Civil Air Patrol Key in Locating Missing Hikers

Aug. 11, 2011 - PRLog -- Grand Rapids, Michigan -

Two missing hikers were located by the Civil Air Patrol, the official Auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on Wednesday. The hikers, who had been missing since Sunday were located Wednesday after a CAP aircrew spotted a signal fire.

The Keweenaw County Sheriff’s department directed and coordinated the search activities with CAP Incident Commander, Lt. Col. Raj Kothari of Wolverine Lake, MI.

The hikers started out on Friday and were reported missing after they failed to arrive at a scheduled location on Monday. They were hiking in the very rugged and densely forested area of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

The Keweenaw Sherriff’s Department in Eagle River, MI., initiated the comprehensive search and rescue mission. Assistance was requested from the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) who deployed the Michigan Wing, Civil Air Patrol.
Tuesday afternoon, Lt. Col. Kothari directed the launching of three aircraft and five ground teams who travelled to the Lake Superior shoreline from all over the state.

During a well coordinated search Wednesday afternoon which included the Keweenaw Sheriff’s department, the US Coast Guard, the DNR, and additional local Emergency Services personnel, a CAP aircrew conducting a grid search spotted smoke from a signal fire and located the hikers.

The aircrew circled over the hiker’s location for over an hour as they guided ground teams into the rugged and remote location. The hikers were reached by ground team members and were found to be safe and in good condition.

Grand Rapids area squadrons of the CAP were directly involved in the successful mission. An aircrew was mustered in their CAP, Cessna 172.  A ground team from the Lakeshore squadron was also assembled and deployed.

Recently, the Grand Rapids squadron experienced a devastating weather event which damaged the squadron’s aircraft and demolished the squadron hanger at the Gerald R. Ford Airport. The very aircraft damaged in the June storm – recently returned to service, was the plane used to conduct the successful sortie on Wednesday.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, 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 113 lives in fiscal year 2010. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction 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 more than 26,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 69 years.
The Civil Air Patrol has five active squadrons in the West Michigan area. Squadrons are located in Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Ionia, and Hudsonville.
More information about the Civil Air Patrol, including meeting times, locations and contact information is located at www.gocivilairpatrol.com
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The Grand Rapids Senior Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol is dedicated to the CAP missions of Emergency Services, Aerospace Education and Cadet Programs. We conduct airborne and surface based search and rescue operations in support of our assigned missions