Deputy attains flight credentials

SANDPOINT — A crucial element to the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office Air Asset Division has fallen into place.

The sheriff’s office was loaned a Rans Designs S-6ES monoplane last August through the U.S. National Institute of Justice, the research-and-development arm of the Department of Justice.

Last month, sheriff’s Lt. Bill McAuliffe was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration after going through a testing process. The agency awarded him a light sport pilot’s license, making McAuliffe him the first pilot in the department’s fledgling Air Asset Division.

In preparation for the final testing procedure, McAuliffe had to log at least 15 hours of flight training with a licensed flight instructor and at least five hours of solo fight time which had him flying round-trip from Sandpoint to St. Maries.

McAuliffe and flight instructors Randy McLain of Laclede and Hunter Horvath of Sandpoint took advantage of the relatively mellow weather this fall and winter to get the flight training completed.

The sheriff’s office plans to use the fixed-wing plane more regularly as weather conditions become more favorable. The Air Asset Division will utilize the aircraft for search-and-rescue operations, aerial surveillance, storm damage assessment, drug eradication, poaching investigations and manhunts.