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Solo Champ
Calls for Help |
HEADQUARTERS
CALIFORNIA WING - CIVIL AIR PATROL
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE AUXILIARY
Post Office Box 7688
Van Nuys, CA 91409-7688
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9 January 2002
The 26th of December, the Boxing Day holiday of England, turned into a night of
California Wing "boxing" an emergency beacon signal to an unusual source: a
light plane which had flown more than 40 miles without anyone aboard.
At 4:30 PM, an Aeronca Champion broke loose during an engine runup at a farm
strip at Two Rock, ten miles west of Petaluma, CA. The owner followed the
"Champ" by ground vehicle. He contacted the Sonoma County Sheriff by cell phone
to report his plane appeared headed to the northeast and Napa County.
A California Highway Patrol pilot reported hearing an emergency beacon about 4
miles east of Petaluma placing the Champ in a wooded area of southeast Sonoma
County. With no reports of fires or the downed plane, the County search was
suspended for the night at 7:20 PM.
Meanwhile, the Cospas-Sarsat satellite constellation was picking up an emergency
signal somewhere around San Francisco. After a few passes of its polar orbiting
satellites, NOAA determined the signal initially appeared to come from the
Oakland area in Alameda County, just east of San Francisco. About 8:45 PM, the
California Wing was tasked on the signal search by the State and federal
authorities.
Within an hour, 1Lts Nigel Ellis and David Smith took off from Concord's
Buchanan Field in a Civil Air Patrol C206 and headed for Lake Berryessa in
Solano County, east of Sonoma and Napa Counties, since another Cospas-Sarsat
pass indicated the signal was there. Signals from old-style emergency beacons
often produce satellite positioning errors of scores of miles unlike modern
beacons which are accurate to yards. The satellites did not detect any
continuing signals in Sonoma County.
Incident Commander Maj Jan Ostrat had also tasked a ground team of Maj. Guy
Rasmussen and Capt. John Mayfield to proceed to Lake Berryessa to join Solano
County sheriff personnel at a California Department of Forestry building near
where the satellites predicted as the signal source.
By 10:15 PM, the aircrew was boxing the signal and leading the combined CAP and
sheriff ground team to Gosling Canyon a half mile east of the lake where the
signal was the strongest. The ground team was hampered getting to the rugged and
remote site on a moonless night with fog and extremely muddy roads. By 12:30
AM, the aircrew left the scene to refuel and the ground team continued to work
its way to the canyon with the help of the federal Bureau of Land Management.
Before first light, the aircrew was ready to help the unified ground team to the
site but was delayed by below minimums weather at Concord. After the fog lifted
enough for an IFR departure, they proceeded to the canyon to help the ground
team when they were advised by Travis AFB Approach to contact a California
Highway Patrol (CHP) C206 which had resumed working the search. The ground team
had given the CHP fixed-wing aircrew the signal coordinates found by the CAP
aircrew the night before. The Champ was spotted at almost the same time by the
ground team, the CHP plane, two news fixed-wing aircraft and two news
helicopters with the CAP plane orbiting above them all. The CAP aircrew led the
ground team to the site after spotting the ground team vehicles. The crash site
was 300 feet from the position they had detemined the foggy night before. The
Champ's 1970's technology C-91 ECB emergency beacon was deactivated by Maj
Rasmussen just across the Solono County line in Napa County, ending the four
county search.
Distress find awards were authorized for 1Lts. Nigel Ellis and David Smith of
Concord's Composite Squadron 44, Maj. Guy Rasmussen of California Wing, and
Capt. John Mayfield of Travis Cadet Squadron 22.
Attached Photos' captions:
1. Maj. Rasmussen verifies there where no occupants of the aircraft.
Picture 1
2. Impact area and debris field with Capt. John Mayfield, Sq.22. and two
ranchers who assisted in accessing the remote area.
Picture 2
(Photo credits: Maj. Guy Rasmussen and Capt. John Mayfield)
For more information about California Wing see <http://cawg.cap.gov>.
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