Last summer, flight trackers picked up a Phoenix Police Department helicopter spelling out the name “ALEX” with its flight path over a Maryvale neighborhood. Later that year, according to police records released to Phoenix New Times, the department found that the pilot engaged in unprofessional conduct.
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New Times first reported on the unusual flight path last July, when the pilot’s flight path was posted to Reddit. At the time, there was no public information about the purpose of the flight or the helicopter’s pilot, or whether the pilot was spelling their own name or someone else’s.
Public records now reveal the pilot to have been 48-year-old officer Alexander Crabbs, who was indeed spelling out his own name over the west Phoenix neighborhood just north of Interstate 10. According to documents, an inquiry about the flight from New Times sparked a review by the police department’s Professional Standards Bureau.
That review, which culminated in August 2025, found that Crabbs engaged in “unprofessional conduct” by failing to “maintain a professional approach to their duties at all times” when he used the helicopter to spell out his name. He used department resources to engage in “unnecessary activity,” which was available to the public and “created negative public inquiry and media coverage,” the investigation found.
He was assigned the professional discipline of “supervisory counseling” over the incident. Phoenix police did not respond to a request for comment from New Times.
Crabbs told investigators he picked landmarks on the ground and then tried to write his name in the sky using them as reference points, according to the investigation. In hindsight, Crabbs “expressed regret” for his activity and said, “I wouldn’t do it again, I tell you that.”
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“It was a slow Wednesday,” Crabbs explained to investigators.
Crabbs was in “sole control of the aircraft” as the “pilot in command” of a normally scheduled Phoenix Police Department helicopter flight. He’d been in the position for the department’s Air Support Unit for approximately eight months; however, he’s been employed by the department for 26 years. Crabbs has been a Federal Aviation Administration-certified pilot since January 2023.
At the time of his spelling misadventure, Crabbs wasn’t assigned to respond to a call and was “available to respond to requests for assistance,” according to the investigation’s findings. If a call had come in, Crabbs told investigators, he would have stopped the skywriting and responded.
“At the time, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, to be honest,” Crabbs said when investigators asked if he thought his activity was unprofessional. “I would be flying anyway and instead of drawing straight lines that are invisible, uh, I decided if I’d see if I can do my name.”
Phoenix police Commander Brian Riggan told investigators that Crabbs’ flight path wasn’t unsafe or outside of the helicopter’s capacities and was conducted at an appropriate altitude, meaning it “would not generate excessive noise on the ground.” Additionally, the investigation found that Crabbs’ usual flight path didn’t result in additional flight time, fuel or expense to the department, nor did it violate any FAA regulations, according to documentation provided to investigators.
Thus, Crabbs was not found to have wasted departmental resources, as he would have been piloting the helicopter anyway during that time while waiting to respond to emergency calls.
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