BUFFALO, N.Y. — Erie County's sheriff, John Garcia, said back in April, "It's unsafe. It's a single-engine, 22-year-old helicopter."
He said that when talking about why the county needs a new helicopter. However, he's retracting his comments.
"It's not a safety issue at all," Garcia said, adding "It's probably up in the air for about 25 percent of the year."
The 23-year-old chopper seems to be in the air more this summer. It's part of a new approach using the Air One helicopter to help find stolen vehicles, such as on Labor Day. A Dodge Durango crashed on the 190 exit ramp, giving the county more reasons to invest in a new one.
"There's a certain maintenance scheduled that it must be on. So the cost associated with that gets costlier and costlier as the vehicle ages, and those parts get expensive," Garcia says.
The chopper is valued at $10 million. Garcia says they have a million so far from a grant by Assemblyman Pat Burke to make Buffalo a two-helicopter city.
"We have the capability to cover a lot of ground in a very short period of time," says Garcia.
It's up in the air if and when Erie County will get a new helicopter, but until then, the current one will have to do for now.
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