Speeding ticket via helicopter

[michlam4]

What is the name of your state? California
Is it legal for a CHP officer to issue a speeding ticket without pacing/radar and just going off of what a helicopter said? The officer said the helicopter paced me and converted to ground speed for going 83mph. I saw him approaching from about 1 mile away and coming up on me very fast (100+). I was going 70 and slowed to 65, but he pulled me over anyway without pacing me. I am fighting it in court, but not sure if I have any ground to stand on if the cop shows up. Thank you for your response.

[cepe10]

The highway safety deskbook is a good read...
[url]http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/enforce/DESKBK.html[/url]

There is no currently endorsed technique to pace by aircraft - that would be quite unreliable. The CHP may change his story to one in which the aircraft was using a speed computer...

"By timing the progress of a vehicle between measured points marked along the highway, the computed speed is the violator's average speed over a distance of a quarter mile or more."

Where there any fixed markings on the highway section at regular intervals?

Essentially you want to look at VASCAR (speed measurement computers) in your defense.

The helicopter personel are the ones who need to be present as witnesses to say what input they put into the speed computer, the speed computer will need to be shown to be currently calibrated for accuracy as well.