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Asheville Unit Sends Aircraft and Aircrew to Damage-Stricken North east Region

Cessna Aircraft
Foreground Aircraft is a Cessna 182, the type being sent to NER for Disaster relief Missions. Photo by; Maj. Don penven (click image to view full size)
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MER and GLR are supplying Aircraft and Crews for Aerial Photography

By Major Don Penven
NC Wing PAO

11/5/2012–Burlington– Note to all: In an effort to keep our membership updated on Hurricane Sandy Disaster Releif efforts, we will be posting our Media Releases here. The following was sent to statewide media on Sunday, Nov. 4th. Please note that the Asheville unit was scheduled to fly one more sortie on Nov. 5th prior to returning to NC.

DP

 

NORTH CAROLINA WING

CIVIL AIR PATROL

U.S. AIR FORCE AUXILIARY

 

CONTACT:       Maj Don Penven

                        Cell: 919-215-6860

                        Email: donpenven@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NC Wing Assigned to Assist Disaster Relief in North East Region

Asheville Squadron Supplying One Aircraft and Three Member Crew

 

November 4, 2012

Burlington, NC – On Saturday, November 3, Middle East Region (MER) Commander, Col. Larry Ragland alerted the North Carolina Wing, CAP to prepare one Cessna 182 aircraft, and an aircrew consisting of a mission pilot, mission observer and mission scanner in preparation to assist the North East Region with aerial photography missions of the damage-stricken areas in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

 

According to NC Wing Commander, Col. David E. Crawford, this aircrew departed Asheville this morning and will rendezvous with other CAP aircraft at Wilmington, DE and will fly sorties at the direction of the CAP disaster command center based in Concord, NH.

 “Our mission will be to provide FEMA and state Emergency Operations Centers with high resolution, GPS-coded digital photographs of storm-related damage to property and infrastructure during a weekend-long mission,” Crawford said.

 

Crawford is serving as incident commander for North Carolina’s involvement in what is now a massive effort that is drawing support from the Middle East and Great Lakes Regions of CAP.

 

The NC Wing has been on standby status since Sandy made its approach to the NC coastline. “Storm damage here in NC was considerable but doesn’t even approach the devastation suffered by our northern neighbors,” Crawford said.

 

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 members nationwide, operating a fleet of 550 aircraft. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 54 lives in fiscal year 2011. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to nearly 27,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. CAP received the World Peace Prize in 2011 and has been performing missions for America for 70 years. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com,www.capvolunteernow.com or www.ncwg.cap.gov for more information.