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Thurston County sheriff outlines plan to operate surplus helicopter with private partner; board asks staff to research donation fund
Summary
Sheriff Terrence briefed the Thurston County commissioners on a surplus training helicopter offered through a federal surplus program and a proposed partnership with Northwest Helicopters to provide pilots, maintenance and equipment; the board directed county staff to research creating a donation fund to accept gifts for an aviation program.
Sheriff Terrence told the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 15 that the Sheriff’s Office has received a surplus training helicopter and is working with Northwest Helicopters to determine whether a locally based aviation program is feasible.
The helicopter, which the sheriff said “was recently flown as recent as last year” and arrived with avionics, a spotlight and other equipment, was provided at no cost by the surplus program; the department paid $10,000 for the installed equipment, the sheriff said. He described a proposed operating arrangement under which Northwest Helicopters would provide pilots and maintenance while the county would provide fuel and some operating costs.
The sheriff said the aircraft would be used for search and rescue, marine response, missing-person searches, pursuit mitigation and other public-safety missions. He described advantages over boats for marine calls and compared endurance and…
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