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Published on Wednesday, January 28, 2004
in the NBC-2.com (1-28-04)
LEE COUNTY, January 28, 2004--They've been flying since the 1960's, but most drivers don't even know they exist. Next time you're driving on the I-75 or US 41, Florida Highway Patrol troopers may be watching you from their eye in the sky. If you're not following the rules of the road it will cost you.
Gary Schulter spends most of his life up in the air behind the controls of a Cessna 1-72 almost six hours a day. He spends half of his time in the air looking down.
"You'd be surprised how people behave when they don't know they're being watched," said Schulter.
Schulter is not your typical pilot, he's a Sergeant with a member of the Florida Air Patrol. He patrols the roads from the sky.
He cracks down on speeders by using the white lines that are painted on Southwest Florida's busiest roads.
"Just before he gets to the line I start my watch. My watch is running on him now and I'm watching him as he drives through the quarter mile course," said Schulter.
The pilots use a stop watch to clock cars as they go through the marked area. If the car is over the speed limit, he radios down to the trooper below.
"Most people have radar detectors, with the airplane that stuff doesn't work for you," said Schulter.
There are signs warning people coming into the state-that the highways are patrolled by aircraft. But most people are caught off guard when they get a ticket and find out about the eye in the sky watching over them.
"We'll maybe I'll just look in the sky also now," said Miriam Katsikis.
Sergeant Schulter covers ten counties from Bradenton to Marco Island. He's on patrol in Southwest Florida five to six days a month. To date he has clocked almost 56,000 cars.