Hidden in ‘plane’ sight: Missouri State Highway Patrol turns to the sky to catch speeders
By: Gabrielle Teiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) -- It's not uncommon for Missouri drivers to have to maneuver cones, reduce speeds, drive through narrow lanes, or have construction crews standing feet away from the road, with nearly 600 active work zones on highways across the state under the Missouri Department of Transportation.
Even with signs telling drivers to slow down in work zones, some still drive through them at triple-digit speeds. While some frequent drivers may know where to slow down to avoid getting a ticket from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, troopers are much harder to spot when they're flying 1,200 feet above you.
As the $2.8 billion Improve I-70 Project, widening Interstate 70 to three lanes in each direction from St. Louis to Kansas City, ramps up, more work zones are popping up along the interstate, leading to traffic backups, speed reduction zones and crashes.
Speeding through work zones creates a risk for the speeder, but also for highway workers and other drivers. According to MoDOT, 11% of work zone crashes involved speeding. Over the last five years, at least 5,000 people have been injured in work zone crashes, according to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission.
Data from MHTC shows 89% of drivers in the Improve I-70 work zone in Callaway County were going at least 5 mph or more over the work zone speed limit of 55 mph.
"It's a huge safety issue for not only the public, but also the construction workers in those zones," said Master Sgt. Dustin Metzner with the Highway Patrol's Aircraft Division.
At least 745 people have died on Missouri roads this year, which is more than two deaths on average per day. Excessive speed was a factor in 36% of deadly crashes, according to SaveMOLives.
Drivers may be used to seeing troopers on the side of the roads, but sometimes they're also flying above the work zone using the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Aircraft Division.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol's Aircraft Division has been using planes for traffic and speed enforcement since the late 1950s. So far this year, the patrol has conducted at least 42 traffic enforcement flights in Mid-Missouri. The work zones go through counties including Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Phelps, Pulaski and Saline.
"When we have the aircraft up overhead, it lets us not be seen in a sense," said Cpl. Geoffrey Beaulieu with the Highway Patrol's Troop F. "Once people see the police, they tend to really slow down and cause a lot of congestion on the highway, especially the constructions like this one."
The Missouri State Highway Patrol's Aircraft Division fleet includes three helicopters, five single-engine Cessna planes and one twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 250.
Many other states around the country also use aircraft to enforce speed limits and traffic violations, such as California, Colorado, Ohio and Wisconsin.
How the process works
The process for aerial speed enforcement is simple. ABC 17 News went up in the air with the Patrol to see how the process works firsthand, flying over the Improve I-70 work zone in western Callaway County.
Before they can start speed enforcement from the sky, troopers and MoDOT must lay blocks on the road to measure the speed. "The blocks are laid out on the highway, measured with a certified tape measure by pilots one eighth of a mile apart," Metzner said.
The pilot uses a certified stopwatch, also set to an eighth of a mile, to time how long it takes a car to get from right before the first block to past the second block. The stopwatch will then calculate the car's speed using the formula time over distance equals speed.
The troopers do a run-through before starting the speed enforcement to make sure the blocks are accurately spaced and the stopwatch is correctly calculated.
If the pilot is not 100% certain they started the watch at the right time, they will not tell the ground trooper to pull over the driver.
"We're always on the side of caution and benefit the violators," said Metzner. "If we measure their distance less than an eighth of a mile on the watch, it's going to erroneously give us a faster speed than what they're actually going.”
The patrol will not pull over a driver if there is any uncertainty. For example, if the pilot sees a speeding white car, but then three more white cars pull up next to it while the pilot isn't looking, they will not radio the ground trooper because they cannot testify which white car was the speeder.
"That's where you really got to pay attention, because we are responsible for identifying the car and saying that it was speeding," Metzner said.
The pilot radios a trooper on the ground and tells the trooper what they see.
"As it gets closer, they'll just keep us updated from the point of letting us know what kind of vehicle it is, what color, and once we get behind it, they let us know that it's the right vehicle," Beaulieu said.
The trooper on the ground then pulls the speeder over and writes the driver a ticket on behalf of the trooper on the ground and up in the air.
The troopers reset and repeat the process again and again. There are typically three or four ground troopers working with the plane to enforce speed.
Metzner says the western Callaway County work zone can be a difficult area for troopers on the ground to safely enforce speed on their own.
"If they are in there and they see somebody speeding, they almost always have to wait 'til they're outside of the construction zone to then find a shoulder wide enough or maybe an exit to stop that vehicle to get them safely off the narrow lanes in the narrow shoulder to safely conduct the traffic stop," Metzner said. "That's where it's super successful on our behalf when we're airborne, it's not affecting traffic down there because we're airborne overhead, and then we can watch that vehicle as it exits out the construction zone or safely exits on an overpass exit and get them stopped in a safe area, for the safety of the trooper and the public."
