TAMPA -- Saturday's Gasparilla pirate invasion and parade in Tampa will have full time air support.
The police department will have two officers in a helicopter overhead during the flotilla, invasion and parade that follows.
Chris Shepherd is the chief pilot for the Tampa police force, which plans to keep a helicopter crew hovering over the parade all day. "We will do two hour rotations, and we will be up (in the air) from approximately 9 in the morning until... we are not needed anymore," Shepherd said. He told reporters one helicopter will be assigned to Gasparilla while another chopper and crew will patrol the rest of the city.
Shepherd says that Gasparilla is one of the city's most challenging events for police, but having the helicopter helps them identify problems such as boats in distress, people falling overboard, or disturbances in the parade crowd.
Around 300,000 people are expected to crowd Bayshore Boulevard and nearby streets for Saturday's Gasparilla event. The grand marshal is veteran WWE star Ric Flair.
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