[Scan-DC] Search and Rescue Mission Update

[Alan Henney]

-----Original Message----- 
From: Solomon, Steven
Sent: Sun 4/30/2006 9:19 AM
Subject: RE: Search and Rescue Mission Update

STEVEN SOLOMON, Capt, CAP
MDWG Public Affairs Officer
web site: http://www.mdcap.org/

For on site information, contact:
Major Wes LaPre
Mission Information Officer
301-717-3376

4/30/2006 -- Hagerstown, MD- 9:20 a.m. -- The Civil Air Patrol is
continuing to search today for a missing pilot, with aircrews and
ground teams focusing on an area northwest of Hagerstown, Md., where
the pilot is thought to have been practicing his flying skills.
The area is being searched because a cellphone belonging to the pilot
is believed to be in the vicinity, an FAA radar plot indicates it is
where he was flying, and witnesses have reported seeing or hearing
something consistent with an airplane crash.

CAP is using its Airborne Real-time Cueing Hyperspectral Enhanced
Recon (ARCHER) system in its newest aircraft -- the Gippsland GA8
Airvan -- which has the capability to identify specific objects or
substances when light that is reflected from an object matches a
spectral signature that is identified as an anomaly.

Another CAP aircraft is flying at a higher altitude in order to
provide better radio communication between the ground teams and the
mission base at Hagerstown Regional Airport.

A Maryland State Police Helicopter is also flying again today in
support of the search and rescue mission, to coordinate assistance
from a search and rescue mounted team porovided by Trail Riders of
Today and a ground team from the Maryland Department of Natural
Resources, in the Indian Springs Wildlife Managemenrt Area in Clear
Springs, Md.

Yesterday, 369 CAP members from its wings in Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, West Virginia, National Capital, and North Carolina
participated in the mission, as well as units from CAP's North East
Region and the Congressional Squadron. Members from CAP's Delaware and
New Jersey wings are also assisting. There were 33 aircraft used
yesterday, including the GA-8 Airvan and a Maryland State Police
helicopter.

"Search efforts are continuing today and we ask that if anyone has
information they believe could help us to please call our mission base
at 301-791-5342," said Lt. Col. Kevin Redman, CAP's incident commander
for the mission today. "We are actively investigating all leads."

Yesterday was also the start of turkey hunting season, so CAP, in
coordination with the other participants in the search, is reminding
the public that search and rescue personnel will be in the wooded
areas and in the mountains of south central Pennsylvania and northern
Maryland and to exercise extreme caution.

The family of the missing pilot who is the object of the search is
asking for help from the public.

"We ask that anyone with information that can help us find our
husband, father and friend, please contact CAP as soon as possible. We
hope that farmers in the area will search their fields and any local
residents noting anything suspicious that could be of use to the
searchers in completing their mission will call," said the family of
pilot David K. Weiss, 72, of Bethesda Md., in a statement.

Weiss took off shortly after noon on April 25 from Gaithersburg
Airport in Maryland, and was due back at 2:30 p.m. He was flying a
blue and white Cessna 172, operated by the Congressional Flying Club.
Last contact with the pilot was when the aircraft was leaving the
Washington Air Defense Identification Zone at 12:17 p.m.

Participants in the search are receiving meals from the Washington
County Chapter of the American Red Cross and lodging from the
Maugansville-Goodwill Fire Co.

Weiss was seen conducting a pre-flight inspection of the aircraft by
himself, so it is believed that he was the only person on board.

The search was activated by the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination
Center at Langley Air Force.

There are approximately 1,300 members of CAP in Maryland. Last fiscal
year wing members flew 34 search and rescue missions and were credited
with 23 finds.

CAP, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit
organization with more than 57,000 members nationwide. CAP volunteers
perform 95 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue
missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and
also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug
missions at the request of federal, state, and local agencies.

Last fiscal year more than 1,800 of CAP’s dedicated members helped
hurricane victims; CAP aviators and aerial observers flew more than
1,000 air missions; ground teams performed 131 missions and visited
4,266 homes; and other volunteers distributed 30,000 pounds of relief
supplies. CAP members also conducted 2,507 search and rescue missions,
saving 73 lives.

Throughout the year, CAP also took part in important homeland security
missions; many CAP pilots flew target-intercept training for U.S.
fighter pilots.

For search updates go to http://mdcap.org.
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