The most common questions we receive are, "What Emergencies does Squadron 23 respond to? How do you know where the emergency is? What duties can I perform during a mission? Do I have to be a pilot? Do I have to fly to participate?"
We have attempted to answer those questions below, and hope the answers prove illuminating and helpful. Having an understanding of the scope of our Emergency Services mission will be helpful (but not required!) prior to dropping by one of our meetings to meet the Squadron 23 members. Our meetings are open to the public and we'd love to have you as a guest! Come to one of our meetings and we'll be happy to show you around and describe all the positions available inside of a squadron and during missions. Such positions are not limited to Emergency Services, although many of us believe it to be the most exciting part of CAP!
Senior Member meetings are every 2nd and 4th Monday! Start time is between 7-7:30PM.
Michael Allen, the Squadron 23 Emergency Services Officer, is very proud to be a part of the squadron. At the time this message was written (May 2005), in 5 months Squadron 23 has responded to 21 Search missions, 4 Exercises, and 1 Counter Drug weekend at the Mexican-American border. If the average time for each member participating in a mission is roughly 5 hours, our members have spent roughly 325 man-hours serving America. Keep in mind that's for THIS squadron alone in just 5 months. This is a conservative estimate when you take in to account overnight stays at mission bases/cities, 8-12 hours per person per day training at Search And Rescue Exercises (SAR-EX's), Counter Drug briefings-flights-debriefings, etc. The actual total this year is most likely above 500 hours for our first 5 months of 2005. In addition we have weekly Cadet (12-18 years old, generally) meetings and 2 monthly Senior (adult) member meetings with regular squadron business. All meetings are on Mondays, with Senior meetings on the Second and Fourth Mondays (7-7:30 pm start time) every month.
We were featured on the History Channel in 2004 for Aerial Recon/Homeland Security. We were happy to host them at our SAREX so we could show the world our ability to help protect America. We even allowed their host, former Navy fighter pilot and Survivor contestant Hunter Ellis to serve as a Mission Scanner/Photographer during a photographic recon/intercept sortie aboard one of our aircraft. They called in local sheriff's deputies to investigate a moving van that simulated a terror threat near a dam, successfully completing the mission. They took and transmitted photos back to base via the CAP Satellite Digital Imaging System (SDIS). It's basically an on-board Satellite Phone up-link that allows us to transmit photos to any email box in the world just seconds after the photo is taken in the field.
We also ran Emergency Locater Transmitter (ELT) search sorties for Aircraft and Ground crews. We hosted 70 members during that exercise and it was a phenomenal success. We held a second SAREX in 2004, but very bad weather hampered flight operations, and a real mission was started during our SAREX. The real ELT mission that came up was a successful one where Michael Allen led a team on the ground (see Urban Direction Finding Team for information on the type of team) to Lampson Field at Clear Lake to silence an ELT going off in a hangar there. It was an example of the excellent ability of Squadron 23 and CAP as a whole to respond anytime to real emergencies whether it's in the middle of the night, or during an already running exercise.
What kinds of distress beacons are there? What's an ELT? EPIRB? PLB?
121.5 MHz Emergency Locater Transmitters (ELT's) represent the bulk of CAP missions. When the orbiting SARSAT satellites detect a 121.5, or 243 MHz transmission after 2 overhead passes (about a 2-3 hour period), the wheels are set in motion for a Mission to be issued by the Air Force. First, the United States Mission Control Center (USMCC) is alerted in Suitland, Maryland. For signals at sea, the Coast Guard is passed the mission. For probable land based signals, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) in Langley, VA, is alerted to the situation. The AFRCC calls the CAP California Wing whenever it's a probable California ELT, and assigns us the mission. Our job, locate the exact source and location of the signal inside the state, save lives of survivors if possible, and shut down the signal. Even if it's just a false alarm the signal needs to be shut-down because SARSAT can only track 10 signals nation wide. A false alarm may preclude a real emergency from being detected, so time is of the essence. SARSAT is generally accurate to within 15 miles of the actual ELT location. It takes aircraft and ground teams to find the exact location of a 121.5 and 243 MHz signal.The marine version of an ELT used aboard everything from cruise ships to sailboats is called the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB, pronounced e-purb). They transmit on either 121.5 or 243 MHz, and CANNOT be differentiated from an ELT. Any mission for a 121.5 or 243 signal could be an ELT, or an EPIRB, you just don't know until you find it! It's part of the challenge of Bay Area CAP missions; So many boats in the bay and in marinas, along with local airports.
