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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 April 2002

Contact for California Wing activities:
    Maj Alice Mansell, CAP T: 650.322.2601, PA@cawg.cap.gov
Contact for search information Tulare County Sheriff:
    Lt Donna Perry T:559.733.6218


(Fresno, California) --  The California Wing of the Civil Air Patrol/USAF
Auxiliary has completed its assistance to the Tulare County Sheriff Office
in the search for a Piper Cherokee with four aboard which did not return
to Visalia Municipal Airport after a planned sightseeing flight over
Sequoia National Park on 6 April.

Late in the evening on 6 April, the Wing was tasked on the search by the
the US Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Langley AFB, VA and the
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.  The Tulare Sheriff
Office, the National Park Service, and the California Highway Patrol also
joined the first search efforts.

Initially, the missing aircraft was expected to make a two hour flight
anywhere between the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the Pacific
coast.  There were no reports of an activated emergency beacon or any
mayday radio calls from the missing aircraft.

During the first night, information began to be gathered to narrow the
large search area.  Initial FAA recorded radar data indicated a possible
last known position above the Sierra foothills in Tulare County within the
Sequoia National Park.   At first light, the Tulare Sheriff tasked
searchers from the Sheriff's Aero Squadron, the National Park Service at
Sequoia National Park, and CHP to search around the initial radar last
known position, and the Wing opened a search base at Fresno Airport at
7:30 AM with six aircraft plus ground teams standing by.  Processing
additional radar data continued throughout the day.

The next morning a CAP ground team working with the US Forest Service,
National Park Service, CHP and the Tulare Sheriff's searchers heard a
noise on the emergency frequency in the area of the initial radar last
known position  A carrier signal on that frequency could indicate a
damaged emergency beacon from the missing aircraft or a number of devices,
such as copier machines which are known to broadcast carrier signals on
that frequency.  With the help of a CAP aircrew from San Jose's CAP
Squadron 80 and a CAP ground team, searchers determined the noise was a
nondistress signal located at a construction site within Sequoia Park.  A
few times every year, emergency signals are located at non-beacon sources
by the Wing.  The Wing is tasked nearly every day to locate and silence
false alarm emergency signals which can interfere with distress signals.

Extremely rugged terrain and weather hampered search efforts.  Search
helicopters from military bases were requested and supplied from Lemore
NAS and Vandenberg AFB.  The FBI provided a listening device for a search
aircraft to listen for cell phone transmissions since one aboard the
missing plane had a cell phone.  On 10 April in the late morning, a UH-1N
helicopter crew from Vandenberg AFB's 76th Helicopter Flight spotted the
missing Piper.

Staff Sgt. Steve Perez, flight engineer, was quoted in the Santa Maria
Times, "'The way I found it is there were splashes of ice and snow
everywhere,' Perez said, adding he saw a burned spot and a piece of the
aircraft's tail sticking three feet out of the ground."

It was located at the 6,500' level of a deep and wooded ravine with trees
150' tall, inaccessible except by helicopters or expert mountain climbers.
Paramedics and rescue personnel from USAF, CHP and National Park Service
assisted the Sheriff in determining there were no survivors. The site was
so rugged and cloudy the first recovery team had to spend the night of
April 10 on the mountain.

Over the course of the search mission, the Wing provided 67 personnel and
seven aircraft.

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

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