Air Unit

The Ventura County Aviation Unit is a combined unit consisting of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and Ventura County Fire Department.  This collaborative unit allows for enhanced service and more resources while being fiscally sound to the public.  Under the direction of a Sheriff’s Captain and a Fire Department Division Chief, the unit responds to a variety of calls including search and rescue, law enforcement, medivac, and firefighting. The staff consists of four full time pilots, a Sheriff’s Sergeant, two Ventura County Fire Captains, four full time crew chiefs, numerous collateral crew chiefs from both agencies, and a complete mechanic staff. The crew chiefs receive extensive training as rescue specialists, emergency medical technicians, and law enforcement observers. Air Unit flight crews are trained in such specialties as night vision goggle operation, scuba diving, swift water rescue, and emergency medical procedures.  Each day a member of the Ventura County SAR Medical Team staffs the rescue helicopter with a Flight Physician, Flight Nurse, or Flight Paramedic for rescue and medivac calls.   The aviation unit is staffed with two flight crews 365 days a year and available 24 hours a day from our hangar at the Camarillo Airport.

The Aviation Unit operates five rescue helicopters and one law enforcement patrol helicopter. Each of the rescue helicopters is capable of hoist operations, air ambulance equipment, and firefighting while the patrol helicopter is used for searching and law enforcement patrols. The two Sikorsky Fire Hawk (HH-60) helicopters have 1000-gallon water tanks and one Blackhawk helicopter with a Bambi bucket for firefighting operations. The unit also has three additional medium Bell helicopters: one is a 2022 Bell 412 EPX, a Bell UH-1 Huey, and a Bell 205-B that are also capable of supplementing firefighting operations.  The law enforcement aircraft is a Bell 206 equipped with enhanced communication, surveillance, and mapping systems.  The unit operates in all weather, day and night, and consistently trains in adverse conditions with and without NVGs