In 2009, the 121.5 and 243 distress beacons will no longer be tracked by SARSAT. You must convert to the 406 MHz distress beacon or no one will know to come and find you, because no one will be listening for your old 121.5/243 MHz beacon's call for help! The 406 MHz beacon transmits an ID code to the SARSAT system, telling us exactly who's beacon is going off allowing us to look up the owners address and contact information before launching SAR resources. Some of the new 406 MHz distress beacons (known as Personal Locater Beacons, or PLB's) have the ability to transmit GPS coordinates to the SARSAT system, telling us exactly where to find the beacon on the face of the planet! It also does this WITHOUT the need for multiple passes of orbiting satellites. Instead it's detected instantly by satellites that don't change their position in reference to the earth's surface. They're called Geostationary Orbiting Search And Rescue (GEOSAR) Satellites. No more "passes" to wait for, just a guardian hovering in one spot over you in space listening for your call for help. This shaves many hours off the time to launch resources. These PLB's are currently very expensive and are a small percentage of the total distress beacons currently in use. They MUST be registered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in order for us to know anything about the owner of the beacon, it's also the law. You must re-register your serialized PLB every few years to be current in their system, whenever you move/change phone contact numbers, or the PLB changes ownership.
CAP saves taxpayers an incredible amount of money. Imagine launching a C-130, a huge four engine turboprop (jet engines that turn a propeller) to locate a distress beacon... You couldn't even start one of it's four engines for $80. But on average that's all it costs CAP to hunt a beacon per hour of airtime. $80 per hour of aircraft use. About 2/3 of that are fuel costs, the rest is maintenance cost of operating the plane. Think of the cost of running a four engine turboprop for 3 hours. That's tens of thousands of dollars. Plus, do you want a C-130 flying at 2000 feet above your home, possibly at midnight or later as you try to sleep? What about the possible panic of people looking up at this rather large military plane making circles around their neighborhood? CAP can perform that same mission with a single engine plane (usually a Cessna 182) for about $240 TOTAL COST for three hours flight time, and make a lot less noise, not to mention it's not nearly as intrusive as a bulky C-130 doing orbits overhead! Ground Teams and UDF teams (descriptions below) cost far less then that. We're all volunteers so there's no pay to serve, but fuel/oil are reimbursed for Ground Teams/UDF Teams as well as aircraft, both CAP owned and member owned, if the Incident Commander authorizes use of a personally owned aircraft.
We're a diverse group of people with various backgrounds. Building/construction, IT/Internet, advertising, finance, and law professionals are just a part of our squadron's makeup. You don't even have to fly to be an active member going on missions! Let me repeat, you don't have to be a pilot to be in CAP, and you can serve strictly on the ground, it's your choice!
Here's some of the things you can do as a CAP Emergency Services Qualified member:
You can be a part of an aircrew as a Mission Scanner (the person responsible for looking for debris or taking photographs out of the aircraft windows.) This is the entry level position for ALL aircrew members. Even pilots MUST become a Mission Scanner before they can continue on to Mission Pilot. However, once you complete this initial step, you may move on to a more challenging and fulfilling role, Mission Observer Trainee, or Mission Pilot Trainee.
As a Mission Observer, you're in charge of an aircraft on a mission. You don't FLY the plane and don't need to be a licensed pilot, but you're in charge of conducting the CAP mission activities during the sortie. I enjoy flight time running missions from the right seat as a Mission Observer. I'm not a pilot but enjoy working along side them and directing the work of the Mission Scanners. Of course the pilot is ultimately responsible for the safety of the aircraft and crew, but the Mission Observer is responsible for taking charge of the CAP radios, overseeing the state of the aircrew as it pertains to the sortie, logging times for reporting later (take off/landing times, time entering and leaving a search area, etc) making sure Mission Scanners take breaks to avoid fatigue setting in, among other tasks. This minimizes the amount of additional stress placed on the pilot during missions and enhances safety and crew resource management (CRM). Any member that has become a qualified Mission Scanner may train for and become a Mission Observer.
