Welcome back to the Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical HeliCASTS, in partnership with Valor Plus. This is a three-part podcast! Make sure you listen to all three. Today, we're honored to welcome retired San Diego Police Department Chief Pilot Todd Jager. Todd is a true aviation professional with more than 10,000 hours of rotorcraft flight time, over 1,000 hours in fixed-wing aircraft, and more than 4,100 hours as a Tactical Flight Officer. Throughout his remarkable career, Todd played a pivotal role in training both pilots and Tactical Flight Officers. Alongside his longtime partner, Kevin Means, he helped develop many of the FLIR tactics, techniques, Crew Resource Management principles, and operational procedures that have become standard practice for law enforcement aviation units around the world. In this first episode, we discuss the importance of recording airborne incidents, how that capability evolved within the San Diego Police Department's Air Support Unit, and why those recordings have become such valuable tools for training, accountability, and learning. We also take an in-depth look at aviation safety within a law enforcement aviation unit, with Todd sharing the lessons he's learned from decades of operational flying and leadership. Todd takes us behind the scenes of the legendary San Diego tank pursuit. As the Tactical Flight Officer during the incident, he captured the entire 30-minute pursuit on video and shares the complete story—from what was happening in the aircraft to the critical decisions being made in real time. Whether you're a pilot, Tactical Flight Officer, or simply fascinated by aviation and police operations, these are conversations you won't want to miss. YouTube video clips courtesy of CBS 8 San Diego Evening News. The full video can be watched here. Thank you to our sponsors Onboard Systems Hoist and Winch, Robinson Helicopter and Spectrolab.
