She Holds the High Ground : Sheriff’s ‘Sky Knight’ Copter Pilot Elevates Skill, Valor to New Height

A wisp of windblown dark hair, brown almond-shaped eyes and a broad smile were the only things visible beneath Monica McIntyre’s flight helmet as she climbed into the helicopter.

Clad in an olive green flight suit, she carefully slid her long, burgundy fingernails into a pair of aviator gloves and strapped her 5-foot, 2-inch frame into the pilot’s seat.

The flip of a few switches got the blades whirling as McIntyre, one of three pilots in the city’s “Sky Knight” aerial patrol, prepared for her daily rounds over Lakewood, Cerritos, Bellflower, Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens and Paramount.

The helicopter rose from the Lakewood sheriff’s station until the parking lot below became lost in the patchwork of swimming pools, rooftops, roads and greenery that McIntyre patrols--accompanied by a sheriff’s deputy--four hours a day, five days a week.

It was Monday, a day of dread for many working people, but McIntyre, whose face breaks out in a smile whenever she talks about flying, was ready for work.

“I love it up here,” McIntyre said as her voice crackled over a set of headphones. “I’m one of those lucky people who really loves her job.”

Beneath the helmet and the oversized jump suit is a skilled pilot whose determination to do her job well has won her the respect of other helicopter pilots and the sheriff’s deputies who fly with her. And last month she received a citation from the city and sheriff’s station for her work during the Aeromexico crash in Cerritos.

There are thousands of women helicopter pilots, but McIntyre is the only civilian woman in the country piloting a law enforcement helicopter, according to Jean Ross Howard, director of Whirly-Girls Inc., an international organization of women pilots based in Washington.

McIntyre, 34, who began her flying career 12 years ago at Long Beach Municipal Airport as a fixed-wing flight instructor and later as a helicopter instructor, joined the Lakewood program in 1981.

Sky Knight is a pioneer program that began in 1966 as a two-year experiment in aerial law enforcement funded by the state, the Los Angeles Law Enforcement Assistance Program, and the Hughes Tool Co.

The program is now funded by Lakewood and the five other cities that contract with the Lakewood sheriff’s station.

When the experiment ended in 1968, Sheriff’s Department statistics showed an 8% decrease in crime for the area patrolled by Sky Knight, while crime elsewhere in Los Angeles County rose 9%.

The statistics dramatize the perceptions that led city and sheriff’s officials to continue the program.

‘A Great Deterrent’

“No amount of squad cars can do what a helicopter can do,” said Lakewood Sheriff’s Capt. Stephen Batchelor. “You can’t imagine what a great deterrent Sky Knight is for would-be criminals who know they are up there watching.”

Since 1968, cities across the country have formed aviation units, including Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale and Pasadena, but few patrol routinely like Sky Knight, which flies seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. doing everything from traffic patrol to pursuing bank robbers.

Most aerial patrols, like the Los Angeles County Aero Bureau, respond only to emergency calls, according to Aero Bureau Capt. Robert Hart.

While McIntyre had no experience in police work when she started, her boss, chief pilot Wes Pearson, said her easygoing manner and her ability to keep a cool head in emergencies has made her a favorite among the sheriff’s deputies.

For Deputy Donavon Vlieger, it was McIntyre’s flying skills that made her his pilot of choice.

‘She Flies Smoothly’

“No one gets sick when Monica flies,” Vlieger said with a laugh. “She flies smoothly and evenly, no cowboy stuff and no jerky movements. That can be crucial if you’re not used to being up there.”

As Vlieger talked outside the station’s switchboard room, he was interrupted by an emergency call. A man was reported running down an alley in Bellflower after tossing what looked like a Los Angeles County Jail jump suit into a trash can.

Vlieger and McIntyre quickly took off in the helicopter, but returned after a few minutes--the call was a false alarm.

As a helicopter pilot, she has seen her share of action.

McIntyre relates these experiences in a matter-of-fact style. She recalled looking down on her first shoot-out, seeing her first dead body and, most recently, a sniper in a Bellflower nursery who shot at her helicopter.

‘Heard a Faint Pop’

“The deputy and I saw him waving a shotgun up in the air and we heard a faint pop, but it didn’t occur to us right away that he was shooting at us,” she said. “I pulled the helicopter out of there and we flew a little higher after that.”

Perhaps the most physically and emotionally trying experience for McIntyre was regulating air traffic after the Aeromexico crash.

Three minutes after hearing of the crash on the police radio, McIntyre and a sheriff’s deputy were among the first aerial patrols to arrive at the scene.

While flames and black smoke engulfed several houses below, the airspace above the site became crowded with 19 media, sheriff’s, police and fire department helicopters. The National Transportation Safety Board, which wanted to restrict helicopters and planes in the area, assigned McIntyre to help police the traffic.

Her efforts won her a Lakewood Award of Valor last month, which is presented annually by the city and Sheriff’s Department to deputies, paramedics, and firefighters stationed in Lakewood.

‘Have to Do This Right’

“I can’t tell you what seeing that tragedy did to me,” McIntyre said after a long pause. “I just kept thinking, ‘I have to do this right. What if there is another crash?’ ”

From 600 feet in the air, cities can look indistinguishable, but years of flying over the area have taught McIntyre to find every street and alley and to understand the special problems of each neighborhood.

As she turned toward the now cleaned up crash site, McIntyre pulled the helicopter up a little higher and pointed to a vacant area where several houses once stood. She explained later that she began flying higher than usual over that neighborhood after hearing that several residents panic whenever they hear a plane or helicopter overhead.

“Strangely enough, you really get to know your neighborhoods from up here,” she said. “People wave to me and know who I am. I really feel for these people in Cerritos, and this is my way of showing some consideration.”

When McIntyre is not flying, she likes to do needlepoint, cook pasta dinners or just spend time with her 11-year-old daughter and her husband, who is also a helicopter pilot.

Does the threat of danger ever rattle her cool facade?

“I guess doing this is more dangerous than giving flying lessons, but you can’t dwell on it,” she said calmly. “I don’t think of myself as a thrill seeker, just as somebody who lives what they do.”