CSI Aviation Donates Surveillance Aircraft

Weh, CEO of the Albuquerque-based aviation support and logistics company CSI Aviation, says his company owns two Seeker aircraft for business purposes, but recently determined the company needed just one. He had two options: Sell the aircraft or give it to first responders. The answer, he says, was simple. 

"Our first responders put their lives on the line every day for the rest of us, and they are underpaid for what they do. They often lack the equipment they need, or they have to make do with older, worn out equipment," Weh says. "Today, I have the genuine pleasure of doing something about this problem in a small, but meaningful, way."

The Seeker was offered via a competitive proposal process to several New Mexico law enforcement agencies that were believed to have an interest in obtaining the aircraft, and which also operate an aviation program. The RFP was announced November 2012 and the aircraft was officially awarded to New Mexico State Police on January 22, 2013. The transaction was made official today at a ceremony with the Seeker at Atlantic Aviation.

"We are proud that New Mexico's State Police Department is a forward-looking organization that is not only committed to public safety, but innovative in providing its law enforcement services," Weh says. "I can assure you that the Seeker will provide our State Police with an exponential increase in surveillance capabilities, and I am confident it will now be able to expand these missions. And not unimportantly these days, the department will be able to fly this aircraft at a vastly reduced cost compared to helicopter and comparable fixed wing aircraft."

State Police Chief Robert Shilling says the Seeker will enhance mission capabilities and increase support to multiple local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

"The Seeker is a great addition to our fleet," Chief Shilling says. "Because of the aircraft's unique surveillance capabilities, our aircrews will now be able to monitor sensitive, undercover law enforcement operations using its extraordinary ability to fly slowly."

New Mexico Secretary of Public Safety Secretary Gorden Eden said Weh's company is an exemplary organization. 

"It's great to see a New Mexico business like CSI Aviation make this kind of contribution to protect New Mexicans," Secretary Eden says. "With this company's scope of work, it could be headquartered anywhere in the United States. But they choose to call New Mexico home."