AUSTIN (KXAN) — Several local and state agency helicopters circled over Austin and Central Texas during historic flooding Friday, but for much of the day the Austin Police Department’s two choppers remained grounded.
Lt. Kurt Rothert, who is in charge of APD’s two helicopters, said the department’s newer, rescue-capable chopper was down for a major “1,200 hour” service, and it could not be used.
In addition, flooding blocked one pilot from being able to get into work by land. That pilot had to be flown in by helicopter to reach APD’s helicopter base at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, which had flooding and access problems of its own, he said.
“When you only have one there are going to be unavoidable times where it is out of service for maintenance,” Rothert said about APD’s newer, rescue-capable chopper called Air One. “We did everything we could to extend the [maintenance] interval as far as we could.”
Austin experienced historic flooding Friday. More than 14 inches of rain fell at ABIA in a matter of hours, causing major flooding in Onion Creek in Southeast Travis County, among other areas. The flooding closed many roads and low water crossings. From midnight until 2 p.m. Friday, the Austin Fire Department had approximately 478 incidents in the city, of those dispatched calls, there have been at least 14 water rescues, 44 flood assist calls and 10 flood barricade calls.
APD has two helicopters. The newest chopper, which the department received in September of 2013, can conduct rescue missions. APD also has a smaller 2001-model helicopter that can be used for observation, Rothert said.
Rothert said the observation helicopter went airborne around 4 p.m. Friday.
Overall, Rothert said STAR Flight, the Texas Department of Public Safety and National Guard were flying helicopters to assist with rescue and observation.
“As far as I know, there was sufficient aircraft resources to make the rescues,” the lieutenant said.
Mandatory maintenance
The Federal Aviation Administration requires frequent servicing of helicopters. APD is required to do varying levels of service on its choppers for every 100, 600 and 1,200 hours they fly, Rothert said.
The 100-hour services can be quicker, a day or two; however, the 600 and 1,200-hour services can take a week or two, depending on what fixes are necessary, he said.
With the recent round of Bastrop wildfires, APD pushed the helicopter as far as it could before mandatory servicing.
“It is an unavoidable fact that sometimes this is not going to be available,” he said about the chopper.
Halloween floods of 2013
In 2013, when massive floods hit Central Texas, and Onion Creek in particular, APD’s rescue-capable helicopter did not conduct rescue missions.
Rothert said the department had just received the helicopter, and “at that point we had not trained to perform those missions and we did not have a rescue basket.”