Tracking stolen vehicles from the air helps to speed the recovery of the vehicles and the arrest of car thieves and chop-shop operators.
A Cessna 182 Skylane belonging to the Illinois State police was airborne conducting a mission unrelated to vehicle theft two years ago when it began receiving a signal from the LoJack tracking computer fitted into its avionics. The pilot located and then followed a stolen Chevrolet Corvette to a residence located in the city of Grand Detour. Illinois State police officers aboard the Cessna then directed officers on the ground to the address where the vehicle was parked.
Although moving maps are a fairly recent addition to the law enforcement aviator's toolbox, they have quickly become an indispensable tool in the busy cockpit.
Some pilots say that maps are more useful than thermal imaging. They go on to explain that thermal imagers do little good if you can't find the right address to begin searching. There was a time when a flight officer was so familiar with the city that he could direct you to the correct street with no hesitation. But the rapid growth of today's cities, coupled with developers' propensity to name entire subdivisions with like-sounding street, has made knowing every address impossible.
Emergency locator beacons are critical to locating downed aircraft, but someone has to be out there to detect the signal.
Even with an air asset having a direct line of sight to an emergency locator beacon, Mother Nature sometimes makes things challenging. Aircraft go down, vessels at sea and people on land seem to get into trouble when the rest of us would choose to be home in front of a nice warm fireplace in our living room. Numerous downed aircraft have been found in instrument meteorological conditions.