Fleet Air Arm Association of Australia

RAN Pilot in US Service

25 November 2009

Four drug runners detained and four and a half tonnes of drugs seized - the result of a recent patrol by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) with RAN officer LEUT Joel Cooper onboard.

LEUT Cooper is serving as a HH-65C Dolphin pilot on a loan posting to the USCG. Typically the day-to-day job involves flying search and rescue in the Los Angeles area but recently LEUT Cooper deployed onboard USCG cutters Sherman and Jarvis for counter-narcotics operations throughout Central America.

"As one of the pilots onboard I was responsible for patrolling ahead of the ship to locate drug-running vessels," he said. "The patrol culminated with the location of a self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) vessel carrying four and a half tonnes of heroine and cocaine.

"The SPSS is the latest trafficking tool for drug cartels. They are designed to cruise just below the waterline and are very difficult to detect. To date very few SPSSs have been caught and this seizure is one of the Coast Guard's largest drug busts," LEUT Cooper said.

LEUT Cooper will serve with the USCG until 2011 then return to the Fleet Air Arm base HMAS Albatross at Nowra, NSW.

Picture: LEUT Joel Cooper next to a USCG HH-65C Dolphin helicopter onboard USCG cutter Jarvis.

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