Civil Air Patrol

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Civil Air Patrol

• The Official USAF Auxiliary
• Capt. Rangi Keen, CAP

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Overview

• What is the Civil Air Patrol (CAP)?
• Our missions
• How we are activated
• Examples from real missions

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A Brief History

• Formed on December 1st, 1941
• Wartime missions
• Coastal and border patrol
• Transport
• Aerial Target Towing
• Searchlight Radar Training
• Disaster Relief
• Airfield and Resource Security

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CAP Today

• The United States Air Force Auxiliary
• A congressionally chartered non-combatant
  organization
• 65,000 Civilian Volunteers
• 35,000 Seniors (adults)
• 30,000 Cadets
• 52 Wings
• 550 Corporate and 4,500 Member Aircraft

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CAP Missions

• Aerospace Education
• Cadet Program
• Emergency Services
• Search and Rescue
• Disaster Relief
• Emergency Communications
• Homeland Security

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Search and Rescue (SAR)

• Tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination
  Center (AFRCC)
• Located at Langley AFB in Alabama
• CAP conducts 95 of all inland SAR activities for
  downed aircraft
• Credited with saving 140 lives last year

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Mission Activation

• AFRCC is notified by the FAA, COSPAS-SARSAT, or
  other agencies
• Once verified as an actual distress situation,
  AFRCC activates the appropriate search agencies,
  which may include CAP, Coast Guard, or other
  federal, state, or local agencies
• All missions must go through AFRCC

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How can you speed it up?

• In the event of an overdue aircraft, your
  dispatch center should contact the AFRCC directly
  as part of its Post Incident Action Plan.
• AFRCC [phone]
• Give them the last known position and time,
  aircraft type and color, and souls and fuel on
  board.

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Survival Rates

• 29 will survive a crash
• 60 will be injured
• 81 will die if not located within 24 hours
• 94 will die if not located within 48 hours
• 40 will be uninjured
• 50 will die if not located within 72 hours
• Survival chances diminish rapidly after 72 hours

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Response Times

• Average time until activation
• 15.6 hours if no flight plan was filed
• 3.9 hours if a VFR flight plan was filed
• 1.1 hours if an IFR flight plan was filed
• Average time to find
• 62.6 hours if no flight plan was filed
• 18.2 hours if a VFR flight plan was filed
• 11.5 hours if an IFR flight plan was filed

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The Elusive ELT

• Automatic radio beacon (100 milliwatts)
• Roughly equal to that of a regular flashlight
• Can be heard on a line-of-sight basis.

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Types of ELTs

• Three frequencies
• 121.5 MHz (VHF)
• 243 MHz (UHF military)
• 406.025 MHz (advanced with GPS)
• General types
• General aviation aircraft
• Marine (EPIRB)
• Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)

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The ELT Antenna

• Most light aircraft have ELTs installed

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But

• They dont always survive

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ELT Activation

• ELTs - activated by G-force
• Requires 5-9 horizontal Gs
• Some have a remote switch in the cockpit
• EPIRBs - activated by a mercury switch
• Float out of their holder and invert
• PLBs - generally manually activated

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Inadvertent Activation

• Hard landing
• Inadvertent change of switch position
• Removal of the unit without deactivation
• Inadvertent activation of the manual switch
• Dropping the unit can activate the G-switch
• Malfunction
• Switch short
• Battery leakage or corrosion

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Whos Listening

• COSPAS-SARSAT
• FAA Facilities
• FSS, Centers, Towers
• Airliners
• Military Aircraft
• General Aviation Aircraft
• Signal report is relayed to AFRCC

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How SARSAT Works

• Determines position using Doppler shift
• Classic Doppler Example the lowering of the
  pitch of a trains horn as it passes by you
• If youre right near the track, this change is
  fast
• If youre farther away, the change is more
  gradual
• A change in the frequency received by the
  satellite occurs at the Point of Closest Approach
• For an overhead pass, this change is very abrupt
• For an oblique pass, this change is more gradual
• A higher frequency beacon gives a better shift
• Hence 406 MHz beacons tend to be more accurate

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Determining the position

• First pass gives a latitude
• It could be either side of the satellite
• Second pass determines the longitude
• Average 30-45 minutes between passes
• Positional error is typically elliptical
• 6 NM North-South
• 12 NM East-West

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System Accuracy

• 121.5 MHz
• 12 NM radius, 452 Sq Mi
• Average 6 Hour notification
• 75 mW transmitter
• 406 MHz
• 2 NM radius, 12.5 Sq Mi
• Average 1 hour notification
• 25 mW 121.5 transmitter
• 406 MHz with GPS
• 0.05 NM radius, 0.008 Sq Mi
• Average 5 minute notification
• 5 W data burst every 50 secs
• 25 mW 121.5 homing beacon

121.5 - 12 NM
406 - 2 NM
406 w/GPS - 0.05 NM
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False Alerts

• 97 of all missions are false alerts
• 121.5 MHz
• 1 in 500 are actual distress (0.2)
• Only 1 in 5 come from beacons (20)
• 406 MHz
• 1 in 12 are actual distress (8.3)
• Registration is required
• Most alerts can be resolved with a phone call

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Search Methods

• Electronic - Tracking the ELT
• Fast once we are receiving your signal, we can
  usually locate you to within 100 meters in less
  than 20 minutes
• Can be performed in poor visibility and at night
• Visual
• Slow
• Difficult
• VFR only

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Search Teams

• Airborne
• Three-person air crews perform electronic and
  visual searches
• Ground
• Four-person teams perform electronic and visual
  searches
• Work in all weather
• Manpower intensive, need to localize search area
  to be successful
• Work as a team with the air crews

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This is what we look for
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Crash with CAP on Scene
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Search Visibilities
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Crash From 800 AGL
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Crash From 800 AGL
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Crash From 1500 AGL
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Crash From 800 AGL
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Kearsarge Crash (July 2004)
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Kearsarge Crash (Overhead)
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Kearsarge Crash (Close-up)
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We Used ICS at Kearsarge

• CAP uses the Incident Command System during all
  its missions
• Provides for effective span of control and unity
  of command
• Facilitates communication and cooperation with
  other agencies

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Posse Comitatus

• We are not law enforcement
• CAP members may not
• Carry firearms
• Participate in detention or arrest of persons or
  seizure of property
• Conduct surveillance of personnel or equipment

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Posse Comitatus (Cont.)

• CAP members may not be deputized
• No authority to restrict persons by force
• May provide passive assistance to law enforcement
• Can do passive site surveillance
• No trespassing allowed
• No special dispensations

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Working Together

• Call AFRCC at [phone]
• Search and rescue exercises (SAREXs)
• Other ideas?

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For More Information

• Web Sites
• http//www.cap.gov/
• http//lebanon.nhwgcap.org/
• http//www.sarsat.noaa.gov/
• E-mail
• CAP_at_buenokeen.com