![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/04\/1-Field_Helicopter.jpg\")
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\u201cWhen I was about 7 years old, my dad\u2014a former naval aviator\u2014put me in the back seat of a small plane,\u201d said Maryland Natural Resources Police<\/a> Sgt. John Buchanan. \u201cWe took off and I was immediately fascinated. First he demonstrated his crop dusting maneuvers. Then, he told me to grab the stick in front of me. He was taking a break. What a sensation! That\u2019s when I got hooked on flying.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, young John tagged along to work with his dad at Downstown Aero in New Jersey. There he flew in a helicopter for the first time: \u201cJust like the one on the television show M.A.S.H.\u201c<\/p>\n Returning home to Denton, Buchanan picked up summer work as an aircraft mechanic at Maryland Airlines in Easton, home-base for the Natural Resources Police Aviation Unit. Opportunity knocked when a friend moved and John became the aviation mechanic.<\/p>\n In 1996, John jumped at a chance to attend the Natural Resources Police Training Academy, followed by work on a patrol boat out of Tilghman Island. Before long, he returned to aviation as a helicopter pilot.<\/p>\n The primary mission<\/a> was conservation law enforcement\u2014flying surveillance to assist officers as they patrol 17,000 miles of waterways and nearly a half-million acres of public lands. But, as one of only two law enforcement agencies with statewide jurisdiction, the force also helps with search, rescue and recovery operations and sometimes assists other authorities by locating suspects and providing for the safety of officers on the ground.<\/p>\n A self-described \u201cpeople person,\u201d coaching Little League and high school baseball helped him learn how to teach and mentor. \u201cIt made me a better supervisor,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where I learned how to build people up.\u201d<\/p>\n Then in the spring of 2015, the department tasked John with devising a plan to revive the aviation capability. Natural Resources Secretary Mark Belton learned the 1970 Bell OH-58 Kiowa helicopter that John used to fly was available again in the federal surplus program. With strong support from Gov. Larry Hogan, Belton was determined to bring it back home. And he did just that<\/a>.<\/p>\n By this past November, the black-and-gold aircraft, Natural 1<\/em>, resumed its place in the department\u2019s roster with Sgt. John Buchanan back in the pilot\u2019s seat\u2014exactly where he wants to be, doing exactly what he was meant to do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Article by Linda Wiley<\/strong>\u2014webmaster and member of the Committee for Conservation History.<\/em> \u201cWhen I was about 7 years old, my dad\u2014a former naval aviator\u2014put me in the back seat of a small plane,\u201d said Maryland Natural Resources Police Sgt. John Buchanan. \u201cWe took off and I was immediately fascinated. First he demonstrated his crop dusting maneuvers. Then, he told me to grab the stick in front of Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,14],"tags":[3168],"class_list":["post-13771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-nrp-news","tag-magazine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13771"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15586,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13771\/revisions\/15586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/04\/3-Field_behind.jpg\")
John saw his future. He enrolled in Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, graduating in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Technology, Aircraft Maintenance and Flying. \u201cIt was a rigorous academic environment,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when I graduated, there were very few jobs in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/04\/2-Field-Johnny-Blaze-and-Boyd.jpg\")
That critical mission came to a grinding halt when the aviation unit was suddenly disbanded in 2009. Sgt. Buchanan stayed on as a District Supervisor for several different areas. \u201cI missed flying a lot, but I was and still am committed to our mission: conservation. I worked in a job I was passionate about. It was both challenging and rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAppears in Vol. 20, No. 2\u00a0of the Maryland Natural Resource magazine, spring\u00a02017.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/04\/Field-1024x308.jpg\")
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