Finally, there's Mission Pilot. You can become a Transport Mission Pilot, meaning you can fly medical supplies/organs, key personnel to and from remote or isolated areas, Dog Teams for missing persons searches, or any other OES or Air Force requested Transport mission that's NOT into a disaster area or classified a Disaster Relief sortie. Disaster Relief sorties are reserved for the next level of Mission Pilot because of it's more critical and stressful nature. Transport Mission Pilot is general Airport A to Airport B flying.
Search and Rescue/Disaster Relief (SAR/DR) Mission Pilot is the top level pilot position. You fly ELT searches, Missing Plane/Persons searches, supplies and persons in and out of disaster areas, photo recon missions, damage assessments over terror attack sites (as CAP did over the WTC on Sept. 11th), etc. As a Qualified SAR/DR Mission Pilot, just about any mission can be flown by you. Expectations and skill needed to fill this position are high. It's a challenge but the rewards are more then worth it!
If you'd like to participate in a ground role, whether in the field or at a mission base, this is where a majority of missions are!
Urban Direction Finding Teams (UDF) hunt ELT's, as the name suggests, in Urban areas. They're small ground units that handle the bulk of CAP search duties. That's right, UDF teams get the most calls! The general rule is they're made up of at least 2 people, and stay within Cell phone coverage or CAP radio range ON PAVED ROADS (no dirt roads unless it's someone's driveway and the Incident Commander approved you to proceed). They go to airports and local private airstrips, residential areas, business districts, marinas, etc. Again, the rule of thumb is ON PAVED ROADS within good communications range of the Incident Commander (or IC as we call them) in charge of the mission.Ground Teams are an off road version of UDF teams. They're more highly trained, carry additional equipment, have additional medical training, and are comprised of a minimum of 4 people; At least three Ground Team Members (GTM), and a Qualified Ground Team Leader (GTL). They can, if needs be, stay in an unpopulated area (such as a forest) on a search overnight. There are three levels of Ground Team Member. Each level consists of additional training in Safety and Mission duties, as well as equipment carried. The lowest level member of a Ground Team determines the capability of the team. In other words a Ground Team made up of three Level 1 members (highest skill level possible) and one Level 3 member (lowest training level), means the whole team is limited to Level 3 operations. If the lowest level member is a Trainee on a higher skill level, say a Level 2 member is a Level 1 Trainee, it's up to the IC to decide whether or not to allow the team to preform to the higher level. That's because the IC is ultimately responsible for EVERY member and EVERYTHING that comes from CAP's involvement in the mission. If someone on the mission were to be hurt, the IC is responsible for allowing the trainee to participate to the higher skill level.
Search/Mission base roles follow the Incident Command System (ICS). This includes Incident Commander (IC), Press Officers, Safety Officers, Logistics, Operations, Planning, and Finance/Admin Chiefs, Air Branch Director, Ground Branch Director, etc. There's too many roles in a Mission ICS staff to cover here. Please join us at a meeting on the 2nd and/or 4th Monday of the month and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have!The premise of the CAP "Conventional Grid" system is to divide the United States into 15-minute by 15-minute quadrangle grids. In the old conventional grid system, these grids are numerically labeled sequentially on each sectional chart. Where there is overlap, one sectional map is designated the primary. In the new Cell Grid system, a grid is identified by the latitude longitude coordinate of the southeast corner, and then can be divided up into subsections labelled "A" through "D." This system allows CAP personnel to easily designate areas for search. For example, a mission coordinator could say, "I would like Twin Cities (Sectional designator MSP) Grid 121 searched." The MC may further request the search method he or she desires in that grid, and may further restrict the search to a smaller area (e.g., MSP 121A). A tasking such as this positively identifies the region to be searched to anyone using the CAP grid system.
Collection of useful links: