Monday, August 27, 2007

The third press release from the Civil Air Patrol (CAP)

This press release can seem a tad repetitive if you just read the two previous ones for the first time, but the CAP and the State Police are doing a bang-up up job looking and we salute their efforts.


Download PRESS RELEASE 3 (MS Word DOC)

MICHIGAN WING, CIVIL AIR PATROL
United States Air Force Auxiliary
1100 Aero Drive
Gaylord, Michigan 49735
Telephone: (248) 565-2001

26 August 2007
1 p.m. EST
Mission: 07M-1572A
Release #3

GAYLORD, Mich. – Members of the U.S. Civil Air Patrol’s Michigan Wing continued their search today for a small, single-engine plane with two people on board along the eastern and northern shoreline of lower Michigan.

Today we have launched six aircraft and sent three ground teams into the search area. Civil Air Patrol wishes to thank the public for calling in their tips and observations, it’s with this continued support that will allow us to concentrate our search in the more promising areas. Please call us, or your local law enforcement agency if you have any information that you think might help.

Civil Air Patrol, an organization consisting entirely of volunteers, also wishes to thank the local Red Cross, Salvation Army, and Glenns Market who have contributed food and drinks for our searchers.

The overdue aircraft departed Mackinac Island Airport on Friday afternoon (Aug. 24) en route to Bad Axe, Mich. The search area has been concentrated along the aircraft’s projected flight path along the shoreline.

All Civil Air Patrol search efforts are being coordinated out of the wing’s mission base established at Gaylord Regional Airport in Gaylord, Mich.

If anyone has any information that might help the Michigan Wing locate this overdue aircraft or its two passengers, please contact Maj. Patrick Gorman, wing mission information officer, at (248) 565-2001.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Civil Air Patrol members of Michigan Wing are working very hard to locate your friends and loved ones (Karen & Brooke). Since Saturday, CAP members have spent more than one thousand man hours on this search.

When the word went out on Saturday, that there was an actual mission, these proud Americans simply left there homes and families and headed wherever they were directed in order to find this missing aircraft. (If they drove, most likely it was in their own car or truck.)

Our pilots get a lot of attention because of the flashy airplanes. The reality is that there are many more people on ground teams and working at the mission base in Gaylord. The mission operations people will spend days planning the search efforts, coordinating with other agencies, monitoring personnel (and airplanes and vehicles), getting them fed and finding a place for them to sleep. The ground teams will drive thousands of miles tracking clues, interviewing witnesses and walking the beaches and forests in search of your loved ones.

Our ground teams include CAP Cadets (who are 12-20 years old), but typically 16-20 years old. If you worry about the next generation of Americans, this group will renew your faith in teenagers. There is no finer group of young adults, anywhere.

As our search continues, there are a few facts you may not be aware of. The US Coast Guard and Michigan State Troopers working on this effort are paid full time employees.

CAP members are not paid. They are civilian volunteers. While they are reimbursed for their fuel costs, there is no reimbursement for meals or lodging. They will never ask nor would they ever accept any money from friends or families. All they ask for is your thoughts and your prayers.

Throughout the mission, you will see names and faces change as individuals go back to work and other members take their places. This is not a reflection on their commitment to the mission, more often it is real jobs and family issues.

While there is no salary, these people are professionals.

CAP members continuously train for Search and Rescue, Disaster Relief, Homeland Security, and Counter Drug missions. Usually this means time spent away from the family. In some cases, CAP is a family experience. The Public Affairs Officer's daughter is a ground team leader. There is more than one married couple working out of Gaylord.

There are risks as well, last week the Civil Air Patrol lost three members of an aircrew during a search for a 16 year old in Wyoming.

For now, please keep these volunteers in your hearts and your prayers. Some day in the future, please consider joining us....

- Anonymous CAP Member

DJChristauff said...

Thank you so much. I hope I get to meet some of you in person to express my gratitude for your efforts!