Modesto’s plan for police aircraft on hold after fatal crash

The Modesto Police Department’s proposal to spend about $660,000 for a light sport aircraft is on hold after a fatal crash involving the same type of airplane in Tulare County.

Tulare County Sheriff’s Department pilot James Chavez and Deputy Scott Ballantyne were killed Wednesday when their two-seat Flight Design CTLE plane crashed into a mountain near Porterville, according to the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper reported the two had just helped deputies track and apprehend a suspect.

The Sheriff’s Department reported it had used the aircraft since 2011 and it had logged more than 3,000 hours of flight time. A department spokeswoman said Friday that the National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate the crash.

Modesto police Chief Galen Carroll said his department has put its proposal on hold.

“We are obviously going to wait for what comes out of the investigation,” he said. “But we feel very bad for the pilot and the deputy. I feel horrible for them and their families and the other survivors.”

Modesto police officials worked closely with Tulare County Sheriff’s Department officials in researching the proposal to buy a crime-fighting aircraft. Carroll has said he envisioned the plane being in the air about 30 hours a week, patrolling the city, conducting traffic enforcement, helping special operations and tracking crimes in progress.

The plane would be equipped with a spotlight and high-definition camera with long-range scope and night vision that records what it sees. Carroll has said police officers who are pilots and volunteer pilots would fly the plane.

The proposal drew criticism and questions when it came before the City Council in early November because voters had just rejected Measure G, the one-half percent general sales tax increase the city put on the Nov. 3 ballot. Council members decided to have the proposal fully vetted at two committee meetings before having it come back to them. The proposal has since been reviewed at one committee, which endorsed it.

Carroll has said the money for the purchase would come primarily from grants and other funding sources that could not be used to hire officers and a one-time $200,000 refund from the general fund. He has said the aircraft would serve as a “force multiplier” for his department, which has lost more than 20 percent of its officers since 2008.

Flight Design USA, the Connecticut-based importer of the German aircraft, could not be reached for comment Friday.

This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Modesto’s plan for police aircraft on hold after fatal crash."