Florida Polytechnic University says its campus is about to have America's first flying police officer. The department's Jetson ONE, nicknamed Astro, isn't on patrol just yet, but its chief says the FAA has signed off. Now it just needs its papers.
The idea of the flying police patrol grew out of where the department works. "We're at a STEM university, surrounded by faculty and students who are studying and developing the technologies of the future," Police Chief Aaron Murray tells me. The university launched an aerospace engineering degree this fall, and students and faculty plan to use Astro's flight data for research and senior design projects.
The university unveiled the aircraft late last month. Its name, Astro, comes from the family dog in The Jetsons, the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon about a space-age family who commute by flying car. Under the police outfit sits a standard Jetson ONE, essentially a giant multi-rotor drone with a seat. The eVTOL rocks eight electric motors to keep the pilot aloft, a joystick for the steering and a ballistic parachute in case something goes wrong. Jetson quotes a top speed of 63 mph (102 km/h) and about 20 minutes of flight per charge.
So what will a flying cop actually do? Murray is clear that Astro won't replace the department's patrol cars or drones, but will be one more tool for responding to certain situations.
He lists quickly assessing an emergency, reaching places that are hard to get to by car and delivering critical supplies, plus helping other agencies through mutual aid. "We're not planning to fly it around campus every day just for the sake of flying it," he adds. "We want to be thoughtful about when and how we use it."
Pilots are in short supply, though, and for now, the department's entire air wing is its chief. Jetson's own announcement spoke of trained officers in the plural, but Murray says he's the only one who has completed the training the company requires. "The plan is to train additional officers so we can build that capability within our team," he says.
"We have received approval from the FAA team assigned to this emerging technology to begin our law enforcement operations once our final registration paperwork arrives," Murray explains. Another branch of the agency is still processing that registration.
Jetson sells the ONE in the US as an ultralight, which needs no pilot's license is needed, but it can only be flown for sport or recreation. A police callout is neither, so the paperwork has to be different. The FAA told me the department intends to fly Astro under Part 91 as a Public Aircraft Operation, the framework government agencies use for their own flights, which includes registering the aircraft.
Astro isn't the first eVTOL to wear a police uniform. Dubai Police began training officers on a Hoversurf hoverbike in 2018, and Jetson itself tested two ONEs with Poland's mountain rescue service last year, reaching the 3,973-ft (1,211-m) summit of Mt. Luban in under four minutes.
A Jetson ONE flew demonstrations at the UP.Summit at Kennedy Space Center on November 7 and 8, but Murray is in no rush to put Astro to work. "Safety is our top priority," he says. "We're taking the time to become familiar with Astro, understand its limitations and develop the procedures we'll need before incorporating it into regular operations."
Source: Florida Polytechnic University
