Final landing for veteran police pilot

SAN DIEGO  —  Kevin Means is a pilot with a passion for policing. For more than two decades he flew with the San Diego Police Department’s helicopter unit, logging some 15,000 hours in the air while guiding officers to criminals and to safety.

The airman, who retired last week, was the longest serving pilot and tactical flight officer on the force. Means took his last on-duty flight in the skies over San Diego on Dec. 20.

“It’s a beautiful city to fly over. That’s one thing I never got tired of,” said Means, shortly after taking off from Montgomery Field as he headed to one of the last calls of his career.

Originally from Spokane, Wash., Means, 54, said he knew he wanted to be a pilot and a police officer since he was a boy.

A licensed pilot at just 17, Means joined the Navy out of high school and served four years as an anti-submarine warfare operator and helicopter rescue crewman assigned to Naval Air Station North Island.

He signed on with the San Diego Police Department in 1982, with early assignments that included patrol, the border crime task force, the District Attorney’s Office violent crime unit, the gang unit and narcotics division.

In 1989, the supervisor of the newly created air support unit asked him if he had any interest in joining the crew. It didn’t take more than a few ride-alongs to realize the potential of policing from a helicopter.

“The day I came over and did that, I knew this is what I wanted to do and I never grew tired of it,” he said.

Means is a former president of the Airborne Law Enforcement Association, the author of the reference book “Tactical Helicopter Missions” and the crew’s training officer.

“He is an aviation true professional, and anybody you talk to is going to tell you that,” said Means’ friend, Tony Webber, a senior helicopter pilot for the Sheriff’s Department.

San Diego’s air support unit has four identical American Eurocopter AS350 B3 helicopters available for duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The aircraft are flown with a two-man crew — the pilot and the tactical flight officer.

Means alternates between the two jobs but prefers the latter.

While the pilot focuses on flying, the tactical flight officer operates the extensive policing technology onboard, including the indispensable heat-seeking infrared camera called FLIR.

Means travels all over the world teaching other law enforcement how to use the complex device and is considered an industry expert.

“His expertise with FLIR cameras resulted in the arrests of countless suspects who otherwise would have evaded capture,” Police Chief Bill Lansdowne said. Means also “provided information to officers on the ground that I believe prevented injuries and saved lives,” Lansdowne said.

Nothing demonstrated that more clearly than in November 2007 when Means, riding in the tactical seat, and pilot Josh Burkhardt were following two suspects who had violently carjacked a victim at gunpoint. Means said it was one of his most stressful missions.

“Everybody knew that these people were armed with a shotgun and were not likely to just simply surrender,” recalled Means.

Means calmly relayed to officers on the ground the actions of the suspects and the car’s location as the helicopter tracked it from the air. One of the suspects got out and ran, and Means saw him toss a sawed-off shotgun over a fence and then climb over. The man picked up the weapon just as an officer reached the other side of the barrier.

“Don’t go over that fence. Don’t go over that fence,” instructed Means, the register of his voice raising slightly.

Warned of the danger, the officer on the ground stopped while the man ran to the back of the yard, where he put the gun to his head and killed himself.

The use of the FLIR also resulted in what Means called one of his most satisfying captures, one for which he and partner Todd Jager were bestowed with an award from the National Airborne Law Enforcement Association last year.

The honor was in recognition of the officer’s work in apprehending three teens wanted in the 2011 murder of 18-year-old Garrett Berki, who was gunned down in Paradise Hills after responding to a Cragislist ad. Hovering overhead for some two hours, the copter crew painstakingly searched every inch of a large perimeter until all three suspects were located. The last one was found in the last yard being searched, hiding under brush so thick the heat from his body could only be seen by the infrared camera from certain angles, Means said.

All three were convicted of murder this year and sentenced to long prison terms.

“Finding those Craigslist guys was one of the things for which he’s most proud of doing as a police officer,” said Means’ wife, Cyndi Jo. “They never would’ve found them if not for air support.”

Means and his wife, a deputy district attorney, have been married since 1990 and have two daughters and a 2-year-old granddaughter.

When asked to describe her husband, she replied, “If I were in a burning building or on a sinking ship, he is the person who I would listen to and follow to make sure that I got out alive.”

She said she is looking forward to having her husband — whose shift included nights, weekends and holidays — around more.

The couple bought the “motor home of our dreams” and they plan to travel around the country once their youngest graduates from high school in a couple of years. Means also runs Tactical Flying, a flight training and consulting business.

The veteran officer said the enormity of leaving his job really hasn’t sunk in yet.

“I’ll miss it, I’ll miss the people and I will miss the game,” he said.

And he said he hopes he has left the department he is so proud of a better place. That is a given, said fellow pilot Webber, “It’ll be hard to fill his shoes.”