LAKE RENEGADE SEAWOLF - N64RF

The Lake Renegade Seawolf (LA-27) is a rugged, adaptable, single turbo-charged piston engine amphibious aircraft designed for nearshore low-level surveys. The aircraft is equipped with external fuel tanks, bubble windows, and NATO hardpoints. A standard crew consists of one pilot and up to three scientists. The Lake aircraft has been used for biological surveys including red drum, sea turtle and marine mammal surveys, as well as on site terrain observations.

STANDARD AIRCRAFT SPECIFICATIONS

CINMS Research Plane

The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary now share a joint patrol aircraft. The former Air Force plane is scheduled to make weekly trips around each sanctuary. The aircraft will enable personnel to monitor activity and resources, survey sanctuary users, conduct vessel traffic studies, observe the
effects of shore runoff, perform aerial surveys during oil spill emergencies, and collect data on both marine mammals and the kelp forest. Photography and video will be used to record sightings. Special onboard equipment includes a Global Positioning System and laptop computer. Position information can be downloaded instantly to register the
location of objects in sanctuary waters. The four-passenger sea plane is unique in that its engine is mounted above the pilot and passengers, enabling the vessel to land on its hull if required. (Get a closer look at the airplane.)

A typical mission profile involves flying transects at 1000 feet and 100 knots around the shorelines of the five islands (Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara) within the CINMS boundary. One transect is flown one half nautical mile from the shorelines, and a second transect is flown four miles from the shorelines. Mammal and vessel sightings are recorded on a laptop computer tied to the aircraft’s GPS. When surveys are completed, the data are converted for import into a Geographic Information System (GIS) so they can be geo-statistically analyzed for trends and anomalous phenomena. Surveys are flown weekdays and weekends to accurately sample both commercial and recreational vessel traffic.

Whenever flying standard survey missions, the NOAA-64 crew also keeps its eyes open for any out of the ordinary activity. After new artifacts became exposed at the Winfield Scott shipwreck site off Anacapa Island, NOAA-64 began regular overflights of the site as an enforcement presence to prevent looting of cultural resources. All boater and SCUBA activity at the site was (and continues to be) recorded. The crew also flies with a digital camera onboard to capture interesting and unusual events. One such event was the near collision of a coastal freighter and a juvenile blue whale. Though such events are believed to occur frequently, photographic evidence of them is rare.

NOAA-64 is also used for emergency response scenarios, such as oil spills. Thankfully no oil spills of significance occurred in the CINMS in 2002. There were, however, two vessel groundings to which NOAA-64 responded. The NOAA-64 crew, by request of the U.S. Coast Guard, performed overflights of the scenes to collect coordinates and photographs, and to assess resource damage. Coast Guard observers accompanied the NOAA-64 crew on many of these flights.