[HN Gopher] LAPD Helicopter Tracker with Real-Time Operating Costs
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LAPD Helicopter Tracker with Real-Time Operating Costs
Author : polalavik
Score : 52 points
Date : 2025-11-21 22:11 UTC (48 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (lapdhelicoptertracker.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (lapdhelicoptertracker.com)
| bronco21016 wrote:
| Ad in the bottom left covers the UI when expanding the menu out.
|
| I'm sure it depends on screen resolution etc but I'd love to be
| able to click links to the data sources.
|
| Overall an interesting idea. I'd love to know the data source for
| the cost of the operation of the aircraft. Would be really
| interesting to connect a database of all aircraft types then
| present the ability to watch the cost of like "all American
| Airlines flights currently flying" or "all US military aircraft".
| polalavik wrote:
| sorry probably got covered by the ad - data source is the
| hourly from the city controller
| https://controller.lacity.gov/landings/lapd-helicopters which
| says $2,916 per flight hour
| ripberge wrote:
| As someone who lives in central LA and has them circle my
| neighborhood frequently, actually shaking my house, I think this
| is awesome.
|
| These needs should be filled by drones. Way less noisy, dangerous
| and expensive.
| polalavik wrote:
| why LA is spending thousands/hour when drones exist is crazy.
| tcdent wrote:
| You're talking about technology that's only become realistic
| in the last couple years. Even then, there's probably nothing
| off-the-shelf that would serve the current need.
|
| LAPD has been patrolling with helicopters for _decades_. I
| have yet to see a drone follow a car in high speed pursuit
| down the 5 at 100+ MPH.
| kevin_thibedeau wrote:
| The MQ-8 would be cheaper to operate.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_MQ-8_Fire_Sc
| o...
| robotnikman wrote:
| Pretty sure these can't be bought by municipalities.
| Would make more sense to operate them though.
| digdugdirk wrote:
| On the other hand, I have seen drones chase down F1 cars at
| 100+ MPH...
|
| Realistically though, I agree with your sentiment. Solving
| this would drones would require a constant flock of
| something more akin to Predator drones.
|
| The better question is - why do we allow high speed pursuit
| chases in the first place?
| hatthew wrote:
| [delayed]
| asdff wrote:
| Why do we need to follow a car in a high speed pursuit and
| force it to go 100mph on uncontrolled streets is the better
| question
| monkaiju wrote:
| Idk, having a bunch of government surveillance drones doesn't
| really sound great... Maybe we just don't need this level of
| surveillance at all?
| autoexec wrote:
| It's absolutely worth looking at the ROI on these flights and
| weighing that against the intrusion on our privacy/freedom.
| No doubt they'll always need drones and helicopters but I'd
| be surprised if there was any real need for them to be in the
| air that often. I think that's a question that should be
| asked everywhere but the LAPD in particular are terrible
| enough that it makes this a great place to start.
| DiscourseFan wrote:
| Couldn't someone take out the drones pretty easily?
| autoexec wrote:
| That depends on the drone. There are drones/UAVs that fly so
| high in the air you can't even see them seeing you from the
| ground. Even low flying drones would be very hard to hit from
| a car involved in a high speed chase, and it's not as if
| people can't shoot at helicopters which are both
| larger/easier targets and much more dangerous if brought
| down.
| kylehotchkiss wrote:
| Down in SD at least, the sheriff's office helicopters serve
| many purposes. They'll use them for firefighting, hike rescues
| (often! according to their IG), first responder to an aviation
| accident, loudly shouting garbled messages through their
| loudspeaker, etc.
|
| There's just enough high-speed/timely crime here that I prefer
| they use these over drones. There's some extra legal
| protections built into helicopters that drones don't get, like
| prison time if some idiot points a laser pointer.
| VerifiedReports wrote:
| I seriously doubt that physically rescuing hikers or
| delivering first-responders to plane crashes represent a
| large percentage of LAPD helicopter missions. I live in a
| nice suburb and there's one of them circling over it probably
| weekly.
|
| I don't see why large drones can't do most of what these
| helicopters are doing. They're using needlessly expensive
| helicopters, too.
| asdff wrote:
| LAPD doesn't conduct rescue operations or anything like that.
| Different helicopters are used from different agencies.
| rimbo789 wrote:
| This is the kind of government waste that needs to be
| highlighted. Police forces consume a massively disproportionate
| amount of resources from our cities.
| 0xbadcafebee wrote:
| https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/audit-says-lapds-use...
| On average, the city spent an average of $46.6 million on the
| program, the audit disclosed. It also found that there is limited
| oversight or monitoring of the division, its policies and
| practices and whether the program is in line with the city's
| safety needs. [...] The department has 17 helicopters and
| over 90 employees. [..] The city operates their helicopter fleet
| on a nearly "continuous basis" [..] The total translates to more
| than $2,900 per flight hour. [...] Additional findings in
| the audit disclosed [..] 61% of the flight time was in fact
| dedicated to low-priority incidents like transportation, general
| patrols and ceremonial flights -- like a fly-by at a local golf
| tournament, roundtrip transportation of high-ranking LAPD
| officers between stations and passenger shuttle flights for a
| "Chili Fly-In."
