Connecticut Wing Trains for Proficiency

DANBURY, Conn. - Nov. 19, 2014 - PRLog -- Civil Air Patrol’s Connecticut Wing conducted a day long, state-wide search and rescue exercise designed to enhance the proficiency of its cadets and senior members on November 15, 2014. Hartford-Brainard Airport served as the primary mission base with Meriden-Markham Municipal Airport and Danbury Municipal Airport serving as sub-bases for additional operations.

Major Jim Vigar, Commander of the 399th Danbury Composite Squadron, held an early morning safety briefing at Danbury Mission Base and outlined the training format of the day which included familiarization and preparatory work, then advanced training in the field. Cadet training focused on ground operations, which are critical to CAP’s search and rescue mission, and included radio operator, direction finding, compass skills and map work.

The first three cadet ground teams in Danbury moved out mid-morning after preparing individual field equipment and conducting gear inspections. The objective for cadets was to track and locate an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) which was sending out a simulated aircraft emergency signal. Cadets used direction finding equipment to track the signal from various locations, plotted their findings on maps, and by triangulation effectively located and silenced the ELT which was on an aircraft at Danbury Municipal Airport.

Ongoing training operations continued throughout the day and included additional air and ground team exercises. The second sortie of cadet ground teams set out early afternoon, coordinating their efforts with Civil Air Patrol aircraft to locate another distress beacon. With Captain John Freeman piloting the aircraft and Captain Johnny Burke serving as Mission Observer (both from the 399th Danbury Composite Squadron) the ELT was located in the hills of Redding, Connecticut. The aircrew then successfully directed the cadet ground teams in to silence the ELT.

Participants at Danbury Mission Base came from CTWG’s Western Connecticut Group and included members of the 399th Danbury Composite Squadron, 801st New Fairfield Cadet Squadron, Stratford Eagles Squadron, and the 143rd Waterbury Composite Squadron. Danbury Mission Base provided training to 22 cadets with 12 senior members providing support, training and aircrew.

Connecticut Wing Emergency Services Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Mike Heath, serving as overall mission commander at Hartford Mission Base said, “We had a good day of training out of three operational areas. Lieutenant Colonel John deAndrade (Thames River Composite Squadron) did an excellent job as Planning Section Chief and many members across the wing renewed or received new qualifications.”

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 61,000 members nationwide, operating a fleet of 550 aircraft. 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 is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 80 lives annually. Its unpaid professionals 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 more than 26,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet programs. CAP received the World Peace Prize in 2011 and has been performing missions for America for 72 years. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com or www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.