HEADQUARTERS
CALIFORNIA WING - CIVIL AIR PATROL
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE AUXILIARY
Post Office Box 7688
Van Nuys, CA 91409-7688

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
21 February 2002

(Van Nuys, California) --  During the first quarter of FY 2002, California 
Wing responded to more than 70 emergencies including 5 missing aircraft 
searches.  The overwhelming majority of the missions were jointly tasked by 
the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) and the Air 
Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC).

Preliminary Emergency Services Mission Results for Q1 of FY2002:

73	Total Emergency Services mission callouts
72	Total search & rescue missions
1	Total OES transport missions
0	Total disaster relief missions
72	Total OES search & rescue missions
72	Total AFRCC missions
		5 Missing aircraft missions
		0 Lives saved
		67 Emergency signal missions
			1 ELT led to distress aircraft
			32 ELT located at airport as false alarm
			4 ELT located off airport as false alarm
			4 EPRIB located at harbor as false alarm
			3 EPRIB located off harbor as false alarm
			1 Nonbeacon source located
			23 Signal ceased before location
			1 Turned over to FCC
			1 Turned over to USCG

During the first week of November, the Wing responded to two missing 
aircraft searches. On 1 November, Wing Incident Commander 1Lt Ellis Udwin 
helped coordinate CAP, Sheriff and US Coast Guard search efforts for a 
Cessna 182S which had crashed two miles from Little River Airport the day 
before.  There was no ELT signal but instead, a witness to speed the quick 
search.  Mendocino County Sheriff's Office made the find. There was no 
survivor.  On 3 November, the Wing responded to a search for a plane 
overdue on a flight from Nut Tree Airport to Willows Airport.  The search 
ended after searchers determined the pilot returned safely to Nut Tree, but 
had not closed his flight plan.

Between 10 and 11 November, Wing members in San Diego chased down the 
quarter's only nonbeacon signal source on a multi-signal search.  Capt Ian 
Tolentino of Group 7 located a nondistress signal in a Beechcraft's ELT 
safe at Montgomery Field and then he and Capt Bob Keilholtz of Group 7 
located and secured a carrier signal on a US Navy warship in San Diego 
harbor which was interfering with the 121.5 MHz emergency frequency.

LtCol Pat Robinson of Wing and Lt Michael Flores of Santa Monica's Clover 
Field Composite Squadron 51 are credited with a signal find on a very 
tricky holiday search.  On 21 November, the day before Thanksgiving, the 
Wing was tasked to locate a signal in Northern San Diego County but the 
mission timed out after the Cospas-Sarsat satellites no longer continuously 
detected the signal.  However, pilots flying over the area to the north 
continued to report emergency signals to the FAA.  Early the next morning, 
one satellite detected a signal to the north in Orange County.  One 
satellite pass's detection normally does not trigger a search, but with the 
pilot reports, the Wing was tasked again.  Before first light, Robinson and 
Flores located the signal and secured it in a Eurocopter in a rooftop 
hanger of a three story building.  The hanger doors were closed but the 
structure of the hanger directed the bulk of the ELT signal to the south.

Also early on Thanksgiving Day, 22 November, Wing Incident Commander LtCol 
Burt Kingsbury of the Redding Squadron 126 was tasked to locate an Aero 
Commander with five aboard missing since the day before between Reno, 
Nevada and Wenatchee, Washington.  Recorded radar data indicated a probable 
last known position in the Warner Mountains of northeast California in 
Modoc County.  Storms prevented aerial or ground searching by any agency 
for almost two days.  On the first day with searchable weather, LtCol 
Kingsbury coordinated a combined Modoc Sheriff and California Air National 
Guard team which was airlifted to the Warners. The Aero Comamnder with no 
survivors was found within yards of the last known radar position at 
approximately the 9,700' level of Eagle Peak.

On 13 December, LtCol Kingsbury was tasked with another missing aircraft 
search.  Two days beforehand, a Mooney 20C had departed Arcata, California 
for Port Angeles, Washington with two on board.  Initial recorded radar 
data indicated a probable last known position at the California/Oregon 
border along the coast.  Oregon Wing, Washington Wing and several sheriffs' 
offices, the USCG, and three state search agencies joined the 
search.  Additional radar data was located indicating a possible last 
position in Oregon which coorelated with satellite detections of emergency 
signals.  Severe storms prevented most aerial searching for 
weeks.  California Wing chased down witness leads and searched by air in 
areas near the border.  The Oregon Wing flew more than 300 hours on the 
search.  The Wing's search was suspended without locating the objective on 
12 January 2002.

On 14 December, Wing Incident Commander LtCol "D" Fringer was tasked to 
locate an overdue Cessna 210 with one aboard on an instrument flight plan 
between Santa Monica and Hemet.  The Cessna's ELT activated and satellites 
detected a signal.  Two CAP aircrews quickly found the signal and directed 
a CAP ground team to the crash site on a cold night in rugged hills 
northeast of Hemet.  There was no survivor.  LtCol Fringer said about the 
team effort of the 22 members involved in the search, "I want to commend 
the air crews and ground teams for their interaction. Without an ELT 
signal, the ground teams would not have had much success. They all did a 
great job quickly and professionally."  Distress find awards were 
authorized for aircrew member 1Lt Bill Cheesman, Maj James Martin, and 1Lt 
Jeffery Knapp all from San Bernardino Senior Squadron 5, and ground team 
members Capt Bob Keilholtz from Group 7, 1Lt Dennis Joyce from Hemet-Ryan 
Composite Squadron 59, 1Lt John Binder from Chino Cadet Squadron 20,  Cpt 
Thomas Hoebink and 1Lt Michael Flores from Clover Field Composite Squadron 
51, and 1Lt Richard Whaley and Cpt David Bowles from El Cajon Composite 
Squadron 55.

Over the quarter, the Wing conducted four search & rescue exercises, two 
incident commander refresher training days, and a course to train members 
how to teach CAP's new Emergency Services training program.

In December, California Wing lost a long time member, LtCol Dorothy 
"Dottie" Scatena of Bakersfield who was extremely active in the Wing's 
Emergency Services.  She joined CAP after flying with the WASPs in World 
War II.  She managed the Wing's incident commanders for years while also 
running most missing aircraft missions and hundreds of emergency signal 
missions in the San Joaquin Valley and southern Sierras.  She will be 
deeply missed by the Wing.

For more information about the activities of the California Wing, see 
<http://cawg.cap.gov>.

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