The InBox: Small plane circling North Portland?
UPDATE: 9.21.09
We are confirming the details at this time: many of these flights do appear to be Portland Police Bureau Air Support flights. In general these types of flights are used to observe suspects before sting operations and forcible entry arrests, to track fugitives, observe neighborhoods for serial crimes such as robberies, etc. PPB does have heat-sensing vision equipment, so night flights would make sense. These practices are common to police departments across the country. There does not, at this time, appear to be anything specific to North Portland about the Air Support program. In the view of the reporter and this editor there may be some information that should not be released immediately to the public in the event it were to jeopardize active operations or public safety. However, the pattern we are seeing at the moment does not appear to be out of the ordinary. We will continue to look into the matter.
-Cornelius Swart
PUBLISHER'S BLOG ~ Cornelius Swart
Not really sure if this is news or if it falls into the paranoid "I think the moon is following me" category ... but we received this question recently.
NOT ACTUAL PHOTO OF PLANE (RIGHT)
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [General inquiries] Small plane circling North Portland
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:14:14 -0500
just curious if you guys have noticed the small cesna plane circling N/NE
portland for the last 2 months. Was curious if you had insight to it as i see it all the time?
maybe you have not noticed, it is pretty high up and is close to the N/NE
border take care
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I do believe PDX changes its landing patterns in the summer. For one, small aircraft usually scrape in over the rooftops of inner N/NE all season ... anyone?
Comments
Just a thought...
by Sentinel Reader/User | Thu, 10/08/2009 - 6:36pmCould the low-flying police plane have anything to do with the fact that the show COPS has been taping in Portland over the last several weeks as well? Coincidence or conspiracy? ;P
Since this plane has been
by Sentinel Reader/User | Fri, 10/09/2009 - 5:25pmSince this plane has been doing this for literally YEARS I don't think it has anything to do with the recent filming, no.
Plane circling University Park
by Sentinel Reader/User | Fri, 10/02/2009 - 1:44pmI noticed the posting by the Kenton resident. I live in University Park and heard the plane circling the area for well over an hour starting around 11:30 PM or midnight on Thursday night 10/1. At times it sounded very low and every time I thought it left it circled back again. How do we confirm if this is police? It would be nice if they did this during waking hours because I can't sleep through it.
Thanks!
prior flights were confirmed by police as 'air support'
by Cornelius Swart | Fri, 10/02/2009 - 4:06pmPolice spokesperson Mary Wheat stated that the planes would not be operating in the area (see comment string below)
plane persists despite police promise?
by Cornelius Swart | Fri, 10/02/2009 - 12:31pmRecieved in the News Desk inbox at info@portlandsentinel.com
"Early this morning (10/2) there was a single engine plane circling repeatedly over the Kenton neighborhood. It must have made around 2 dozen passes from around 3 to 4 am. Just wanted to see if you knew anything about it.
Thanks."
plane- police equipment used for....
by Sentinel News Service | Mon, 09/21/2009 - 12:04pmSentinel News Service
Posting was updated at noon - 9.21.09 see above
plane saga continues...
by Sentinel News Service | Sun, 09/20/2009 - 6:48pmyet another dispatch from North Portland, this time from our neighbor and professed Sentinel fan Marie:
Hello: I just read the Sept issue.....sometime towards the end of last month, I also was awakened in the wee hours (2 or 3 am-ish) by a persistent throbbing motor sound which waxed and waned, ie seemed to be circling as a police helicopter might do. My room is on the east side of the house; out the front door (west-facing) I could hear, then see a small plane, fixed-wing, not a helicopter as expected. It circled so I could see it on its south-easternmost points of the circle.....definitely a small fixed-wing plane, circling from west of NE 30th near Lombard toward the east and then north, towards the I-5, then looping back to this side.
In retrospect, it was weird, in that the police generally do their hunting with helicopters. This was a solitary incident; but now that I'm aware, I will actually call the police and airport if it occurs again.....cool. My guess? A prank by someone with gas money to burn and access to a small plane; maybe an angry or over-motivated spurned lover? a rich stalker?? A dare?? A show-off?? Could be a cool story.
Good paper, thanks.
Marie
Sentinel News Service
that darn plane
by Sentinel Reader/User | Sat, 09/19/2009 - 6:33pmDoug, in my email referenced below, I suggested that you all get in touch with Mark Wells, our North Portland Crime Prevention Coordinator. He's the one who tipped me to the origins and uses of the plane. I'd previously contacted everyone and their brother (including some unlisted personal contacts) at the Port and the airport and no one would admit there was a plane circling hundreds of rotations right above the airport.. definitely enough to make one curious!
I believe the info I got from Mark Wells, and it's consistent with the answers PPB gave you. They're simply not going to tell the gen pub for security reasons.
I have noticed that flight patterns have changed this last month, and flight times.
Sorry I didn't find this discussion earlier.
Michelle in Overlook
Mystery Plane
by Sentinel Reader/User | Thu, 09/17/2009 - 10:25amAnd by the way, I never did say that I thought that it was a Portland Police Bureau aircraft, just that it was a possibility. The response that I got from the PPB leads me to believe that it was indeed a police aircraft.