| dsamarin wrote:
| Would using drones nowadays end up being much less expensive but
| with all the same necessary capabilities for police work?
| analog31 wrote:
| What are the necessary capabilities? My city has no helicopters
| or drones. There's a medical chopper that flies over my house
| regularly, but it has an obvious purpose.
| TOMDM wrote:
| Being able to follow a car involved in a hit and run and
| intercept them when they stop without restoring to what could
| be a dangerous police chase.
|
| Aerial surveillance has it's place.
| autoexec wrote:
| > Aerial surveillance has it's place.
|
| It does, but I would be very surprised if the LAPD knew its
| place or cared to keep it there to prevent it from
| wandering into places that are totally unnecessary and
| expensive invasions of our privacy.
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| This doesn't seem to work properly in Mac Safari. The map is
| blank except in a thin stripe at the top.
| nonameiguess wrote:
| My first question was how much of this is labor, and from the
| chart provided at the bottom of the helpful link provided
| elsewhere (https://controller.lacity.gov/landings/lapd-
| helicopters), it appears to be around 60%.
|
| I was wondering because I remember the last time I lived in Los
| Angeles in 2009 I went to a Lakers championship parade and talked
| to one of the cops assigned to crowd control, and asked about it
| when a helicopter flew overhead. She told me it's a great job a
| lot of them try to get because even 20 years ago they were
| starting out at something like $215,000 a year and were not
| expected to have any flight experience. The city just trained up
| regular patrol officers and tripled their pay.
| citizenpaul wrote:
| Roughly a dollar a second which if you are a theater kid you know
| is about $31,536,000 mil a year.
|
| Honestly not that bad considering it provides a real service. I
| mean how much does the city spend on lawsuits against corrupt
| cops and other employees. According to the budget something like
| $300 MILLION on lawsuit payouts last year alone.
|
| Who gives a $hit about the helicopters. Build an app that tracks
| the employees causing these lawsuits that are still keeping their
| jobs.
| BadBadJellyBean wrote:
| I find it interesting that the question is "why don't they use
| drones". My question is: why so much air surveillance? I live in
| Germany. The only times I hear a helicopter is if someone is
| being rescued or if someones missing. I rarely see them at all.
| shoddydoordesk wrote:
| There are high speed police chases (100mph+) in Los Angeles --
| no exaggeration -- on an almost daily basis. Air support is the
| primary defense tool for law enforcement.
|
| It's so bad that the local TV stations have their own choppers
| and a dedicated on-screen UI tailored for the chases with GPS-
| based tracking and speed.
|
| If you're lucky you can catch one of the many YouTube live
| streams. Here's one from....two days ago:
| https://www.youtube.com/live/uGiJU-FlpdE
| stefan_ wrote:
| I mean in most other places people have simply realized that
| unless there is an immediate risk to life, the only thing
| high speed police chases do is _create that very risk_.
|
| Nicely contrasts with all the news about the omnipresent
| license plate scanners - it's just pointless, don't take the
| risk, arrest them at your leisure.
| asdff wrote:
| They get away from time to time from the airship. Two in one
| week this past august and I don't think they ever caught the
| suspects. One drove under an overpass and fled on foot, the
| other entered LAX airspace which requires waiting on
| clearance from ATC and got away somehow after that. I don't
| know why they don't just shoot a magnetic dart at the car
| with a gps tracker on it.
| efnx wrote:
| It would have to be a very special dart. Cars are mostly
| aluminum and foam. A piercing dart would be dangerous and a
| magnet would really work.
| dilippkumar wrote:
| > There are high speed police chases (100mph+) in Los Angeles
| -- no exaggeration -- on an almost daily basis.
|
| How is anyone driving at that speeds in LA traffic?
| asdff wrote:
| They bought them and spent a lot of money on supporting
| infrastructure and are therefore compelled to use them when
| they chase a middle aged drunken homeless man through a
| neighborhood.
| embedding-shape wrote:
| Where in Germany though? Helicopters tend to be more popular to
| use for various purposes in very densely populated places, like
| Hong Kong or New York City, but you don't really see them much
| in rural areas except for emergencies.
| VerifiedReports wrote:
| Looks like there's supposed to be a map, but it only loads the
| very top edge... occasionally redrawn.
|
| Hm, now on reload it shows a whole map... but if you zoom in it
| resets it and zooms out by itself at intervals.
| andy99 wrote:
| Seconded, I thought it was just me
| ninininino wrote:
| This is neat but also has serious implications for criminal
| enablement.
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(page generated 2025-11-21 23:00 UTC)