History
Tracking
Established 1972, the Kern County Sheriff's Department Air Support Unit serves a populated area of 900,000 people which includes the city of Bakersfield.
It began with a new Bell 47 which was used until crashed in 1975 fortunately without victims. It was replaced by a Hughes 500C but in 1978 the unit was deactivated due lack of funding. Six years later, in 1984, was reactivated with a leased Bell 206 which was replaced by 2 new MD500E in 1987. In 1997, 2 ex army OH-58A+ Kiowas joined the unit and in 2008 they get their first medium helicopter, a Huey II
It began with a new Bell 47 which was used until crashed in 1975 fortunately without victims. It was replaced by a Hughes 500C but in 1978 the unit was deactivated due lack of funding. Six years later, in 1984, was reactivated with a leased Bell 206 which was replaced by 2 new MD500E in 1987. In 1997, 2 ex army OH-58A+ Kiowas joined the unit and in 2008 they get their first medium helicopter, a Huey II
Kern County Sheriff orders two Airbus H125 to replace current MD500E helicopters. KCSO is sending back the 2 Bell OH-58 to the Dept of Defense, when the 2 Airbus H125 arrive. N497 is flyable, while N397E is use for parts. KCSO is keeping the 2 MD 500E N197E and N297E and buys new helicopters for $12 million
2022, Kern County Sheriff Office bought 2 Airbus H125. The second one is c/n 9262 N913KC :
Locations
| KBFL BFL | Meadows Field |
Models
| MD369E / MD500E | |
| OH-58A Kiowa | |
| UH-1H Iroquois | |
| H125 |