Reduced flights expected for months amid federal inquiry into Oakland Police Department helicopter pilots

The indictments of two Oakland Police Department officers on federal conspiracy and fraud charges last week appears likely to impact the agency’s helicopter unit — and its ability to fly over crime scenes and track suspects from the sky — for months, police officials say.

Flights involving the police department’s Air Support Unit have dropped from seven days a week to four as a result of the federal inquiry, which burst into view Thursday when federal prosecutors unsealed indictments against two of the department’s pilots, Brandon Mart and David Mac.

Federal prosecutors say the officers conspired with a then-FAA safety inspector — William Miller, who also was indicted — to obtain pilot certifications they didn’t earn. The scheme allowed the officers to circumvent required test flights, according to the indictment.

Mart, Mac and Miller all face charges of conspiracy and defrauding the Federal Aviation Administration, the most serious of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Federal prosecutors also charged Mart with two counts of falsifying records, after they say he made a false entry in an OPD helicopter log; he faces up to 20 years in prison on that charge.

The scandal is hindering a unit that has been instrumental in tracking fleeing crime suspects, spotting missing persons and even helping to rescue stranded hikers in hard-to-reach parts of the Oakland Hills.

The unit — known as ARGUS, in reference to the 100-eyed Greek giant Argus Panoptes who worked as a guardian and never closed all of his eyes at the same time — saw its staff of pilots drop from five to three as a result of the federal investigation, according to Oakland police officials.

The number of flight days had been reduced even before the federal indictment of two Oakland police helicopter pilots was made public Thursday, because Mart and Mac were not allowed to fly while the investigation was ongoing, authorities told this outlet. Mart and Mac have since been placed on administrative leave, the police department said. It was not clear how long the department had been operating without the two pilots.

Two other officers are being trained as pilots, but will they not be certified for at least six months. The department’s fleet consists of three helicopters — two for patrol duties, and one for training purposes.

The unit — which has been in existence since at least the 1970s — has been a workhorse, flying up to 10 hours a day while assisting other law enforcement agencies in the East Bay.

Just last month, the helicopter unit played a key role in helping officers arrest an armed kidnapping suspect in the city’s Uptown district — first by spotting the assailant’s vehicle in East Oakland and then tracking it across town. In the process, officers in the helicopter saw the suspected kidnapper throw a gun out of the window, allowing investigators to later recover it.

The prior month, the helicopter’s pilots directed patrol officers on the ground to a woman who slipped on a steep, slick trail near the city’s Leona Heights Park and became stranded on hard-to-navigate terrain. The woman’s rescue “was the direct result of exceptional teamwork, communication, and professionalism between the Air Support Unit and responding patrol officers,” the department later said in a news release about the incident.

If air support for Oakland officers is needed while ARGUS is not flying, the department is expected to rely on air units from neighboring law enforcement agencies, such as the California Highway Patrol.

Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at [email protected].