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SIERRA VISTA — Things are normally quiet at the headquarters of the Civil Air Patrol Cochise Composite Squadron 107 at the Sierra Vista Municipal Airport.
Occasionally, the members are called upon to take part in search and rescue missions to assist in locating downed aircraft or missing hikers.
On Aug. 15, a call for help came in around 3:45 p.m. from the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office. A single-engine Cessna 182 had not arrived at its destination near Tucson. There had been no word from Layne Bryant, a 63-year-old pilot from Green Valley, after his takeoff from San Simon the afternoon on Aug. 14. Bryant did not file a flight plan so the exact route he had taken was unknown.
Deputy Commander Rob Harnage got the call that afternoon on his pager and immediately began assembling the available squadron members. He also contacted the Arizona Wing, the state CAP center. Arizona Wing approves the search and rescue and issues a mission number.
  
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“In one hour we had a mission number and a crew in the air,” said 1st Lt. Dog Henderson.
A search area was defined and the team aboard the squadron’s Cessna 182 headed out to find the aircraft. Onboard were Deputy Commander Rob Harnage, mission observer; Capt. Bob Swann, mission scanner; and Lt. Col. Art Weisberger. They took off for the Benson/St. David quadrant that took them all the way to the border with New Mexico.
Just after the 182’s takeoff, Lt. Col. Tony McFarland, a CAP pilot with Tucson Squadron 104, landed to pick up 107’s 2nd Lt. Doug Henderson as a spotter and proceeded to their search area.
“I have been on many rescue calls, as a CAP pilot, and accident investigations, as a highway patrolman, so I am used to getting these calls. When we are searching for an aircraft, first I hope that we would find the downed aircraft and find someone waiving frantically …,” McFarland said.
Swann said safety is paramount in conducting any search.
“You don’t want to become part of the search. You perform risk assessments and make sure the crews are safe,” he added.
The lost plane had no location transmitter, but onboard was something else that can be helpful to locating a person — a cell phone. The search area was narrowed through the use of sophisticated cell phone tracking technology used by Capt. Justin Ogden, former member of the Pennsylvania Wing of the Civil Air Patrol who just moved to Arizona. Through the use of this technology, Ogden was able to narrow the potential search area. Since the mountains blocked reception in one direction, the search began at the outermost range of the cell tower and then they worked they’re way in flying low and slow.
“It’s easy to become confused when you’re flying low and at slow speeds,” Henderson said. “The plane acts differently at high altitudes. The pilot has to remain aware of what he’s doing. We operate much closer to the terrain with a narrow margin of safety. It takes coordination.”
Urgency is a double-edged sword. Fast and harried is a killer when flying a search and rescue mission. Slow and steady picks up on clues and finds items that were missed by crews that fly too fast over the search area.
“You must consciously slow down and ensure you absolutely cover everything,” Swann said.
The spotter looks for specific tell-tale indicators of a crash site.
“There can be shadows from the wreckage or scarring on the ground. A lot depends on how bad the crash was. Sometimes it’s difficult to locate a downed plane. Pieces can be scattered,” Swann said.
Henderson spotted remains of a plane in the rugged terrain of the Santa Rita Mountains just 15 miles from Tucson.
“When we found the crash that afternoon, we both had a feeling of helplessness and sadness in that we could do nothing for a fellow pilot,” McFarland said.
An Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter went in for a closer look. The helicopter’s crew determined the wreckage Henderson spotted was the missing plane and that Brandt had not survived. With darkness descending, DPS decided it would be safer for ground crews to manage the recovery during daylight. Brandt’s body was brought out on Aug. 16 by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Team.
Swan also gave credit to the squadron’s cadets, who manned radios, tracked the progress of the search and kept track of the aircraft involved.
There are many things that can wrong in an aircraft, Swann said. Even with an experienced pilot mishaps can happen out of the blue. They can run out of gas by not calculating the density of the air correctly. Bad weather can pop up at any time in the monsoon creating hazardous flying conditions.
