2008.07.28
Recent UDF Training Put To Use In Late Night Mission
Cadets D. Murphy and K. Gadzala contributed to this article.
It is sometimes overlooked what the Civil Air Patrol is capable of and responsible for. While we do meet regularly for meetings and training, qualified members of CAP can also participate in real Air Force-Assigned missions.
One of the most common mission types is an electronic search where teams try to locate an activated ELT. (emergency locator transmitter). An ELT is a device in an airplane designed to transmit an electronic signal if the airplane encounters a force of more than 1 "G" in the forward direction. A crash is the likely scenario to activate the device. Sometimes other causes can set the ELT off. The signal is received by satellites and forwarded to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) where the approximate location of the signal is determined. The AFRCC then usually alerts the nearest CAP Wing and assigns them the task of finding and shutting off the ELT.
On July 28, around midnight, an alert was issued. Cadet Gadzala received the alert via text message on his cell phone. It indicated an ELT in the Naperville area. Cadet Gadzala alerted another ES qualified member, Cadet Murphy and then called the incident commander informing him of their availability.
Soon after, they were in contact with the Ground Team Leader, Maj. Bob Taylor. They rendezvoused with Maj. Taylor and two other senior members at the WalMart on Rt. 59 at about 0100 hours. After getting a bearing on the signal, Cadet Murphy advised Maj. Taylor that the signal could be coming from Naper Aero, a local community airport. After waiting for police escort, the team proceded to the airport to continue searching.
At about 0220 hours, the signal was localized to a particular hangar. The owners were awakened and it was explained to them why the team was there. Twenty minutes later the ELT was shut off. The owner did indicate that he made a hard landing earlier in the day. After all the relevent data was collected, the team left the scene and headed back to the original rendezvous area, where they disbanded and left for home. The cadets were back home at about 0345 hours.
The local search definitely put the cadets' recently acquired electronic
search training to good use. They learned a lot on this actual mission. It
wasn't a crash, but nonetheless, treated it as though it could have been.
They encourage others, especially other cadets interested in emergency
services, to get the same training and be ready to get the alert.