Search & Rescue:
New Missions, New Methods
CAP in the 1970s – 1980s, and Today

The Aircraft: Later Military Surplus

Beginning in the late 1960s, CAP was furnished newer, more capable military-surplus aircraft.

Introduction of the Emergency Locator
Transmitter (ELT)

Search and rescue was revolutionized in the 1970s with mandatory installation in most aircraft of an ELT automatically activated by crash forces. Transmitting on the universal 121.5 mHz and 406 mHz emergency frequencies, the ELT’s signal can be tracked by air and ground search forces and by special SARSAT / COSPAS satellites in space.

Because of frequent false alarms and inadvertent activations (often by the jolt of a landing), CAP uses special airborne and ground tracking equipment to locate, verify and deactivate every ELT alarm – day or night.

How CAP Conducts an Air Search

Word of an overdue aircraft usually comes from the Federal Aviation Administration, friend or relative of aircraft occupants, or by reception of an ELT signal.

The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC), which coordinates all inland U.S. search and rescue, alerts the appropriate CAP Wing(s) and other search assets after an FAA check of all communications stations and possible landing airports.

CAP may first assist by checking airport parking ramps to be sure the aircraft has not landed safely. But when an aircraft is determined to be missing, a “REDCAP” mission is declared. CAP aircraft and personnel are marshaled at a search base; search areas are assigned to individual flight crews and aircraft.

CAP commanders designate search patterns according to the aircraft’s likely location and terrain being searched.

The search area is narrowed by intelligence-gathering on aircraft route and destination, last radio contact, reported sightings, even the pilot’s flying habits. Interpretation of recorded FAA radar data has dramatically helped the process (see below.)

Each crew (pilot plus
observer and scanner)
flies their assigned
search pattern,
reporting to the
Mission Coordinator
on the CAP radio
network.

CAP aircraft are
equipped with ELT
tracking equipment,
but since ELTs are
often disabled by a
crash, crews are
trained to find their
target by eyeball.
They look for something out of the ordinary below: bent or broken tree limbs, the glint of the sun on a piece of aluminum….

 

I.    The Gathering Threat II.   The CAP Subchasers of WWII III.   Many Other WWII Missions IV.  Post-War: Now What? V.  The Cold War Years VI.  Search & Rescue VII. CAP Today		NEXT >>