Omaha Police Helicopter

[Brad]

I think it was a normal day. I look at Flight Radar 24 way too much and didn't see nothing out of the ordinary today. Three flights, two by N402PD and one by N505BT and everything looked typical.

N505BT

Screenshot 2025-08-13 230037.jpg

N402PD

Screenshot 2025-08-13 231011.jpg

The regular Children's Hospital Helicopter, Five Charlie Hotel, isn't here right now, N329AM is here instead. It made a few flights today, Omaha to Lincoln and Back, Omaha to Millard and Back.

[Busguy2010]

That flight radar is cool, but I only check it if I feel like I heard or saw something I don't typically observe from real life experience. Today was one of those instances. Maybe its just my own experience, but it felt notable to me.

[nebport5]

Apparently there isn’t a dedicated OPD thread so I put these “mini ABLEs”? here.

Omaha police department launches ‘Drones as First Responders’ program

Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer and Mayor John Ewing announced the launch of the unmanned aerial vehicles Thursday as key equipment in the city’s new “Drones as First Responders” program. The public safety initiative uses high-tech drones to assess emergency scenes ahead of police arrival.

The drones will respond to specific 911 calls, arriving at a scene in under two minutes. They’ll provide real time aerial footage to help officers assess their response and provide dispatchers situational awareness but won’t be used for random neighborhood surveillance.

[almighty_tuna]

I can't hate on the concept. It's a direct and efficient way to get a view of the reported scene and potentially adjust the in-person response either way. However, I do share the same surveillance and security concerns mentioned in the article.

Along the same vein, I'm surprised the local TV stations haven't adopted drones as a way to provide traffic coverage and similar duties as a news chopper.

[Brad]

The newest OPD Able1 helicopter has a new N Number. N505BT is now N340PD. I believe N505BT was the factory applied number and BT stood for "BELL TEXTRON INC" the manufacturer and 505 is the model number.

So the current roster is:
N402PD - 2012 Bell 407
N240PD - 2019 Bell 505 Jet Ranger X
N340PD - 2023 Bell 505 Jet Ranger X

[Mr.Nuke]

The newest OPD Able1 helicopter has a new N Number. N505BT is now N340PD. I believe N505BT was the factory applied number and BT stood for "BELL TEXTRON INC" the manufacturer and 505 is the model number.

I don't think this is "new." Your interpretation of the prior registration is correct as the helicopter was owned directly and used by the company as a demo helicopter at events and presumably for client "test drives" before the city bought it. With that said, I'm kind of doubting it was ever actually registered as anything other than N340PD after it was delivered to OPD.

[Brad]

The newest OPD Able1 helicopter has a new N Number. N505BT is now N340PD. I believe N505BT was the factory applied number and BT stood for "BELL TEXTRON INC" the manufacturer and 505 is the model number.

I don't think this is "new." Your interpretation of the prior registration is correct as the helicopter was owned directly and used by the company as a demo helicopter at events and presumably for client "test drives" before the city bought it. With that said, I'm kind of doubting it was ever actually registered as anything other than N340PD after it was delivered to OPD.

Could be. I never got a close look at the N340PD Helicopter until this years CWS. Before the CWS I had only seen from a distance and on Flight Radar24 and I don't believe Flight Radar is always up to date.

[Mr.Nuke]

Could be. I never got a close look at the N340PD Helicopter until this years CWS. Before the CWS I had only seen from a distance and on Flight Radar24 and I don't believe Flight Radar is always up to date.

And I think that is what was happening here. It doesn't make sense to buy a plane or helicopter, repaint it, and then have to repaint it again. The city's purchase agreement for it referred to it as N340PD https://cityclerk.cityofomaha.org/wp-co ... 1286v2.pdf

FR24 shows it as N505BT until March 7th, but there are photos of Deb Fisher touring it last December that clearly show it was N340PD at that time. The tracking sites are all using ADS-B ground receivers and picking up the Mode S hexadecimal code tied to a specific aircraft. It probably just took awhile for their internal databases to reconcile with the FAA that the helicopter had a new owner and N number.