Aerial Support to Regional Enforcement Agencies
Coordinates: 32°49′7.65″N 116°58′26.23″W / 32.8187917°N 116.9739528°W ASTREA is an acronym for Aerial Support To Regional Enforcement Agencies, the air support unit of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. ASTREA Base is located at Gillespie Field Airport (IATA: SEE, ICAO: KSEE) in El Cajon, California.
1972 - ASTREA began operations with three Korean War-era Bell 47G helicopters based at Gillespie Field in El Cajon.
1997 - On February 16, Deputy Patrick "Pat" S. Coyle, 42, died after the ASTREA helicopter in which he and pilot Ron Hobson were flying crashed in Sycamore Canyon, northeast of Santee, California. His death marked the first fatality in the then 25-year history of the sheriff's air support unit.
2003 - Cedar Fire and Paradise Fire
2005 - ASTREA receives two refurbished Bell 205A-1++ "Super Huey" firefighting helicopters. These are the first two aircraft purchased for the new regional fire helicopter program the county started after the October 2003 wildfires. Both are single-engine, medium-lift copters equipped with 375 gallon underbelly water tanks. The helicopters arrived at Gillespie Field after a three-day, 2,000-mile flight from Eagle Copters of Calgary, Canada. They are designated Copter 10 and 12.
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