The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office could be ordering a new helicopter soon with a proposed $6 million allocation in the county executive’s budget. Air One has been flying around the county and the region for 26 years.
“While Air One remains well maintained, the systems and technologies are far too outdated,” County Executive Ryan McMahon said in his budget address to the legislature. “In this capital plan, I'm calling for the authorization of funding to purchase a new state-of-the-art helicopter.”
Sheriff Toby Shelly couldn’t be more pleased. He’s called for Air One’s replacement since he took office nearly three years ago.
“Having that aviation program go into the future, it's not just important to me, it's important to our whole community.”
He said the cost is justified. The helicopter responds to criminal incidents and conducts search and rescue operations.
“A woman's in Clark Reservation. She has her young child with her. She twists, breaks her ankle,” Shelley recalled from a recent incident. “It's one of those nights in August that was in the 40s. Easy to get hypothermia. So, Air One goes up and finds her in no time.”
He said the helicopter also responded to a drowning call in Yates County.
But Air One’s technology is ancient by today’s standards, even if it’s in otherwise solid mechanical condition.
“Our current ship is a good ship. The maintenance has been outstanding. The pilots are awesome,” Shelley said. “But picture what your cell phone looked like in 1998. And that's what we have going on. We're plugging in our modern cell phone into one from 1998.”
Even so, Shelley said there’s high demand for the old helicopter. He said oil companies are on a waiting list and ready to snap it up for about $2 million, a third of the cost of a new one. County lawmakers ultimately approve the budget, and Shelley said he’s optimistic they’re agreeable to replace Air One. Once ordered, it takes about two years to take delivery of the new helicopter.
