Fond
du Lac, WI-- Guardian angels will again touch down
on the soil of Fond Du Lac County Airport this week as the Civil Air Patrol
keeps a weeklong vigil over the visiting aircraft and those who fly them.
CAP volunteers will be at the airport during the entirety of EAA’s
Airventure to make sure that all aircraft that intend on landing there, do.
CAP
ground teams will make use of Electronic direction finding equipment to pinpoint
the exact location of Emergency Locator Transmitters, or “ELTs”.
ELT’s were mandated by congress to be installed in mostly all aircraft
by 1974. The beacon enhances the probability of a downed aircraft being found by
rescuers. Additionally, satellites
pick up these emergency signals to aid CAP rescuers in determining the latitude
and longitude coordinates of a downed aircraft.
The teams are also trained in crash site procedures and interviewing the
community for clues to aid in the location of search objectives.
Wisconsin Wing was credited with saving five lives during search and
rescue missions conducted in the year 2000.
Civil
Air Patrol is the official auxiliary to the United States Air Force.
A noncombatant, not-for-profit corporation, CAP performs more than 85
percent of inland search and rescue missions in the continental United States as
tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Langley AFB, Virginia.
Civil Air Patrol volunteers also take a leading role in aerospace
education and serve as mentors to America’s youth through the CAP Cadet
Program. “Currently, there are no
CAP squadrons local to Fond Du Lac or its surrounding communities.
That is something we would very much like to change.” said 1LT Tedd
Agnello, CAP Public Affairs Officer for Wisconsin.
Those interested in seeing first hand what the volunteer men, women and
youth in CAP do, can stop down at the airport during Airventure.
Additionally, CAP will perform the same duties in Oshkosh.
To find out more about Civil Air Patrol and its missions, call 1-800-FLY-2338.
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