page_title: NOAA ships and aircraft
section_title: Aircraft operations
hierarchical_section_title: NOAA ships and aircraft / Aircraft operations
caption_attribution_description: English: This photograph was taken inside Hangar 5 at MacDill AFB, home of the NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center.
context_page_description: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Marine and Aviation Operations operates a wide variety of specialized aircraft and ships to complete NOAA's environmental and scientific missions. OMAO also manages the NOAA Small Boat Program and the NOAA Diving Program, the latter having as part of its mission the job of ensuring a level of diving skill conducive to safe and efficient operations in NOAA-sponsored underwater activities.
context_section_description: NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center (AOC), has been located at Lakeland Linder International Airport in Lakeland, Florida, since June 2017. The AOC is home to NOAA's fleet of aircraft. The aircraft often operate over open ocean, mountains, coastal wetlands, Arctic pack ice, and in and around hurricanes and other severe weather. Noncommercial aircraft support NOAA's atmospheric and hurricane surveillance/research programs, NOAA Hurricane Hunters. The aircraft collect environmental and geographic data for NOAA hurricane and other weather and atmospheric research; provide aerial support for coastal and aeronautical charting and remote sensing projects; conduct aerial surveys for hydrologic research, and provide support to NOAA's fishery research and marine mammal assessment programs.
  Prior to its move to Lakeland, the AOC resided at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, from January 1993 to June 2017.
caption: Inside Hangar 5, then the home of NOAA's AOC at MacDill Air Force Base, on 3 November 2008. The AOC moved to Lakeland Linder International Airport in Lakeland, Florida, in June 2017.
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