Mike DeWine's helicopter lands in Cleveland the week of the drone bill veto decision

Mike DeWine's aircraft — an Ohio State Highway Patrol Airbus H125 registered N71HP — was tracked flying from Flyers Park Airport (OH20) to Burke Lakefront Airport (KBKL) on June 24, 2026, a 42-minute hop that reached 2,350 feet.

If DeWine was on board, he would arrive in Cleveland the same week he is weighing whether to sign or veto HB 251, the so-called "drone bill" that establishes rules for police drone surveillance and has drawn opposition from the ACLU of Ohio over First Amendment and privacy concerns, per The Statehouse News Bureau. The governor has publicly compared reviewing bills to opening Christmas presents and has not tipped his hand on this particular package.

The flight is the first tracked movement for N71HP in celebplanes' records, suggesting it may have been a dedicated trip rather than part of a routine patrol rotation from the helicopter's base at John Glenn Columbus International. DeWine, a long-serving Republican governor, has been especially active this month on law-and-order issues — he recently called for abolishing Ohio's death penalty, citing the long delays between sentencing and execution as a failure of deterrence.