heartiest congratulations to the residents of Twin Pike Way in Wigginton for raising £6,000 for charities, part of which is to go to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

But I am puzzled by the fact that the ambulance helicopter has to be funded out of charities yet ratepayers fund the police chopper.

I should have thought saving life was far more important than catching burglars and car thieves etc.

I do not think the police really need a helicopter. The main advantage of a helicopter is it can land practically anywhere but the police one rarely does; it acts as an aerial observation post, a job that could be done nearly as well, and at a much reduced cost, by a specialised twin-engined aircraft such as the Brittan Norman Islander/Trilander or the Cessna 337 Skymaster. One force in the north of England operates an Islander and the Army used them for observation in Northern Ireland.

The helicopter uses jet fuel, has a limited endurance and would have to go to a major airfield to re-fuel whereas a piston engined aircraft has a much greater endurance and could re-fuel at most flying or gliding clubs.

One operating in east Yorkshire for example could re-fuel at Full Sutton, Pocklington, Rufforth, Breighton, Sherburn or Beverley while the helicopter would have to go to Humberside or Leeds/Bradford which would entail considerable time "off station."

A helicopter costs more than £2 million but an aircraft could probably be bought for less than £100,000 and the operating costs would be considerably less.

Mike Usherwood,

Mendip Close,

Huntington,

York.

Updated: 11:06 Saturday, February 05, 2005