Motorized paragliders could be a viable aerial anti-crime patrol for the PNP. Its cheaper to acquire and operate than the usual police helicopters. For the price of one helicopter, more paragliders can be acquired and deployed - more eyes in the sky, less crime in the city below.



Dudek Paragliders sells police-spec units for US$25,000 a copy, roughly P1,200,000 in our currency. Imagine just 10 PNP paragliders patrolling above Manila and major crimes like kidnapping, carjacking, bank robberies can be immediately tracked from above.

Video of Palm Bay Police Paraglider Unit:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30843984#30843984

Palm Bay Police is the first in the US to operationalize paragliders, the PNP can become the first in Asia and its not impossible - the paragliders relatively much cheaper than other patrol aircraft, so cheap that the this can be purchased by the private sector and donated to the police.

Article about the Palm Bay Police paragliders:

Palm Bay police to patrol sky with paraglider

PALM BAY — For the next six months, four men will suit up and take turns hovering in the skies above Brevard County’s largest city, searching for the lost and looking for the out-of-place.
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They will be part of Palm Bay Police Department’s Operation Soar, a new pilot paragliding program.

The mission: To use the long-established pastime of paragliding to carry out close-ground air searches for missing children or seniors amid the city’s winding canals and heavily wooded areas.

“We’re always pushing the envelope. I just see a lot of law enforcement applications with this,” Palm Bay Police Chief William Berger said.

The ultra-light aircraft, funded with donations and funds from seized assets, also could be deployed for some above-ground patrols in neighborhoods plagued by burglars or other minor crimes, officials said.

“We’ve got a lot of rural areas in a city that’s 100 square miles. This is primarily for search-and-rescue operations,” Berger said.

He said he believes it will be among the first municipal police department in the country to do make use such technology in this way.

It’s an ambitious step for a department already known for its innovation in being among the first to seek an unmanned drone for patrols. That plan — which drew national attention and criticism from some local helicopter pilots — failed to get off the ground after the Federal Aviation Administration stepped in.

But officials at the county’s second-largest police agency don’t believe the motorized paraglider, which will not be flown above 400 feet, won’t run afoul of the federal agency.

The craft, which will be flown for about 45 minutes at a time, also will not be used in pursuits. For that, Palm Bay police still will call on the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office helicopter, officials said.

The $25,000 paraglider — produced by Dudek Paragliders manufacturers in Poland and emblazoned with the police department’s insignia — was donated to the agency by Ray McMahon, a Cocoa Beach distributor who operates Powered Para Gliding.

It will have two gliding shoots, one with a 27-foot wingspan and the other stretching out to 34-feet from tip to tip.

The department used $7,000 in seized drug-related funds to install a bulletproof lined seat, an extra safety chute and a special inflatable vest, officials said.

One key concern was whether someone might fire a gun at the flying officers.

“In law enforcement, there are all types of risks. They could snipe at us while we’re in the patrol cars as has happened in the past,” said Joe Eakins, an administrator in the Palm Bay Police Department who helped oversee the paraglider initiative. “But with the distance and height, we’ll be less apt to be hit.”

No taxpayer funds are being used to operate the program, officials said.

“I’m absolutely delighted, this is exciting for me,” said McMahon, a paragliding enthusiast who has flown with several of the Palm Bay police gliders.

Police administrators also are excited by the prospect of doing flying patrols.

“I’ve been flying this type of light aircraft for a year now. The more we flew, the more applications for law enforcement we saw,” Eakins said. “I equate to police officers being on all-terrain vehicles for beach patrols, mounted horse patrols or having K-9 officers. It just seems like no one else had brought it up.”

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/200904...ONTPAGECAROUSEL

Interesting suggestion sir Boom :thumb:

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Seems good for open places but for Metro Manila, the cops might end up like kites or clay pigeons for crazy folks. :drunk:

oo nga naman...could even be useful in military applications in the countryside

They will be gladly met by these guys

http://pdff.sytes.net/index.php?showtopic=1520

Powered paragliders can go up as high as 5500m/18000ft which is more than enough height to clear the tallest buildings in MM, and even from potshots of snipers.

Note the operating cost of powered paragliders below (192 pesos per hour!)


max all-up weight 80-250 kg (180-550 lbs)
t/o, landing roll 1-5 m (3-16 ft)
range 90-180 km (50-100 nm)
duration 2-5 hrs
ceiling 5500 m (18000 ft) (world record!)
max speed 30-65 kph (16-35 knts)
stall speed around 22 kph (12 knts)
initial cost $7000-$11000 US (inc. training!)
running cost around $4/hr ('whiff of an oily rag')

and loiter time can be greatly increased if the engine is turned off:

http://www.paragliding-tales-and-reviews.c...t-aircraft.html

Some militaries use powered paragliders for insertion of special forces.




Pharoah's air force: An Egyptian military paraglider flies by the Pyramids on the 31st anniversary of the October War, known in Israel as the Yom Kippur war. The conflict ended with Israel returning the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.

Interesting proposition indeed.

Sir Boombanger's idea prompted me to search for other capabilities of PPGs (Powered Paragliders, new learning for me) and found this story http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6666889.stm of a British man who flew his PPG over Mt. Everest which was thought to be impossible.

Which proves that PPGs can be viable for police and military work in the Philippines since our mountains are way much lower than Everest with far better climatic conditions..

PPGs can fly high which male them a hard target for snipers.

Surveillance and patrol for the PNP. Artillery spotting, surveillance, recon, insertion for the Army?

Surf thru the net and found that Florida at present is the only one dead serious on this project.

Here are some discussions about it on a LEO forum

http://forums.officer.com/showthread.php?t=119302

That Florida police department is truly avant garde, really out of the box thinkers willing to push the envelope as they say.

The other PDs in the US are just fence sitting. If this Florida paragliding cops turns out well, expect a scramble from the others.

I believe safety is the concern of some of thess PDs. If you try looking on accidents involving paragliders. One PD tried it with their Officers shot at and there's even one incident a civilian flyer went down after an RC hit the sail.

For Search and rescue this would be okay, but for law enforcement chasing bad guys, that would be another thing.

Another endurance flight using a powered paraglider, this time in Canada and currently ongoing:

http://www.canada.com/Paraglider+starts+cr...6085/story.html

Palm Bay police teething problems on their paraglider program:

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/200905...stuck+on+ground

I believe paragliders are best suited for military special forces and search and rescue than urban police patrol.

Nice concept, the AFP should give it a try :thumb: