[FedCom] Florida CAP in SAR exercise

[allanstern at aol.com]

Florida's Civil Air Patrol conducts search-and-rescue  exercise
    
    Civil Air Patrol (CAP) members from across  southwest Florida began 
gearing up last Friday for a weekend-long  search-and-rescue exercise.
    The exercise, conducted by the Florida Wing’s  Group 5, with Punta 
Gorda in Charlotte County as the main base, provided members  with mission 
experience and proficiency training in advance of the annual, Air  
Force-evaluated wing exercise later this spring. A sub-base was located at the  CAP Hangar 
at the Marco Island Executive Airport and dispatched sorties in the  Marco 
Island area.
    CAP aircraft operated from airports in Marco  Island, Naples, Sebring, 
Punta Gorda, and Sarasota. Air crews and ground teams  conducted visual and 
electronic target searches in addition to photo  reconnaissance sorties.
    "The members have been working hard to prepare for  the event and we 
could easily fly 50 hours to get everyone through the  requirements for 
mission experience," said 1st Lt. Robert Little, the exercise's  incident 
commander.
    The operations area for Group 5 encompasses  9,000 square miles over a 
10-county area in Southwest Florida, including  Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, 
Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Manatee and  Sarasota counties. The 
group has 10 squadrons, five airplanes and about 510  members.
    Group 5 was the second most active of the  CAP Florida Wing’s eight 
groups, flying more than 1,600 hours in 2008. Of  those hours, 371 were in 
support of emergency missions, 860 for training and 252  for cadet and ROTC 
orientation flights.
 

 
AL STERN  Satellite Beach  FL
AllanStern at aol.com
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