It takes a good amount of coordination to do aerial traffic enforcement. Metzner says the weather has to be good, a pilot, a plane and ground troopers have to be available and the speed blocks have to be set up.
A lot of the time, the construction zones are wrapped up and done by the time you get that done," said Metzner. "We don't do a ton of airborne construction zone enforcement because the logistics of it are pretty tough a lot of times."
Troopers also look for other road violations like following too close, lane violations, reckless driving and cutting into traffic.
Since the start of 2025, MSHP has conducted at least 94 traffic enforcement flights across the state, with 42 of those happening in Mid-Missouri, according to flight reports provided the Missouri State Highway Patrol under a records request.
Data from flight reports for traffic enforcement in Callaway County
| Date of flight | Total time enforcing traffic | Speeding tickets given | Speeding warnings given | 6-10 mph over speed limit | 11-20 mph over speed limit | 21+ mph over speed limit |
| July 23 | N/A | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Aug. 12 | 1.3 hours | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Aug. 27 | N/A | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Sept. 4 | 2 hours | 11 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 11 |
| Oct. 9 | N/A | 3 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 0 |
| Oct. 21 | 2 hours | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Oct. 30 | 2 hours | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Nov. 7 | 2.5 hours | 1 | 12 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Nov. 8 | 1.5 hours | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| TOTALS | 11.3 hours | 66 | 36 | 1 driver | 37 drivers | 65 drivers |
Statewide, aerial enforcement this year has resulted in about 782 speeding tickets and 192 speeding warnings. Most of the speeding drivers ticketed were going at least 21 miles over the work zone speed limit, which is typically 55 mph.
Per flight, an average of about 19 tickets and warnings were issued. The patrol also looks for other moving violations such as careless and imprudent driving, following too close, passing lane violations, warrants and DWIs. More than 600 other road violation warnings were given, according to the reports.
According to the Highway Patrol, each time the patrol's Cessna 182 planes fly, it costs about $130 in fuel and maintenance per hour.
The Callaway County courts prosecute thousands of misdemeanors every year -- most of them traffic tickets.
Callaway County Prosecuting Attorney Sandra Colhour says aircraft-assisted speeding tickets are treated just like the traditional speeding ticket.
"They're not uncommon for us, and they're not unusual for us," said Colhour. "We've been filing and charging those speeding tickets, those speeding offenses with aircraft-assisted tickets for years and years and years."
Colhour says most people recognize they were speeding and pay the fine, but drivers have the right to go to trial to fight it. The only big difference in how the trial proceeds is that two subpoenas must be issued for an aerial enforcement ticket, one for the trooper on the ground and one for the pilot.
"We ask very basic questions about the reliability of the process, what that trooper in the air observed, and then talk to the trooper on the ground about pulling the motorist over, and present the case that way, really not a lot of difference," Colhour said.
Despite how drivers may feel about being watched for speeding, Colhour believes aerial enforcement is fair.
"Fairness is really a bedrock of the criminal justice system, and the great thing about aerial enforcement is that the process can be trusted," Colhour said. "Those troopers are well trained, the equipment they use is reliable, they are trustworthy witnesses, so by and large, the process is not complicated, and it's fair to motorists."
In Missouri, there are specific laws and penalties for driving recklessly through a work zone. If a driver hits or kills a worker, they can be fined up to $10,000 and lose their license for a year. According to MoDOT, since 2000, at least 16 MoDOT employees have been killed in work zones.
"Nobody really wants to get a speeding ticket; none of us like getting a speeding ticket," Colhour said. "While you don't want to be the one getting a ticket, I think most people are fairly glad that the patrol is out there, enforcing speed limits in those zones because they can be dangerous places."
According to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, in 2024, 23 people were killed and around 90 were seriously hurt in work zone crashes. Protective MoDOT vehicles designed to slow down or move over drivers were hit at least 35 times.
Officials say 745 people have lost their lives on state roads this year, which is more than two deaths on average per day.
"As we know, living through I-70 construction zones can be inherently dangerous," Colhour said.
Driving 5 mph over the speed limit in Missouri is an infraction, typically with a fine. Driving 6 to 19 mph over the speed limit is a Class C misdemeanor, carrying up to 15 days in jail and a maximum penalty of $750. Speeding 20 mph or more over the limit is a Class B misdemeanor, which can land drivers six months in jail and a maximum fine of $1,000.
Jail time is rare for speeding offenses.
