Washington - The Office of Air and Marine P-3 Operations Centers are assisting the U.S. Coast Guard in clean up efforts for Operation Deepwater Horizon-the oil spill that has spread throughout the Gulf Coast region.
P-3 flight crews from Corpus Christi, Texas and Jacksonville, Fla., are providing airspace de-confliction and flight advisories to the numerous government agencies that are participating in the clean up and containment efforts.
The P-3 Airborne Early Warning is a detection and monitoring aircraft that is used to provide wide area surveillance, airborne command and control and communications capabilities. The aircraft's high-endurance, all-weather capabilities combined with the exceptional flight crew experience makes it ideal for this mission," said Ron Reed, the Aviation Group Supervisor in Corpus Christi.
"Our P-3's have the capability to provide aerial over watch, communications relay and simulcast for all of the government organizations involved in this effort-something nobody else can do."
OAM has been asked to provide 100 hours of flight time to assist with this effort, and operations began on Thursday morning-within 24 hours of the U.S. Coast Guard's request.