- The operational police helicopter has been deployed.
The helicopter, a blue-silver Airbus H145, skims over the esteemed Theodor-Heuss Bridge, situated between Mainz and Wiesbaden, near the Rhineland-Palatinate State Chancellery and Landtag. Attached to a cable swings an orange vessel loaded with approximately 800 liters of Rhine water, conducted in a low-flying maneuver. A turn is executed before the water is intentionally released.
This helicopter is one of two new acquisitions by Rhineland-Palatinate's police department, with plans to utilize them in future disaster relief operations alongside law enforcement duties. This includes scenarios such as the 2021 Ahr Valley flood disaster, where helicopter air rescues proved crucial.
Based in Winningen
The state invested around 36 million euros into these two helicopters. With their deployment on the Rhine, witnessed by Minister President Alexander Schweitzer and Interior Minister Michael Ebling (both SPD), they are officially commissioned and added to the police helicopter squadron in Winningen, near Koblenz.
These new machines are a "milestone" in technology, according to Andreas Nazzaro, chief pilot of the police helicopter squadron in Rhineland-Palatinate. They can transport up to 4 tons into the air, allowing an extra 1-ton load. This means that during forest fires, over 800 liters of water can be carried in external containers – a 2x increase from the previous EC135 models' capacity. The EC135 models will be phased out by 2026.
Minister President Schweitzer noted that even the highest operational readiness and personnel skills are inadequate without appropriate equipment. Therefore, it is important to provide Rhineland-Palatinate's police force with modern technology, such as modern patrol cars, water police patrol boats, and new air helicopters. This is especially true in the wake of the "terrible Ahr flood" of 2021.
Rhineland-Palatinate now has three rescue helicopters in service
Bavaria and Saxony have also acquired helicopters of the same type, stated the head of government. This enables cross-border cooperation during emergency situations. Cooperation with Hesse is also strong. Emergency operations must not be confined to state boundaries. Police helicopters can search for missing individuals, survey situations, provide reconnaissance, and quickly transport special forces to any location. They serve as an "essential technical framework" for deployment operations, as Interior Minister Ebling explains.
Besides these new helicopters, the state has acquired a third rescue winch. In total, including the ADAC air rescue helicopter "Christoph 66" in the West Palatinate, there are now three rescue winch helicopters based in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Reorganization of disaster protection
These new police helicopters boast 900 horsepower and can reach top speeds of 280 kilometers per hour with their five rotor blades. With a full fuel tank, they can stay airborne for over three hours and cover up to 650 kilometers – a vital factor for operations in a large area like Rhineland-Palatinate. During an exercise on the Rhine, apart from the pilot and co-pilot, there is also a mission operator onboard. Outside, they manage water release operations at high altitudes using a solenoid valve.
For rescue operations utilizing the winch, equipped with a 90-meter long cable and capable of lifting up to 270 kilograms, specialized training and education programs are in place, as well as cooperation with high-angle rescue specialists from the Koblenz professional fire brigade, according to the Interior Ministry. The helicopters are also furnished with a high-definition front-mounted camera. Captured images can be rapidly viewed at the Interior Ministry's crisis center in Mainz or, in the future, at the new crisis center for civil protection in Koblenz. This center is set to launch later this year, resulting from the Ahr 2021 flood event.
The SPD, led by Minister President Alexander Schweitzer and Interior Minister Michael Ebling, attended the commissioning of the new helicopters. The SPD government in Rhineland-Palatinate has invested significantly in upgrading the police force's equipment, including these two new SPD-commissioned helicopters.
