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Tampa Police Suspend Pilot For Borrowing the Helicopter

Posted by samzenpus on from the get-to-da-choppa dept.

Usually a boss won't care if his employee takes a company vehicle to run a few errands, but when that vehicle is a helicopter it's a different story. 32-year-old Dave Dennison is accused of taking a police helicopter to drop off a fishing net to a friend last fall. Tampa officials have suspended him for five days without pay following an internal affairs investigation. I wonder if Dave was at least smart enough to fill the tank when he was done?

8 comments

  1. I didn't fill the tank by AhabTheArab · · Score: 1

    I borrowed a helicopter to pick up some 'za once. I didn't pilot it though. It was in Iraq and I hadn't had pizza for months - so worth it.

    1. Re:I didn't fill the tank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you for your service but your attempt at making a cool new shorthand form of "pizza" fails tremendously. It's two extra characters, man. Seriously.

    2. Re:I didn't fill the tank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No joke, when I read that I thought it was totally 'ay.

    3. Re:I didn't fill the tank by NerdyLove · · Score: 1

      It *is* in the official scrabble word list now, as ridiculous as it sounds.

  2. True story... by dargaud · · Score: 1

    Mountain rescue helicopter is seen hovering at length above a biker going slowly up a mountain pass. After inquiries were made, it happened that the pilots had spotted one of their own as the biker, so they flew close by. The biker had his radio with him, so they chatted: "how is it going?", "Fine, but it's too hot", so they decided to fan him for a while... True story.

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    Non-Linux Penguins ?
    1. Re:True story... by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 1

      I think I'd need to see a link for that one. Mountain rescue helicopters are prepped for an emergency, they don't typically do routine patrols. They get a call, they take off, they go. They don't circle around in case the point of rescue is too far for the fuel that they've already used.

      At least, thats how it works here.

    2. Re:True story... by rtfa-troll · · Score: 2

      Mountain rescue helicopters need training time too. Proper training sometimes means doing things aimlessly and relaxedly trying different things as they occur to you. Any rules against trying things will limit that. Sometimes sensibly (e.g. a rule against flying within a couple of meters during training - it's needed in real life, but it's very dangerous to practice properly) but practicing hovering at the right height to create a wind sounds exactly the right thing for mountain rescue pilots to do. Getting an expert spotter to tell you if you are flying at the right height is superb. People need to lighten up.

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  3. donut run by fusiongyro · · Score: 1

    Got nothing on Albuquerque cops. They took the chopper to Krispy Kreme to buy donuts.