After interviewing the sheriff Castellon wrote, "While the plane may not do everything a helicopter can do, the Flight Design CTLS that sheriff's officials plan to buy can do much of what the department's existing plane - a twin-engine 1973 Cessna Skymaster - can do with lower fuel and maintenance costs." 

It also will be able to do some tasks a helicopter can do, Williams added. Since the LSA can slow to 50 mph, it can circle and conduct aerial searches for suspects on the ground. "You can make the same sort of orbit as a helicopter without any problem at all," Castellon quoted Williams as saying. Williams is one of two deputies who fly the Cessna and will fly the CTLS once it is delivered, probably in May or June. 

Flight Design has agreed to install a video and forward-looking infrared camera and spotlight on the CTLS. The Tulare County Sheriff's department also plans to upgrade their CTLS to an all-digital panel including a built-in screen to observe what the cameras see, Williams said. Funding for the well-equipped aircraft comes from a Homeland Security grant with the balance coming from money seized during narcotics investigations.

Castellon reported that once the Sheriff's Department has its new plane, officials have a new duty in mind for it - to fly air patrols across the county five days a week, as well as respond to emergencies. Air patrols aren't cost-effective tasks for the twin-engine Cessna the department currently operates. "It burns about 30 gallons of fuel an hour," Williams said. "The new airplane burns three or four gallons of fuel an hour and it uses regular auto fuel rather than aviation fuel."