Plane photographs flood damage                                                                     Story by Spc. Cassandra Groce                                                                133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Kentucky National Guard                              Posted: June 12, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS – With the help of an advanced counterdrug aircraft, the Indiana National Guard received live footage of flood damage today throughout the state to assist missions and help local governments plan.

“It can show officials where roads are washed out and what damage there is to infrastructure,” Maj. Mark Jeffries, the Missions Systems Officer for the 130th Airlift Wing based out of Clarksburg, W. Va. Jeffries was part of the aircrew for the RC-26B.

The Reconnaissance Cargo – 26B (RC-26B) is one of 11 surveillance planes owned by the National Guard Bureau. While originally created to counter drug activity, it has since been used for homeland security and missions similar to today.

The advanced visual capabilities of the RC-26B make it superior to typical footage captured from cameras.

“The RC-26B is equipped with an infrared camera which can pick up any leakage from a power plant for example,” Jeffries said. “We can also get nice prints from the still cameras.”

Still photos of damage can be helpful during planning stages, allowing users to write on photos if necessary and also show the damage from a bird’s eye view with a wider angle. Video footage is shot at a different angle.

The RC-26B can also stay in the air at least twice as long as a helicopter.

In the past, National Guard RC-26B aircrafts have been deployed in support of the Katrina Operations, providing photos to the Army Corps of Engineers that identified a greater number of breaches than anticipated.

In following days the footage also showed hazardous material spills, detailed avenues for patient evacuation and located survivors with grid coordinated for rescue aircraft.

Footage captured from today’s mission is being converted from VHS format to digital, and then will be made to available to the public.

Interior and exterior photos of the RC-26B by Story by Spc. Cassandra Groce, 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Kentucky National Guard. Posted: June 12, 2008