Air operations

Located in Wakefield, four dedicated teams of skilled NPAS Flight Despatchers provide 24/7 support to police forces across England and Wales. 

Regularly handling over 100 calls for service each day, the teams make dynamic decisions, prioritising simultaneous requests for support when there’s a ‘threat to life’. 

Our Operations Centre staff track our aircraft whenever they are airborne and individually monitor six radio channels, which cover the whole of England and Wales, plus telephone lines and computer systems which are digitally linked to forces. 

At the start of each 12-hour shift, the Flight Duty Officer is updated on safety issues, the location of all available aircraft, weather conditions, engineering requirements plus crew and aircraft availability. This enables them to make the best decisions for deployment. 

The job of the NPAS Operations Centre is unique and vital. 

As well as communicating with police forces, staff frequently liaise with search and rescue teams plus officers from prisons, military bases, nuclear power stations and other key national organisations and service providers. The team also plays an ever-important role in ‘deconfliction’ - instructing crews of other air space users, particularly drones, to avoid an airborne conflict.