CAP awaits new leads in search for Fossett
CAP aircraft and personnel readily available at Nev. base of operations if new leads develop
September 19, 2007
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- The U.S. Civil Air Patrol has shifted its operational focus in the search for famed aviator and entrepreneur Steve Fossett, who has been missing since Sept. 3. CAP aircraft and personnel are readily available at the Minden, Nev., base of operations if new leads develop. CAP will continue to provide support to local, state and federal agencies when CAP assets are requested.
CAP volunteers from eight states – Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, Oregon and Colorado -- have devoted more t han of 13,000 man-hours and flown 474 flights totaling 1,337 flying hours.
“CAP and other agencies have searched thousands of square miles in the hope of finding Mr. Fossett,” said the organization's acting national commander, Brig. Gen. Amy Courter. “The mission has been conducted using proven techniques designed to achieve the highest probability of success and, in many cases, has involved multiple searches of the same areas. We are now waiting for new leads and as they develop we will check them out. CAP aircraft are on the scene in Nevada ready to launch when that occurs.”
“We still maintain hope that Mr. Fossett is alive and that we will find him,” said Courter. “We have seen cases in which people have survived much longer than this, and in consideration of the extraordinary accomplishments Mr. Fossett has made in his lifetime, we are hopeful that this will be another achievement to add to his memoirs.
CAP, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC), Nevada National Guard, Nevada’s Department of Emergency Management, California’s Office of Emergency Services and many other agencies are all working under a unified command structure in order to share resources and coordinate efforts. Also, the Hilton Flying M Ranch’s assets have worked closely with CAP and these agencies to ensure their efforts are not duplicated and safety is maintained at all times.
The search is the most massive ever conducted in Nevada. At its height, the search area expanded to over 20,000 square miles, with a considerable amount of effort concentrated in a 50-mile radius from the Flying M Ranch near Yerington, Nev., where Fossett departed on Labor Day for what was expected to be a two- to three-hour flight. This radius is believed to be the area of highest probability in finding Fossett.
“Since Mr. Fossett did not file a flight plan, CAP defined an area of possibility for the search for his airplane based on the amount of fuel on board, and wind and weather conditions at the time of the flight,” said Col. Dion DeCamp, Nevada CAP wing commander.
“That created a huge area,” he said, “so we focused on those areas that made the most sense – like radar tracks, which were analyzed for aircraft matching the Fossett aircraft’s profile. There were several and those areas were searched repeatedly. Additional attention was focused on radar drop- off points, which could mean a crash or, in mountainous terrain, simply that the radar could not ‘see’ the aircraft because it was operating at low altitude and blocked by the mountains.”
Hikers who thought they saw the airplane gave CAP additional leads, as did information gleaned from interviews with friends and people who had been with Fossett at the Flying M Ranch. “Those leads have been thoroughly searched as well,” said DeCamp.
The search areas were plotted on a map and thoroughly documented, including weather conditions and time of flight. Searches of the same grids were conducted by different crews at different times of day with different sun angles to make sure we didn’t miss anything,” DeCamp said.
The search efforts have been hampered by mixed terrain, including low-altitude desert valleys and lakes and the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains. Hot air balloons, glider operations and sky diving activities in the immediate area of the mission base in Minden have further complicated the search, but CAP volunteers are trained and able to overcome such challenges.
September 19, 2007
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- The U.S. Civil Air Patrol has shifted its operational focus in the search for famed aviator and entrepreneur Steve Fossett, who has been missing since Sept. 3. CAP aircraft and personnel are readily available at the Minden, Nev., base of operations if new leads develop. CAP will continue to provide support to local, state and federal agencies when CAP assets are requested.
CAP volunteers from eight states – Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, Oregon and Colorado -- have devoted more t han of 13,000 man-hours and flown 474 flights totaling 1,337 flying hours.
“CAP and other agencies have searched thousands of square miles in the hope of finding Mr. Fossett,” said the organization's acting national commander, Brig. Gen. Amy Courter. “The mission has been conducted using proven techniques designed to achieve the highest probability of success and, in many cases, has involved multiple searches of the same areas. We are now waiting for new leads and as they develop we will check them out. CAP aircraft are on the scene in Nevada ready to launch when that occurs.”
“We still maintain hope that Mr. Fossett is alive and that we will find him,” said Courter. “We have seen cases in which people have survived much longer than this, and in consideration of the extraordinary accomplishments Mr. Fossett has made in his lifetime, we are hopeful that this will be another achievement to add to his memoirs.
CAP, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC), Nevada National Guard, Nevada’s Department of Emergency Management, California’s Office of Emergency Services and many other agencies are all working under a unified command structure in order to share resources and coordinate efforts. Also, the Hilton Flying M Ranch’s assets have worked closely with CAP and these agencies to ensure their efforts are not duplicated and safety is maintained at all times.
The search is the most massive ever conducted in Nevada. At its height, the search area expanded to over 20,000 square miles, with a considerable amount of effort concentrated in a 50-mile radius from the Flying M Ranch near Yerington, Nev., where Fossett departed on Labor Day for what was expected to be a two- to three-hour flight. This radius is believed to be the area of highest probability in finding Fossett.
“Since Mr. Fossett did not file a flight plan, CAP defined an area of possibility for the search for his airplane based on the amount of fuel on board, and wind and weather conditions at the time of the flight,” said Col. Dion DeCamp, Nevada CAP wing commander.
“That created a huge area,” he said, “so we focused on those areas that made the most sense – like radar tracks, which were analyzed for aircraft matching the Fossett aircraft’s profile. There were several and those areas were searched repeatedly. Additional attention was focused on radar drop- off points, which could mean a crash or, in mountainous terrain, simply that the radar could not ‘see’ the aircraft because it was operating at low altitude and blocked by the mountains.”
Hikers who thought they saw the airplane gave CAP additional leads, as did information gleaned from interviews with friends and people who had been with Fossett at the Flying M Ranch. “Those leads have been thoroughly searched as well,” said DeCamp.
The search areas were plotted on a map and thoroughly documented, including weather conditions and time of flight. Searches of the same grids were conducted by different crews at different times of day with different sun angles to make sure we didn’t miss anything,” DeCamp said.
The search efforts have been hampered by mixed terrain, including low-altitude desert valleys and lakes and the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains. Hot air balloons, glider operations and sky diving activities in the immediate area of the mission base in Minden have further complicated the search, but CAP volunteers are trained and able to overcome such challenges.
posted by Squadron150 at 4:00 PM
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