CAP helps Air Force face Isabel

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MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) --  As Hurricane Isabel makes landfall on the Eastern seaboard, Civil Air Patrol officials are helping the Air Force manage storm-related operations.

The CAP is the all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, located at Langley Air Force Base, Va., has moved its operations to CAP’s National Technology Center in Richmond, Va.

Langley lies in the projected path of the hurricane.

The rescue center moved because the technology center has people and equipment available there to support rescue coordination and communications. The technology center normally supports national CAP operations and communications. It also maintains CAP’s communications network and has several mission-critical Internet systems there.

“We understand what the (rescue center) needs because we do similar work,” said Pete Wharton, the technology center manager. “If (its workers cannot) work from their own offices at Langley, we are able to support them with … office space, computer-network connections, telephones and radios -- virtually everything they need to operate as usual. Plus, they’re already familiar with us.”

CAP airmen conduct more than 95 percent of all rescue center-coordinated inland search and rescue missions throughout the nation, and they work daily with the Langley staff.

On the local storm front, CAP officials placed their aircraft and volunteers on alert in several Eastern states for aerial and ground search and rescue, damage assessment and disaster relief. Officials project the hurricane will likely affect Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The CAP’s National Capital Wing aircraft in Washington, D.C., have been moved to safety. Members likely would be tasked to do aerial photography for damage assessment as early as Sept. 19, said Col. Frank McConnell, the wing’s commander.

“Our region has just installed new digital satellite imaging equipment,” McConnell said. “It allows us to take high-resolution photos from the air and immediately transmit them by e-mail using a digital satellite Internet connection. This technology will help officials determine more clearly exactly what damage has occurred.”

In North Carolina, CAP officials said they took aerial photographs Sept. 17 that will be used after the storm for damage comparison. Aircraft there were moved inland to Burlington, N.C., where an incident command system is set up. CAP airmen are gathering there to wait for mission assignments.

CAP’s Pennsylvania Wing officials activated the unit’s emergency operations center at Fort Indiantown Gap in Annville, Pa. The wing’s people and aircraft moved to key locations throughout the state in the event Isabel hits the state.

CAP chaplains in Virginia and the Carolinas are waiting to support responders and victims of the anticipated storm, officials said.

“The most gratifying part of our preparation has been the outpouring of support from CAP volunteers from other areas of the country,” McConnell said. “I’ve been contacted by many of our region and wing commanders with offers of additional personnel and equipment to meet this crisis. This is where you really see the advantage of CAP’s large network of members and resources.”

CAP is a nonprofit organization with more than 64,000 members nationwide. Volunteers perform search and rescue, homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. They take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 27,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 60 years. (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)