A range of Civil Air Patrol aircraft, 28 volunteers in the air and on the ground, and a balanced blend of experienced and novice adult members and cadets all combined to spell success for the Illinois Wing Emergency Services Academy.
Maj. Joe Long, Illinois Group 5 commander and former Palwaukee Composite Squadron commander, once again oversaw the annual training event, held Aug. 8-10 at Dacy Airport. Members participated in nine sorties totaling 6½ hours aloft.
Dacy Airport, 61 miles northwest of Chicago O’Hare International, includes a grass strip lit 24 hours and encircled by cornfields. That feature provided an ideal learning environment for simulating operation of a makeshift base in the event of natural disasters when metropolitan and suburban airport access is limited.
Air teams took off for practice search and rescue missions while ground teams below trained in searching for downed aircraft, with a portable radio team coordinating all radio traffic between patrolling aircraft and ground teams of cadets. The cadets bivouacked under a full moon the night before as the first CAP aircraft, a Gippsland GA-8 Airvan from west suburban Chicago, arrived.
After morning missions by the different class planes, the Airvan began the first afternoon flight with a training mission to conduct an initial “hasty search” to look for an overdue small plane headed to Dacy from the airport home of the Lake in the Hills Composite Squadron.
Second Lt. Dirk Wriedt of the Rockford Composite Squadron was aboard the Airvan with his wife and fellow Mission Scanner trainee, 2nd Lt. Nancy Wriedt. Their daughter, Cadet Capt. Ruthie Wriedt, a CAP transport pilot daughter, served as a pilot observer on other training sorties during the weekend.
“The main thing I learned is how important safety is to the whole process and execution of a search,” Dirk Wriedt told a television reporter covering the exercise.
That lesson came from the top as Lt. Col. Val Mertens, wing director of safety was on hand to teach by example as he ensured safe operations for all involved._____1st Lt. Jim McClurePublic Affairs Officer2025 Emergency Safety AcademyIllinois Wing