Since many areas of Cochise County are at or nearly at 5,000 feet above sea level, pilots need to know the many factors that determine engine performance. Density altitude is one factor in determining lift, air speed and engine performance. Hot temperatures mean thinner air resulting in less oxygen for the engine. Cold weather means denser air and more available oxygen.
“In thin air the wings have less lift, so it’s important to know what you’re flying into,” Harnage said.
With all the variables that can occur between take off and landing on a trip, the filing of a flight plan is important, added Capt. Rick Kiley, captain with Squadron 107.
“It’s makes locating a downed aircraft much quicker if we have a route to follow,” Kiley said. “Without a flight plan, no one has any idea of where a plane is. It makes the search longer and harder. We’ve seen the results of pilots who don’t file flight plans.”
Part of the success of the CAP squadron is that it is familiar with a variety of routes and all the public and private airports. The group’s members even know the border and have been called in numerous times to help locate illegal immigrants that have lost their way.
“We try to save people’s lives. We don’t care about their status as U.S. citizens,” Henderson said.
The Sierra Vista CAP squadron handles other missions, too. They are called upon to help with searches for lost hikers and even to participate in search and destroy training exercises as prey for the military in a fox-and-hounds game.
They admitted they always get caught.
“Those guys are good. They know what they’re doing,” Swann said.
Squadron 107 is composed of 30 senior members and 16 cadets with several skilled pilots and an experienced ground crew.
Most of their time is spent training the cadets, 12- to 20-year-olds with an interest in aviation and communications.
Once a month, the squadron takes cadets who want to learn to fly up in the skies. Many cadets go on to join the military, particularly the Air Force, which sponsors the CAP. There have been a number of cadets who have gone on to the Air Force Academy.
“Most of the kids who come are kids who are squared away. They know what they want,” Hembrage said. “We offer great support for kids who want a career in aviation.”
“Being in the Air Force Auxiliary, we also give them a taste of military life. That way they have some knowledge of what the military is about and the dedication it requires,” Kiley added. “Most of the kids go in as an E-3 rather than start at the bottom.”
Anyone with an interest in aviation can join CAP as long as they pass muster in an interview and on an FBI background check.
“It allows a person to give whatever time they have to help the kids and the community,” Harnage said. “We are not a casual flying club, though. There is a serious commitment involved.”
Herald/Review reporter Shar Porier can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at shar.porier@bisbeereview.net.
CIVIL AIR PATROL'S EMERGENCY SERVICES
The following are emergency services the Civil Air Patrol offers:
• Disaster relief: Often overlooked but important is the role CAP plays in disaster relief operations. CAP provides air and ground transportation, and an extensive communications network. They fly disaster relief officials to remote locations, and support local, state and national disaster relief organizations with manpower and leadership. In fact, CAP has formal agreements with many government and humanitarian relief agencies such as the American Red Cross, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Coast Guard.
• Humanitarian Services: Closely related to disaster relief is CAP’s support of humanitarian missions. Usually in support of the Red Cross, CAP air crews transport time-sensitive medical materials including blood and human tissue in situations where other means of transportation are not possible.
• Air Force Support: It’s hardly surprising that CAP performs several missions in direct support of the U.S. Air Force. Specifically, CAP conducts damage assessment, radiological monitoring, light transport, communications support, and low-altitude route surveys. Joint U.S. Air Force and CAP SAR exercises sharpen the skills of all participants and offer realistic training for a deadly serious mission.
• Counterdrugs: CAP joined the “war on drugs” in 1986 when CAP signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Customs Service offering CAP resources to be used to stem the flow of drugs into and within the United States. Today, CAP has similar agreements with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Forest Service. CAP has made major contributions to the counterdrug fight by providing aerial reconnaissance, airborne communication support, and airlift of law enforcement personnel. In 1997 alone, CAP units flew nearly 40,000 hours in support of counterdrug efforts.
• CAP/ROTC Initiative: Starting in 1993, CAP became more closely involved in direct support of the Air Force ROTC. Joint efforts are under way to conduct cross flow educational and orientation flights with Air Force ROTC, benefiting both organizations through better use of each one’s training resources.
More information available at http://azwg.us/.
Tamera Richards wrote on Sep 20, 2008 5:27 PM: