08/17/2022
Truckee Civil Air Patrol and CAP planes from Bakersfield to Las Vegas look for Kiely Rodni Civil Air Patrol, CAP, is in its fourth consecutive day of flying Search and Rescue (SAR) Sorties. Flying 36 sorties (flights) to date, CAP has performed visual searches from Tahoe City to Sierraville as well as well as collecting tens of thousands low level photos to be processed with sophisticated AI tools. Each day CAP has had three or more aircraft flying. Many, many highly trained volunteers are involved in the search. Each plane has a crew of 3-4 people trained in visual and electronic search techniques. One and often two of the crew are Search and Rescue Mission Pilots trained in low level flying and the specialized requirements for flying in the steep mountains of the Sierras. Behind the front line flight crews are many more volunteers: Incident Commanders, Air Operations Branch Directors, Mission Planners, Flight Release Officers, Administrative Staff, Base and Airborne Radio Operators and Photo and Electronic Forensic Analysts. All of these positions have been staffed for this search mission by CAP volunteers One of the critical support functions is coordinating air assets. In addition to CAP planes flying in the search area, many other agencies including Nevada County and Placer County Sheriffs are flying in the area. Mission staff work with all involved agencies to minimize risk to crews. The Tahoe Truckee Air Traffic Controllers work hard to facilitate non-standard flight paths for the search crews while continuing to handle normal aircraft traffic CAP is an US Air Force Auxiliary unit. Aircraft are provided by the USAF. CAP members are all civilian volunteers. For more information, visit http://TahoeTruckee.Cap.gov
