California Wing holds Mission Air Crew school

RIVERSIDE – For the first time since 2019, the Civil Air Patrol California Wing held an in-person Mission Air School in Southern California July 23-25 at Riverside Municipal Airport.

There were more than 100 CAP senior members and cadets that participated in making this momentous event happen. Forty-four sorties were flown in seven aircraft and four ground teams attended the three-day event.

The aircrew consists of a Mission Pilot trainee, a Mission Observer trainee, and a mentor pilot. Aircrews practiced search and rescue techniques that included air-to-ground coordination with ground team members. During these exercises, Ground Teams searched for emergency locator beacons, and worked on their rescue coordination skills.

This California Wing-led standardized training is designed to produce consistent quality training of future mission pilots and mission observers. One of the event's Mission pilot trainees was Col. Ross Veta, CAP California Wing Commander.

Two CAP-USAF representatives also participated in the event. Lt. Col Melvin Korsmo, Commander Pacific Liaison Region CAP-USAF, flew with an aircrew on a training mission, while Maj. John Sauceda, CAP-USAF member, joined the ground team on an ELT search. Also in attendance as an observer was Lt. Col Joe Brickman, CAP Pacific Region Emergency Services Director.

Capt. Stephen B. Parker, from the Fallbrook squadron, was the Mission Safety Officer for the event.

Korsmo commented that the level of professionalism, dedication to duty, and demonstrated proficiency of the participants are commendable. The MAS Incident Commander, Major Charles Christian, mentioned that the search pattern that the aircrew learn in their training is the same pattern they will use for Waldo Missions.

After the air school, mission observers that get qualified will be ready to go on missions. However, for mission pilots, they still need to complete the check-ride before they can go on any CAP mission.

As a trained disaster preparedness relief organization, Civil Air Patrol has been engaged with government agencies and nonprofit organizations to provide support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Acting as a Total Force partner and official civilian auxiliary of the Air Force, Civil Air Patrol is aligned with 1st Air Force to rapidly respond to non-military threats domestically when tasked in a Defense Support of Civil Authorities capacity to save lives, relieve suffering, prevent property damage and provide humanitarian assistance.

Submitted by Civil Air Patrol.