Components of Aerial Operations Training and Development

Abstract

Aerial operations play an integral role in any marine oil spill; from spotting, surveillance and quantification to assisting with other operations. The value of having a birds eye view and being able to feed information directly into decision making groups and the ICS structure is invaluable. Such an important component of today'S response toolbox, aerial surveillance remains a ‘black art’ when compared to the more commonly used tools such as shoreline and surface water surveillance. Variation in application methods, knowledge of limitations and discrepancies in the interpretation of outputs all reduce the overall value of the information acquired. Solutions to this problem sound profoundly simple, an increase in training, more numerous training flights and an improved exposure for individual aerial operators. Being in a position to take such opportunities, responders in Oil Spill Response and East Asia Response Ltd (OSRL EARL) are pushing to develop new systems and use their experience to improve performance. Using actual operational flights as test platforms to develop new integrated tools, the authors will demonstrate these tools and outputs from various training flights and operational sorties to illustrate the current status of development and discuss future plans.