Have you ever been caught speeding by an airplane?

Hope4Grace

My husband and I saw a "speed patrolled by aircraft" sign while driving back to San Diego from Sedona this weekend. We wondered: Does anybody ever really get a ticket because somebody in an aircraft caught them speeding? Or are these signs a cheap attempt to discourage people from speeding out in the boonies where there are no other resources?

Barkydog

Bear in the air! I have seen them, I have never gotten a ticket personally, interested in hearing form others.

ok4450

I've never gotten a ticket for speeding because of a plane (I don't think) but yes, some states use aircraft to check for speeders. I doubt it' a full time endeavor due to cost effectiveness though.

In OK I've seen the state trooper planes a few times. Usually they stick to the interstates but I have seen one flying low and slow over the 2 lane county road to my home.
Roads are laid out here in 1 mile increments and the guys in the plane put a stopwatch on someone they think is speeding and time them between increments. The math is done and they radio ahead for a ground unit to hopefully catch them.
I believe highways in some states have paint mark increments on them for use by troopers in aircraft.

twotone

Speed checking by airplanes costs too much for the amount of revenue it generates these days. "Speed checked by aircraft" signs, however, are pretty cheap.

DfromSD

Never been caught by one, but they use them from time to time here in "saturation patrols". The plane would radio call the speeding cars out to troopers waiting on the ground out of sight. They would nail dozens of them in an hour or so.

texases

Article in Car and Driver 5 (more?) years ago about the author flying with an Ohio state trooper catching speeders. Wonder if they still do it...the troopers, that is.

meaneyedcatz

It's been done for years but I have not seen them for the past several. A tell tale sign is large white squares painted on the pavement. If you doing the speed limit it will take 8 seconds (for example) to from one square to the next. If a flying cop says it took you only 6 seconds from square to square then your speeding.

CCCommander35

An old high school friend told the story once about how he was driving with his dad and they got pulled over. The cop came up to their window with a huge smirk on his face, and with abundant enthusiasm announced "Hey guess what! We got you from the air!"

littlemouse

I did once get written up for exceeding the speed of sound in an area where I shouldn't have, but it was pretty obvious and there wasn't another airplane involved.

MikeInNH

Seen those signs a lot. Never experienced it first hand though.

I think in the planes they use VASCAR..Or some similar device these days.

Caddyman

If the Highway Patrol in your state has enough money in their budget to do this, then they have way to much money in their budget......Today, it just costs too much to operate and maintain the aircraft necessary to do this..Many departments are having trouble keeping their patrol cars up to date.....

JosephEMeehan

I have been driving for over 50 years. I have never paid a speeding ticket. I have seen those planes to find speeders and watched them get pulled over.

I have been pulled over twice for speeding, once he just gave me a warning and the other time I forgot to pay it (yea, I was speeding) the other time I was told I would get a notice by mail. It never showed up (over 30 years ago.

the same mountainbike

NH used to do that. But with the way the budgets are these days, I seriously doubt if they do so anymore. That's an awfully expensive way to catch speeders, and I'm sure the Patrolmens' Association would have serious objection to cops being laid off and money being spent on smokeys in the sky just to catch speeders. I doubt if we'll see those again unless we again return to an economy of prosperity and surplus.

DfromSD

Caddy, that's why SD only did it a couple times a year, and borrowed one of the 2 state owned planes & pilot from another department. They could never afford a plane of their own.

Bing

No a plane never got me. Just lone patrol cars or speed traps in the dark of night.

Minnesota used to do this from time to time but were forced to cut back on their planes and just use them for official business now mostly. Still I have noticed new white painted blocks on some of the freeways that are used from the air so who knows?

katidid79

My friend got a ticket once by aircraft...Basically what happened was she was speeding, aircraft was flying around, the pilot of the airplane radioed in to a state trooper patrolling that stretch of highway and the state trooper on the ground pulled her over and gave her a ticket...This was several years ago in Nevada.

oblivion

A friend of mine got one. Apparently they time cars between lines on the road. Probably they sometimes use radar as well.

MikeInNH

I think the signs are more of a deterrent.

Triedaq

I liked the scene in the movie Dragnet 1987 with Dan Aykroyd playing Sgt. Joe Friday, the nephew and namesake of the original Joe Friday of the Dragnet television show. In one scene, Sgt. Joe Friday is up in the air in the police airplane, painted in police black and white and flashing red lights. The police airplane pulls along side the airplane of the "bad guy" and Friday motions for the plane to pull over.
This is the only place I have ever seen a police stop made with an airplane.

Caddyman

IF they use aircraft, and today that's a big "IF", they also must paint bold lines across the shoulders to provide the two points so they can time you.....Those painted lines are a giveaway..