State police officials failed to convince skeptical lawmakers Tuesday that they will fix all the maintenance and management problems legislative auditors discovered in the helicopter unit.
“I don’t think they really answered the questions,” said Sen. John Astle, D-Anne Arundel, a former helicopter pilot who was one of the most skeptical about the police aviation program during the hearing in Annapolis.
State police agreed to act on 19 findings in the audit report, but “why did it take an audit” to bring them to their attention, he said.
“Don’t let our administrative shortcomings overcome our decades of service,” said Maj. A.J. McAndrew, head of the State Police Aviation Command.
The audit “will only strengthen an already outstanding operation,” he said.
Legislative auditors gave the 12-helicopter unit responsible for medical transport high marks for safety, but found that poor maintenance records and supervision kept a third of the choppers out of service.
In addition, the turnover was high among those in charge of the division, which has 143 employees, auditors found.
McAndrew said the police hired a new aviation manager to supervise maintenance operations and appointed a civilian chief pilot to solve some of the management issues.
He said he also had restricted the occasional demonstration flights that prevented the helicopters from performing emergency duties.
McAndrew said one of his “top priorities” was “to nail down exactly what it costs” to operate each helicopter per hour.
But Astle pointed to an internal state police memo that said the state police failed to spend $70,000 on a maintenance tracking system they were advised to purchase nine years ago.
Del. Wade Kach, R-Baltimore County, said he wondered if privatizing the unit so it would fall under the Federal Aviation Administration’s supervision might be the best remedy.
“I’m not optimistic that it is going to be turned around,” he said.
At the core of legislative concerns is the state police request to replace the helicopter fleet for $120 million. Nine of the 12 choppers are 18 to 19 years old.
“You haven’t taken care of the old [helicopters],” said Sen. E.J. Pipkin, R-Eastern Shore. “Why should we trust you for another $100 million?”
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Norman Conway, a strong advocate of funding for the medical evacuation program, said that in the light of revenue shortfalls and the economic downturn, “we’re going to have to look at everything” in the budget.
He said the committee would examine the state police’s action on the audit during budget deliberations. The police said they would fix most of the problems by February.
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