Scene Over the Sound: King county Bell helicopter

Story and photos by Jan Hansen

Tuesday afternoon King County's Bell helicopter flew over Shoreline then turned north in a low flight between Kingston and Edmonds. 

From the King County Website:  

The King County Sheriff’s Air Support Unit is the only full-time rotary-wing law enforcement aviation unit in Washington State. Four other counties (Chelan, Thurston, Snohomish and Spokane) each operate helicopters on a limited, part-time basis, primarily for wilderness Search & Rescue and wilderness firefighting support.

The Air Support Unit operates six days per week. We operate one Bell 206B3 helicopter, one UH-1H “Huey” helicopter that we received from the Federal 1208 (surplus) program and one Bell 407 received from regional UASI funds. Our total annual flight time averages about 1200 hours a year.