Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans has change of command

When Rear Adm. Roy Nash welcomed Cmdr. Michael Brandhuber back to the New Orleans area Friday, he reminded the Coast Guard helicopter pilot of what’s ahead: Thickening Southern humidity and a tropical system lurking in the Gulf of Mexico. “You know it’s summer, so just get used to it,” Nash told Brandhuber during a command change ceremony in the Coast Guard’s hangar in Belle Chasse.

Brandhuber became the 27th commanding officer of Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans, replacing Cmdr. Frederick Riedlin. Brandhuber will lead about 120 men and women who fly and maintain MH-65C Dolphins, the sleek orange helicopters seen buzzing over Mardi Gras parade routes and are welcomed by mariners, fishers or oil rig workers in distress.

A decorated helicopter pilot, Brandhuber’s last post was executive officer of Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City, N.J. He served in the New Orleans area from 2002 to 2004.

He now commands an aviation operation with a $1.7 million budget and a $26 million physical plant that, under Riedlin’s command, helped save 248 lives and logged 504 search-and-rescue flights. The Coast Guard regards it as one of its busiest air stations, whose area of responsibility extends from Memphis, Tenn., to 200 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana’s border with Texas.

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