California Wing
Civil Air Patrol
Emergency Services
Emergency Services is CAP's best known activity. It includes air and ground search, local disaster relief, and cooperation with and assistance to other emergency services agencies.
The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, is responsible for coordination of air search and rescue in the continental United States. CAP members fly more than 80% of the hours flown on emergency services missions directed by the AFRCC.
In addition to search missions, CAP is capable of performing many other airborne missions, including transportation of vital personnel and cargo, aerial reconnaissance or observation, and missing person searches.
CAP also has an extensive voice and data radio network that is used daily for routine and emergency CAP operations, and is capable of supporting local, regional, or national emergency operations on short notice.
To carry out these missions in California, CAP's California Wing depends on its over 1000 emergency services volunteers. These adult and cadet volunteers are trained and experienced as aircrews, ground teams, air and ground operations coordinators, communicators, mission base staff, and incident commanders.
Through these volunteers, California Wing can call on over 200 aircraft, hundreds of ground vehicles, and over 1500 two-way radios from all over the state.
Missing Aircraft and ELT Search - CAP routinely provides the management and resources to search for overdue aircraft, and to locate and secure Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) on aircraft and EPIRBs on boats. CAP is not limited by state or county boundaries and can provide a systematic search over large areas. Joint operations with local law enforcement or SAR personnel are very common on these missions. This has been CAP's special mission for almost 50 years.
Transport of Vital Personnel and Cargo - CAP's widely-distributed fleet of aircraft is readily available to move vital personnel and cargo, including other agency specialists and live organs for transplant purposes.
Aerial Reconnaissance or Observation - CAP can conduct aerial reconnaissance or observation of specific targets or areas, either with its own trained observers or by carrying other agencies' personnel.
Aerial Missing Person Search - CAP can conduct aerial reconnaissance of specific areas with CAP observers or as an aerial platform for other agencies' personnel.
Communications Support - CAP's communications capability includes CAP's administrative and tactical nets and frequencies on HF and VHF-FM, as well as air-to-ground capability and capability to operate on most California mutual aid frequencies. CAP can also provide trained operators for other agencies' equipment and emergency operation centers.
Local and Non-Local Response - CAP's resources are distributed throughout the state. After activation by OES or the AFRCC, local units can respond quickly to local missions, and non-local units can respond in force when more resources are needed. CAP's response is coordinated through it's own extensive communications capabilities.
Personnel
Over 1000 members with emergency services specialty
ratings, Including: Incident Commanders Air and
Ground Operations Coordinators Aircrews Ground
Teams Communicators Mission Base Staff
Aircraft
Based throughout California.
200 members have aircraft available for CAP.
24 owned by CAP (mostly Cessna 182 and
206).
Special equipment or capabilities on many:
VHF-FM radios (for interagency work)
Radio direction finding (DF) equipment
LORAN or GPS precision navigation
Most equipped for instrument flight, for "most weather
capability.
Load capabilities up to 1000 pounds.
Flight ranges up to 1000 miles.
Flight endurance up to 10 hours.
Ground Vehicles
Hundreds of member owned vehicles available .
60 vehicles owned by CAP.
Many are 4-wheel-drive vehicles.
Many have extensive radio capabilities.
Communications
Over 1500 two-way radios of various types:
Fixed-base
Air- and ground-mobile
Hand-held
Using a range of frequencies and modes: HF voice
VHF-FM voice, including repeater coverage over
much of state VHF-FM packet VHF-AM voice
(aircraft band)
On several nets:
Local tactical
State and National
Other-agency (including SHARES)
State-wide rapid mission alerting system.
Available Resources - Resources available to the incident commander to execute the mission include aircraft are crews, ground teams, base operations and support personnel, communicators, weather evaluation teams, mission intelligence teams, and public information officers.
Mission Bases - CAP has established several permanent mission bases in California that can be activated on short notice. CAP is also capable of establishing a base from scratch within several hours at any airport facility with electrical power and sufficient space.
Governing Regulations and Agreements - CAP's operations are governed by Federal and State agreements, Federal Aviation Regulations, Air Force and CAP Regulations, and safety considerations.
Support for Other Agencies - When supporting another agency, CAP resources remain under the command and control of the CAP, and will support he overall incident commander in any way they safely and legally can. Once CAP resources have been committed, they will continue the mission until directed to stand down by the requesting agency or withdrawn by the CAP incident commander for safety reasons.
Costs - Depending on the mission, the requesting agency may have to pay vehicle fuel costs (currently typically $0.10 to $0.20 per mile) and aircraft fuel and maintenance costs (currently typically $20 to $90 per flight hour). CAP is an all-volunteer organization, so there is no charge for CAP's personnel time.
To Request CAP's Assistance - To obtain CAP's help for a mission, please contact either:
Air Force Rescue Coordination Center
205 Dodd Blvd., Suite 101
Langley AFB, VA 23665-2789
24-hour number: 800/851-3051
California Office of Emergency Services
Sacramento, CA
Law Enforcernent Division: 916/262-1744
24-hour controller: 916/262-1621
For Further Information - To find out more about CAP, its resources and capabilities, or how It might be able to assist your agency, please contact
CALIFORNIA WING HEADQUARTERS
LT COL JOHN MOUZAKIS
CHIEF OF STAFF
POST OFFICE B0X 9117
ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA 91762
OFFICE (909) 391-0305
HOME (909) 980-0359
CAP Squadron 80,
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