NEWS: Proficiency in search and rescue techniques tested during exercise

FORT BELVOIR, Va. — The National Capital Wing of the Civil Air Patrol conducted a training mission April 26 to search for a simulated missing aircraft. More than 50 cadets and officers from the wing participated in the search, which included three CAP aircraft and two search and rescue teams on the ground.

“I’m pleased that we managed to involve so many aircraft and personnel in the training”, said Lt. Col. Mark Bailey, wing director of operations. “The [Federal Aviation Administration] was very helpful in coordinating our activities.”

Most of the flight operations were conducted within the Air Defense Interdiction Zone, which surrounds the Washington, D.C., metro area. In the ADIZ, all aircraft must be under the continuous monitoring from air traffic controllers.

Click here to view photos from the training mission.

In April 2006, CAP members from across the region conducted one of the largest searches in more than a decade here for a missing aircraft that departed Hagerstown Regional Airport. More than 37 CAP aircraft and nearly 400 ground searchers were involved in the search.

Last year, The Washington Post also reported about CAP’s involvement in conducting homeland security missions over the District — including the testing of the Visual Warning System, which warns pilots that they are flying without approval in the ADIZ.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 56,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 103 lives in fiscal year 2007. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the nearly 22,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 65 years.

Media are welcome to attend or visit practice searches scheduled at Fort Belvoir in June and September of 2008. The September mission will be evaluated by the U.S. Air Force. For further information, contact Maj. Paul Cianciolo, wing director of public affairs, at pa@natcapwg.cap.gov.

For more information about CAP in the national capital area, go to www.natcapwg.cap.gov. 

By Maj. James Quinn, mission incident commander and wing chief of staff