~ Doug Coleman- Sentinel News Service
Mystery Plane- Official
by Sentinel Reader/User | Thu, 09/17/2009 - 10:07amI just got off the phone with Portland Police Public Information Officer Mary Wheat. She says that we "should not be hearing those noises anymore" but would not elaborate. Wheat says that the PPB will not talk about what it does with its Air Support Unit except to say that it supports uniformed officers on the ground. She says the unit uses heat-seeking equipment to find "runners" that officers on the ground are chasing. The Bureau does not talk about what the unit does, for "the safety of both the unit and the public".
As far as I know, our tax dollars are used to fund the Air Support Unit and we have the right to know what the Portland Police use it for. Are they spying on us or are they simply assisting officers and conducting operations for public safety? The short answer is that we may never know and are left to jump to our own conclusions.
I spoke with a long-time pilot in the area who told me that instructors train their students using the same type of patterns that have been reported in these recent sightings. He did say that it would be unusual for this to be happening late at night.
I also spoke with a retired Portland Police officer who told me that the bureau used to use airplanes to look for significant marijuana grow operations, those bigger than a light or two, not intended for personal use.
~ Doug Colman, Sentinel News Service
mystery plane- classified?
by Sentinel News Service | Thu, 09/17/2009 - 2:22pmSentinel News Service
Is that what she basically said?
~ Cornelius Swart
surveillance Cessna
by Sentinel Reader/User | Thu, 02/18/2010 - 4:47pmI'm tired of the droning sound that this plane makes and it makes me angry that our tax dollars are paying for this frivolity. What is it that cannot be accomplished in 10 minutes, but must be done for 3 hours at a time, as in this case?
PEOPLE; PROTEST THIS WASTE.
your tax dollars, hardly at work
by Sentinel Reader/User | Mon, 03/08/2010 - 11:33pmGood luck with this goon squad. They really are pissing away your tax dollars. It goes on hour after hour in SE. I've become intimately familiar with them.
mystery plane- reporter looks in
by Sentinel News Service | Mon, 09/14/2009 - 5:32pmSentinel News Service ~ Cornelius
Doug Coleman- has been assigned to a story on the plane. These notes are posted as an open notebook inspired by Daniel Bachhuber's wiki report on the new Tualatin Libary this summer.
To Doug Coleman
We've now gotten two calls from residents saying they have talked with either the Port of Portland or the Police and that the plane is some kind of surveillance plane or drone. Can you look into it Place to start is Jerry Gerspatack- 503-460-4234 noise abatement-Port of Portland and PPB -PIO.
~ Cornelius
FROM DOUG 9.13
PP Air Support owns 3 planes. http://www.portlandonline.com/Police/index.cfm?c=29708 OSP has traffic planes Mult. Co. has search and rescue planes. Here's an interesting article: http://www.lawofficer.com/news-and-articles/columns/Solosky/fixed_wing_a...
This is assuming that this is a police aircraft and we don't know that for sure., could be a pipeline inspector or USGS plane or something.
DC
mystery plane (revealed?)
by Sentinel News Service | Mon, 09/14/2009 - 5:37pmSentinel News Service ~ Rebecca Robinson
I think we may have found the answer...this comes to us via email from Michelle
Thompson in Overlook...
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The small plane is actually the Air Support Unit of the Portland Police
Bureau. They have provided investigative support functions since 1991 but
have only had their own Cessna 172 since 1999. The Air Support Unit is
staffed by 18 people who are licensed pilots and observers. They use
cameras and night vision equipment to monitor car and foot chases around
the city, increasing officer and civilian safety. You may notice them on
regular patrol for four or more hours at a time, and now you'll finally
know what they're up to.
small plane reported over Sauvie Island
by Sentinel News Service | Mon, 09/14/2009 - 4:06pmA neighbor emailed us with this comment:
Could be the same guy who does nose-dives for hours over Sauvie Island on weekends.
Outside doing yard work with my dog, enjoying the sun, hear the plane and watch it climb into the sky,
followed by a nose-dive. Over and over and over....ho hum
mystery plane
by Sentinel News Service | Sat, 09/12/2009 - 8:24amSentinel News Service
Report in from St Johns on mystery plane circling over the neighborhood at 8:45pm
Plane circiling oven N.E.
by Sentinel Reader/User | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 9:05amYou can call the Port of Portland Airport's Noise Hotline at 503-460-4100 and ask.
Again early this morning
by Sentinel Reader/User | Sat, 08/15/2009 - 8:21amThere was a small plane circling endlessly from 12:30am-? this morning over Portsmouth neighborhood. Low enough to wake me, I counted 20 laps over my house before falling back to sleep.
Who is responsible and what are they doing?
Yes, we heard it
by Sentinel Reader/User | Fri, 09/04/2009 - 2:57pmwe heard the small plane circling, probably the same night, only we heard it at 2:30am.
i know PDX is changing its flight patterns while they work on their runway extension, which is annoying unto itself, as we now have 3 times the aircraft noise over Portsmouth.
however, the small plane circling at low altitude endlessly in the wee hours of the morning was just unnecessary....sort of like the unabridged horn-songs from the trains.
ain't living in the city grand?
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