Patrolling the beautiful beaches of Florida’s Gulf coastline is the daily business of the US Coast Guard at Clearwater. Combat Aircraft joins its MH-60T Jayhawks during training
JUST NORTH OF St Petersburg, the area around US Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater is classic Florida — beautiful sun-kissed beaches and idyllic waterfronts. The Tampa area features a large number of privately owned maritime vessels along with a significant volume of merchant shipping. Adding to a busy coastal picture are the various cruise ships traveling around the Gulf of Mexico and into the Caribbean.
While some may visualize Florida as a ‘vacation state’, this level of activity means the men and women of the coast guard’s Seventh District rarely have a day off.
USCGS Clearwater is the largest air station in the coast guard. Its workload involves maintaining watch over some 156,000 square miles of ocean, which equates to about 350 search and rescue incidents annually.
Factor in the unpredictable hurricane season and these are among the busiest operators in their field. During Hurricane Joaquin in 2015, Clearwater’s MH-60T Jayhawks rescued 12 people who abandoned the Min…
