Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

Contributor

Mark Huber

On Monday, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection AStar "dusted" a group of environment protestors at a Minnesota pipeline, flying as low as 50 feet agl. A video of the incident quickly <a href="https://twitter.com/efrostee/status/1401952522319843329">went viral on Twitter</a> and has once again shed light on law enforcement use of helicopters for crowd control.&nbsp;

 


The images clearly show Airbus AStar N3949A—registered to the Air &amp; Marine Division of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and clearly so marked—flying very low over and next to&nbsp;a group of protestors and generating a substantial dust cloud at the site, an oil pipeline pumping station near Park Rapids. AIN reached out to Air &amp; Marine for comment, but as of press time had not received a reply.&nbsp;

 


Around 1,000 people began arriving at the site early Monday morning in objection to the continued construction of the $3 billion Enbridge Pipeline #3, designed to deliver Canadian heavy crude oil to a terminal in Superior, Wisconsin.&nbsp;

 


Monday’s incident came less than two weeks after the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2021/May/28/2002731290/-1/-1/1/DODIG%20REPORT%20NO.%202021-089..PDF">issued a report</a> critical of low-level flights of Army National Guard helicopters that, including a medevac UH-72A Lakota, dusted protestors in Washington, D.C., last June and the 2018 use of a Pennsylvania State Police Bell 407 to break up a large gathering of rowdy tailgaters before a Penn State football game. The Pennsylvania incident generated sufficient debris to injure people on the ground and triggered an FAA investigation.&nbsp;

 


Low-level flight over persons on the ground is widely accepted as dangerous and not a good practice by helicopter safety experts.&nbsp;Developing standards to use law enforcement helicopters to disperse a protest or control crowds&nbsp;&nbsp;“is not something we would approve,” Don Roby, the training and program manager for the Airborne Public Safety Association (APSA) told AIN.

 


“We would not write a standard to approve something like that due to the danger of it," he said. "We would never write a standard or a policy that would endanger the public. In law enforcement, you’re at altitude and you’re just observing, you’re just reporting to the commanders, downlinking a video or a thermal imager. In that kind of incident management we’re at 800, 1,200 feet—a safe altitude. The aircraft is there to support the ground units in command and control.”

 


However, Roby did note that there are law enforcement agencies accredited for airborne use of force, but that generally involves fast-rope deployment of tactical teams or a dedicated sniper on board the aircraft.&nbsp;

 


In its report on the June 1, 2020 incident in D.C., the DOD IG noted a clear lack of policy with regard to deploying military helicopters in domestic civil disturbances. “We note that no specific training, policies,&nbsp;or&nbsp;procedures were&nbsp;in&nbsp;place for using&nbsp;helicopters to&nbsp;support requests for assistance from civilian authorities in civil disturbances. Although&nbsp;the&nbsp;aircrews were&nbsp;fully&nbsp;trained to&nbsp;fly&nbsp;the&nbsp;helicopters&nbsp;and&nbsp;had read the Rules&nbsp;for&nbsp;the&nbsp;Use of&nbsp;Force&nbsp;(RUF), the&nbsp;rules&nbsp;were&nbsp;tailored to&nbsp;ground&nbsp;operations.&nbsp;Also,&nbsp;the pilots&nbsp;were not&nbsp;trained&nbsp;on integrating&nbsp;and using aviation assets in civil&nbsp;disturbance&nbsp;missions.”&nbsp;

 


Among the IG’s recommendations: integration of aviation assets into existing civil support mission plans; training on the proper use and restrictions on the use of helicopters to support law enforcement; and mission tracking to record requests, reviews, and decisions to approve or deny the use of military helicopters to support law enforcement.&nbsp;&nbsp;

 


The IG noted that there were exigent circumstances with relation to the June 1 incident, including widespread arson and looting and the belief by senior military and government officials that national monuments and the White House were endangered. The D.C. National Guard was thus ordered to “flood the box” with all available military assets.

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

DOD IG Report Critical of 'Dusting' Protestors with Helos

This latest incident fuels the debate on the proper use of law enforcement helicopters. 

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Neelam Mathews

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense.

News and issues concerning general aviation, specifically airplanes and helicopters powered by piston and alternative engines (i.e., non-turbine powered aircraft). Subjects include aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

Nepal’s army and private operators have deployed rotorcraft across the flood zone

Helicopters Play Crucial Role in Himalayan Flood Rescues

Charlotte Bailey

News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

Pentagon permission facilitates sale of Bell 412EXP and 407M

U.S. Approves $800M Bell 407/412 Sale to Iraq Military

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

Fire and disaster management agency to use aircraft in aerial reconnaissance role

Japan Orders Its First H160 for Emergency Response

Flights with two scaled technology demonstrators will inform potential future iterations 

Singaporean eVTOL Conducts Test Campaign In Germany 

Matt Thurber

New developments and products in avionics, specifically about aircraft electronics in the cockpit.

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

More In Rotorcraft

Helicopters Play Crucial Role in Himalayan Flood Rescues

Nepal’s army and private operators have deployed rotorcraft across the flood zone

U.S. Approves $800M Bell 407/412 Sale to Iraq Military

Pentagon permission facilitates sale of Bell 412EXP and 407M

Japan Orders Its First H160 for Emergency Response

Fire and disaster management agency to use aircraft in aerial reconnaissance role

Singaporean eVTOL Conducts Test Campaign In Germany

Flights with two scaled technology demonstrators will inform potential future iterations

FAA Approves TSO for ASU Panoramic Night-vision Goggles

Lightweight white-phosphor NVG have a 94-degree field of view

FAA Floats Special Conditions for Skyryse Fly-by-wire R66

Proposed rule addresses pilot awareness of control limits

Vertical Lift Groups Extend Trade Show Partnership

European Helicopter Association and Vertical Aviation International extended their alliance

Sikorsky Is Upgrading the Black Hawk Helicopter for Evolving Military Needs

Armed forces will be able to outfit Black Hawks with new armament and equipment.

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN