Photo By Dan Bailey | First Lt. Cristal LePrade (left) of the Maine Wing’s Bar Harbor Squadron and Capt....... read more read more
CONCORD, N.H. – One hundred air crews from three Civil Air Patrol regions have begun conducting post-Hurricane Sandy aerial photo missions covering more than 300 miles of coastline from Cape Cod, Mass., to Cape May, N.J., in what’s seen as the largest aerial photo mission in CAP history.
The crews are expected take more than 120,000 photos over the next two to three days for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which will use the images for damage assessment.
In scope, the massive aerial photography mission is expected to surpass those CAP conducted as part of the responses to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“We took a large number of photos for those missions,” said Col. Dan Leclair, mission incident commander as well as commander of the Maine Wing, “but we will have more photos for Hurricane Sandy.”
A special task force of planners and aircrews was established to complete the mission.
CAP aircrews from the Northeast, Middle East and Great Lakes regions expect to fly 60-70 sorties and a total of 200 hours capturing images of every square inch of the eastern coastline, Leclair said.
The mission, which is being flown in a grid pattern similar to those CAP follows in conducting search and rescue missions, represents a paradigm shift from how the organization has conducted aerial photo missions in the past.
“This is a cultural change in how we take pictures,” Leclair said. “Yesterday we were looking only for damage, but today we will photograph everything, regardless of whether there is damage or not.
"We will give FEMA the broadest view of what’s occurred as possible, which will position them to readily pinpoint the areas of greatest need," he said.
The mission task force at the Northeast Region Area Coordination Center in Concord, N.H., is being led by Col. David Braun, the region’s director of operations. Planners include Majs. Richard Courtney of the Rhode Island Wing and Marc Brunelle and Donald Godfrey of the Maine Wing.
| Date Taken: | 11.03.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 11.03.2012 17:44 |
| Story ID: | 97241 |
| Location: | CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, US |
| Web Views: | 1,509 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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