Marco Island Civil Air Patrol members fly missions in support of oil spill response

MARCO ISLAND, Fla. – Members of Marco Island Composite Squadron of Civil Air Patrol, the uniformed volunteer auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, are flying photo missions to document the shape of Florida’s Gulf coast as a “before” snapshot in the event oil from the offshore Deepwater Horizon drill site reaches the state’s shores.

Images from the mission, flown at the request of the state Department of Environmental Protection, will be used by state and federal agencies for damage assessment purposes.

Two Marco Island pilots, Capts. Richard Farmer and Bob MacNeill completed a five-hour flight profile on May 27 over a section of the Gulf Coast east from Destin, Fla., to a point southeast of Tallahassee.  A photo operator snapped what will represent a seamless composite photo of the coastline, made from nearly 1,800 photos.

Thousands of images have been captured by CAP aircrews in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. CAP’s missions in support of the oil spill response also include VIP

flights over coastal waters to inspect oil containment barriers, transport of vital mission equipment and data collection.

Civil Air Patrol is a nonprofit organization with 59,000 members nationwide. In its Air Force auxiliary role, the organization performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 72 lives in fiscal year 2009. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 24,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years. Visit  www.gocivilairpatrol.com for more information.

Civil Air Patrol: “Citizens Serving Communities – Above & Beyond!”

You can contact the Civil Air Patrol at:

Civil  Air  Patrol
Auxiliary of the United States Air Force

Marco Island Composite Squadron
Florida Wing – Unit #SER-FL-376
P. O. Box 225, Marco Island, FL 34146-0225