Warbird Information Exchange

Houston police now have an old jet airliner to use as a training tool that could make them the envy of big-city law enforcement agencies across the nation.

Top police officials cut a ceremonial ribbon Monday on a retired Boeing 737 that had been used as an Air Force trainer in San Antonio. It was set to be decommissioned and had been destined for an airplane graveyard in the Arizona desert.

Instead, the fully functioning aircraft, dubbed HPD-01, adorned with police department logos and parked at a remote area at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport, will be used for training by SWAT officers, bomb squad details, dog training and other law enforcement exercises.

Officers will receive so-called tight-quarters training — in which police engage in combat operations inside a cramped area — and anti-terrorism practice onboard the airliner.

"This is a very important and momentous event," Police Chief Charles McClelland said. "We're very fortunate to have this piece of equipment before anyone else."

Patrick Judge, executive director of the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training , said he was unaware of any other city police department that had a jetliner as a training tool.

"The military and federal government are the only training centers that utilize aircraft for terrorist training," he said.

The idea for a plane as a training tool in Houston began with four police SWAT team members. Monday's dedication was the product of about a year's worth of work.

"Many men and women in the rank and file have ideas how to run this place," McClelland said.

The $5.4 million plane is the military version of the Boeing 737 and went into service in the U.S. Air Force in 1973. Most recently, it had been used to train navigators at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. It remains Pentagon property, but the Houston Police Department becomes the caretaker and is responsible for basic maintenance.

Houston-based Continental Airlines donated seats to outfit the aircraft so that its interior would resemble that of a normal passenger plane.

"We worked out all the red tape," said U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, whose office worked with local, military and aviation officials to get the plane to Houston. "It didn't cost anybody any money. It's one of the few things the federal government can make happen where it doesn't cost any money."

_________________
Mike