JUNEAU,
WI--The Watertown based Col. R. C. Jaye
Memorial Composite Squadron of Civil Air Patrol played host to a training
exercise at the Dodge County Airport in Juneau, Wisconsin Saturday and Sunday.
Seventy-eight members from throughout the state were involved in the
planning and execution of simulated search and rescue missions.
Several missions were tasked to the fourteen aircraft and five ground
teams that reported for duty.
The
aircrews and ground teams made the use of Electronic direction finding equipment
to pinpoint the exact location of Emergency Locator Transmitters, or “ELTs”.
ELT’s were mandated by congress to be installed in mostly all aircraft
by 1974. The beacon enhances the probability of a downed aircraft being found by
rescuers. Additionally, satellites
pick up these emergency signals to aid CAP rescuers in determining the latitude
and longitude coordinates of a downed aircraft.
Further instruction included the teams being trained in crash site
procedures and interviewing the community for clues to aid in the location of
search objectives.
Wisconsin
Wing was credited with five “saves” during actual search and rescue missions
in the year 2000.
As
well as training in Search and Rescue, CAP Aircrews flew over controlled fires
set by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Equipped
with video cameras, the aircrews taped the view from above.
The purpose of this activity was to show that mission managers could
assess the situation from a remote location.
This service provided by Civil Air Patrol would prove valuable should
actual forest fires occur.
Civil
Air Patrol is the official auxiliary to the United States Air Force.
A noncombatant, not-for-profit corporation, CAP performs more than 85
percent of inland search and rescue missions in the continental United States as
tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Langley AFB, Virginia.
Civil Air Patrol volunteers also take a leading role in aerospace
education and serve as mentors to America’s youth through the CAP Cadet
Program. The Col. R.C. Jaye
Memorial Composite Squadron is based in Watertown, WI.
To find out more about Civil Air Patrol and its missions, contact 1LT
Tedd Agnello at 262-751-4517 or call 1-800-FLY-2338.
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