Jacksonville, FL — A Naval Air Station Jacksonville-based P-8A Poseidon aircraft is now among the resources searching for survivors following Hurricane Harvey.
The base confirms Wednesday is the second day that the aircraft and Patrol Squadron 45 were involved in search efforts along the coast of Texas. Patrol Squadrons will start rotating daily, and the aircraft will continue conducting search operations in conjunction with FEMA, until instructed otherwise. The crew is in the air around eight hours, returning to Jacksonville each day.
An engineering response team and public works employees from NAS Jax were previously deployed to Texas for other assignments. A Mayport-based Coast Guard Cutter deployed Tuesday, and several other state resources have been sent to Texas over the last few days.
The P-8A Poseidon is generally used for surveillance and reconnaissance missions, but the NAS Jax-based aircraft has been involved in search missions before, including the search for a Malaysian airliner in the southern Indian Ocean.