Date: March 28, 2006

Contact: LT Chris Sweeney
(716) 818-7034

COAST GUARD INCREASES HOMELAND SECURITY CAPABILITY

Helicopter Operations on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

NIAGARA FALLS, NY- The final exercise for the Coast Guards new vertical deliver capability will be conducted at the Niagara Falls Airport( near Tech Aviation) on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 11:00am.

Static aircraft training will familiarize the students with aircraft configuration before flight operations. Each student will then deploy from the HH-65 'Dolphin'  helicopter from 20 feet, 35 feet and 50 feet, both in a single and duel configurations. Additional training will be scheduled for later in the year to practice the techniques under real conditions aboard a lake freighter.

Vertical delivery is one more tool the Coast Guard has to use to conduct Maritime Homeland Security missions on the Great Lakes.

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