Chuck’s Civil Air Patrol Missions
For those of you, who don’t know the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), please check out what they do on their website. They have great programs for young aviators and aviatrixes teaching them early about anything aviation, air force, airplanes, aerospace, etc.
Another thing they do is search and rescue. If you were to be stranded in the mountains and your ELT (emergency locator transmitter, which is required on most airplanes) went off in the crash landing, there would be a very high chance, the CAP will deploy their planes looking for you. I was actually working with them during the massive search for millionaire and record-breaking aviator Steve Fossett in 2007 for many days.
As far as the ELT goes, it can “go off” (which is actually a really annoying sound on its frequency) if you make a really hard landing because it is triggered by a G-switch. I am kinda explaining the joke here, but it is obvious that this is where Chuck comes in. If you land hard and don’t check your ELT afterwards, the plane will just sit in the hangar with the signal transmitting the entire time. When I was working at the little flight school in California, we had the CAP stop by a couple of times looking for the plane that is causing the commotion, HAHA!
We have written comics for the CAP before a long time ago, but recently rekindled our relationship with them joining them in their mission attracting young aviators. This time we even have a new character to join the gang, “Colonel Byrd”. What remains to be seen is if Colonel Byrd will ever let Chuck fly one of the CAP planes or become a mentor. But you never know….
Mike
I have to do this………
Is Colonel Byrd an full-bird colonel.
*Runs and hides from the rest of the chickens*
HAHA! That’s awesome! We need to use that!
Enjoyed it. I can tell u in the 50s&60s there were no ELTs or flt following, just old planes and good eyes. 1959 report to Congress …nation wide 999 Saves!
Love the CAP strips, and glad to see them making their way over! Will Col. Byrd become a recurring character around here?
Speaking of SAR, I’ll also add a shameless plug in favor of flight plans, whether official with the gov’t or unofficial with friends. Filing and activating one is a wise move, especially over remote areas. There are enough ELT-based false alerts out there (up to **98%**, based on NOAA’s own data) that if you have a bad day but nobody reports it, it’s possible that SAR will be delayed a long, long time.
Interesting fact, the first commander of the Texas Wing of Civil Air Patrol back during WWII was Col D. H. Byrd. Col Byrd eventually went on to become Chairman of the National Board and a Brig. Gen. from 1959-1960. The current Texas Wing Headquarters and Training Center is named after Col. Byrd and a bust of his likeness sits in the entryway.
Coincidence? Hmmmm…. I wonder…
😉