On the final weekend of August, clear skies greeted members of Civil Air Patrol's Cortez Senior Squadron for honing their aerial search and rescue skills.
The local squadron hosted a base in their hangar at the Cortez airport, which allowed regional, group and squadron staff to train and renew skills in aerial search, operating radios and planning emergency response missions. By Saturday afternoon, the group had flown seven sorties, including flights from squadrons in Grand Junction and Montrose. Grand Junction also held ground team missions.
The Cortez Senior squadron, including members from Cortez, Mancos and Durango, were assigned three missions at the start of the exercise - a route search for a simulated missing aircraft, a photo mission of a radio and fire tower, and an Emergency Locator Transmitter search.
The exercise also offered a chance for squadron members to work with officers from other units. "It was a great team-building exercise," said senior member Michael D'Anna. "It's a great way to get introduced to flying and get into general aviation."
Civil Air Patrol, the auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit with 60,000 members nationwide. It operates 550 aircraft, performs about 85 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions, and is credited by with saving an average of 70 lives annually. Performing missions for America for over 73 years, CAP received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014 in honor of its World War II veterans.
CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans.
The Cortez CAP squadron meets on the fourth Thursday of each month at the First Baptist Church in Mancos. The public is invited to attend.
More information: www.gocivilairpatrol.com, www.capvolunteernow.com and www.capgoldmedal.comfor.