pits200

I hope no one was expecting that this was a race thread. But two Fridays ago, I was driving home on the PA turnpike which is the same 400 mile trip I make twice a week so I know where every single PA trooper sits.

Well this Friday, to my surprise, I have a Trooper waving me off the road by sticking his head out his cruiser window.

Im sitting in my CL-S as the cop approaches my window and he has a huge smile on his face and all he says to me is,

"We have the plane out today"

All I could say was,

"Really?"

He just smiled, turned around and pointed it out in the sky and said,

"Licenses and Registration"

Well sure enough, they caught me going 87.1mph in a 65 zone

The cop comes back hands me my information and said that he's written many tickets in his day and he isn't really familiar with this type of car, he wanted to know if it was a TL and that maybe the information was incorrect on the registration card. I just laughed and said, "ummm did u see the emblem that says CL-S on the back of the car" He handed me my ticket to sign and that was that.

Goes to show how much the state troopers know about cars. Oh well...


I wasn't to mad considering I drive 40K a year, this has been my first ticket in 4 years.

I have seen signs before that say,

SPEED ENFORCED BY AIRCRAFT

but I never knew that was serious.

Just wanted to share.

bhurlbut

Sorry to hear it. Death from above, I guess! This makes me wonder about something: radar-absorbing paint. I know it exists, maybe we can find someone on AZ who works in the military, and ship a few gallons to us!

pits200

Nope, they don't use radar from that height.

They use something much much more accurate.

The trooper in the plane holds a standards stop watch and starts it when the car crosses one white line and then stops it when it crosses a second designated white line.

Now that is high tech there....

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

air uses the paint marks on the roadway, mile markers, & a time/distance calculation. Nothing is going to save you from this unless you see the plane & know that's what it's there for.

With fuel prices though I would expect that area is making a ton of $ to be able to fly that plane.

jSoong

iTrader: (1)

damn, i always thought those signs were bs and they never actually used em.

anyone know how those planes look like?

bhurlbut

Yeah, I wasn't talking about the plane-they obviously don't use radar they use D = r * t. I was talking about the bastards on the road....anyway fellas, just think about it for a few minutes.....

pits200

Ya, they are small prop planes. Its an expensive and time consuming scheme though, they need to have the plane in the air and numerous troopers on the ground to relay to. And yes, this spot is notorious for ticketing people because it is a wide open flat stretch for about 12 miles, but I thought the ticketing only occurred by troopers on the ground.

Trust me after getting pulled over like this, it puts speeding into a whole nother perspective, you never feel safe. On the the rest of the ride home after the ticket, it was sunny as all hell but I drove with my sunroof open and kept glancing up to see if Johnny Law was following me from 1,000 ft up

Signed, the Paranoid Speeder.

Ive never been so paranoid in my entire life.

02CL-TypeS

lol they are pretty bad in illinois too. Thankfully they don't waste their time with that bs in missouri...although I do have highway state patrol headquartes being built less then 3 miles from my house That means no tint for me!

bhurlbut

Ha! Found it. carbonyl iron ferrite. who wants to try it?

LukeaTron

I have seen the planes in operation on the PA turnpike several years ago. I also saw them in Ohio over the memorial day weekend this year. The ones in PA have no unusual markings but the one I saw in Ohio had some sort of badge thing painted on the bottom of the wings. When they're clocking they're very low (1000 ft or so) and slow flying parallel to the highway but not directly above it. I think what they try and do is come from behind and clock the cars as they overtake them.

My brother got busted in Montana last year by a plane. I'm sure out there where the roads long, arrow straight and flat it's a much more efficient way of doing things.

RYANGP

wow, planes? i had no idea they even used that method for speed enforcement. seems like a lot of work just to nails some speeders with tickets, but i guess i'll be on my toes when i cut through PA to get to school...

CL6

Read this:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...d_nine_feature

ironsurfer129

what kind of plane do they use, i gotta watch out for those

cbusAcuracls

Exactly...seen many planes here is flat Ohio. Very common here.
Thats why I always have my shade open on my sunroof and keep an eye on the sky.
My ex girlfriends mom got caught going 105 mph in her corvette down 71 between Columbus and Cinci by airplane.

pits200

Hey fellow Pburgher, your probably familiar with the pike, the place i got pulled over was the 12-15 mile section between the single tunnel (Blue Mountain) and the double tunnels(Tusca-something & Kittaninnany) about 35 miles after Carlisle right before I was about to go through the single Blue mountain tunnel.

Its very straight there for PA and easy to speed.

Beware also, if anyone wants to know pretty much where all state troopers sit on the PA pike, just ask.

CLTypeSixspeed

OUCH... i always read those signs, scoff, and keep speeding. Thanks for the heads up (no pun intended.. oo that was bad). Anyway man i drive that strectch often and im familiar with the spots as well but i guess now there are two paranoid PA Speeders. How much $ you gotta drop on that one? i got a 20 over going down a hill on a backroad it was around 150 i think

Allout

I know of people that have successfully defended against an airplane ticket in California. I don't know if they corrected the loophole but the arguement went like this:
1) Speed traps are not allowed in CA.
2) A speed trap is defined as measuring speed using time through a specific distance. (site specific code)
3) Officer - how did you gauge my speed from your Airplane?
4) Measured the time it took for vehicle to travel through a pre-measured distance.
5) An Airplane ticket is based upon the use of a speed trap as defined by code.
6) Ticket dismissed.

foreveraflboy

I got caught by a plane between exit 9 and 10 on the PA Turnpike years ago. Was doing around 85ish I believe. Basically had a state trooper flagging over cars two at a time while other troopers were writing out tickets. I still remember how surprised I was and how organized it was also.

foreveraflboy

Oh and the officer told be that they use the bold white lines that goes across the lane as markers for the plane to measure your speed in time.

ljmushock

thats crazy! i would have been like "touche!"

cltypeSLOW

i always knew they used the bold white markers running perpendicular to you...much like a stop sign, or street light line for start and stop points. anytime i pass something like that in an open freeway its pretty obvious you are in a speed trap, so just slow down a bit.

CL-Slick

iTrader: (7)

They do that near Pensacola, Florida. When I'm traveling through there I open my roof visor so I can see if there is a plane.

TypeStylinOnU

i know there are a few guys around my area with flat black paint and some say that the radar cant reflect off of it. I heard thats a myth tho

fsttyms1

I got nailed in Wi from a plane back in 2000

Sorta. It makes it harder (shortens the distance) Same goes for laser. The less reflective surface the shorter the distance they can get you at. With out some sort of jammer though you cant avoid radar. It will get you

pits200

I wish it would be that easy, my buddy is a PA state trooper but on the other side of the state and doesn't really have any pull where I got the ticket. But he said that they practice working on using the plane to catch speeders and even though it sounds like an inexact science there really aren't many loopholes in the PA code that allow you to fight it.

pits200

$176 for going 22mph over, the fines not horrible, but I am going to go and plead my case and hope to get it reduced to 5mph over and no points.

We shall see....

CLTypeSixspeed

yeah i feel that the points are the worst part

thevikas87

iTrader: (2)

i agree with what was mentioned earlier...this practice is probably in its last few days with gas prices...

South Jersey CL

i've been pulled over on I-81 right before the turnpike for going 80 in a 55. but i wasn't gunned down by a plane.

and the cop that got me looked like he was 12 (he had braces!!) but he only gave me a ticket for 65 in a 55.

Mach30SiR

A few $150+ tickets an hour, is more than enough to keep that little prop job up there for hours. They only bother with cars that are really smoking down the road.