OPP Plane Ride - Lori Paris

Look up.

Waaaaaaay up.

No, it's not a bird, or Superman, but the new plane for the OPP is up and flying. The Ontario Provincial Police got their new plane on Monday, and wasted no time looking for dangerous drivers on Ontario highways.

Listen to Lori Paris' indepth report

Sargent Joe Pileggi is one of the officers who rides in the plane, and says this one unit can radio four cruisers on the ground about dangerous drivers.

"People notice police cars, or cars similar to police cars, and then they do slow down.  Aggressive drivers slow down.  From this vantage point, they don't see us, there's no cruisers that they could see, because they're well past our zone, so it's easier for us to catch them."

One of the pilots of the pilots of the plane, Sargent Gord Magee says he's amazed at how much more OPP officers can do with one plane.

"It's apparent that this way of dealing with them is going to pay off dividends. It's an excellent platform, we can run four cruisers at a time.  I think it's just a fantastic way to approach some of these problems that have been haunting the general public and the driving public for so long.

Magee adds that on top of watching for dangerous drivers, the plane can also be used to follow suspects - eliminating high speed chases.