviation services to corporations and government agencies, including
air charters, aircraft leasing and aircraft purchases. They purchased two Seekers as
demonstration planes for the aerial surveillance market in North America, but found that one
was adequate for its purposes. [CSI]