Three cadets from the Civil Air Patrol Effingham Cadet Squadron located a “downed aircraft” at a recent search and rescue exercise hosted by the Brunswick Senior Squadron.
Cadet 2nd Lt. Bates Hollifield, cadet Senior Airman Lukas Lariscy, and cadet Josh Shannon were accompanied by senior members Capt. Richard Bush and 1st Lt. Jeff Lariscy to the Malcolm McKinnon Airport on St. Simons Island for the day-long training exercise.
Upon arrival, 2d Lt. Mike Gray of the Savannah Composite Squadron provided the cadets in-depth training on the utilization of the direction-finding equipment, used to locate the electronic location transmitters, which are activated when a plane goes down. Lt. Gray is a CAP pilot, and a 26-year veteran of various branches of the military, still serving in the Georgia Air National Guard, 165th Air Support Operations Squadron.
After a morning of DF training, the Ground Team was directed by CAP aircraft to the general area of the ELT from the “downed aircraft.” Although it was raining, the cadets enthusiastically exited the CAP van and set up the DF equipment near the area specified by the pilots.
The equipment immediately began to “sound off” and, after a brief moment, the cadets determined the bearing of the signal and soon found the “downed aircraft.” The components representing the aircraft were recovered, but the ELT was not among them.
After searching the terrain surrounding the “plane,” the ELT was found, silenced and recovered.
Col. Jack Caldwell of the Brunswick Senior Squadron was the incident commander for the SaREx and Maj. Gene Warnock, commander of Group IV of the Georgia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, was also in attendance at the day-long training.
Effingham Cadet Squadron meets Mondays at 6:30 p.m. in the 200 Building of Effingham Christian School at 226 Goshen Road in Rincon. Anyone interested in joining is encouraged to visit.
For more information, Capt. Richard Bush, the unit commander, can be contacted via phone at (912) 429-8050 or via e-mail at 102chief@gmail.com. Additionally, those interested can find information at the squadron website, http://www.ga453.org or via the squadron Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ser-ga-453.
