ALTURA, Minn. — When the Civil Air Patrol is called on a mission, it’s clear they are ready to support the community.
The Civil Air Patrol, including the Southeast Minnesota Composite Squadron of Rochester, is an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force with adult and cadet members volunteering their time. Southeast Minnesota 1st Lt. Elias Petri said the volunteers help throughout the area while also educating youth on emergency response skills and the community on aerospace.
While searching for people in emergency situations or responding to a crashed plane, Petri said the squadrons often track an emergency locator transmitter, which the Federal Aviation Administration requires in every airplane.
“If an airplane were to go down too hard, if it were to crash, that beacon is going to turn on, and that is the largest single point of our up in the air or on the ground finding airplane missions. That’s what we do. We’re looking for those beacons,” Petri said of the ground and air crews.
"We have technology that we’re able to use to triangulate where they might be to figure out where they are and then we send out airplanes up into the sky and ground teams down below to go searching for this person, these people, this beacon that’s going off.”
ADVERTISEMENT
On Saturday, Minnesota Wing Civil Air Patrol volunteers trained for responding to a plane crash as ground teams along with the Minnesota-Wisconsin K-9 Search and Rescue at Whitewater State Park. The emergency services training also allows cadets, ages 12 to 18, to learn radio communication, prepare items for a survival pack and how to carry a stretcher.
“You never know when something like a disaster or missing person is going to happen,” Petri said. “You don’t expect it. So just being able to keep our training consistent … it really allows us to respond to the best of our ability when that need does come.”
As a whole, the Civil Air Patrol assists with “disaster relief missions” and in Southeast Minnesota, they mostly search for missing persons and downed airplanes, Petri said. The Minnesota Wing joined in the search for Madeline Kingsbury, who has been missing from her Winona home since March 31. Kingsbury is a mother of two children, a University of Minnesota graduate student, a Mayo Clinic employee and a Winona State University graduate.
“We pray for (the Civil Air Patrol’s) success and safety while conducting this important mission. Just as we do for all of you looking for our Madeline,” wrote her father David Kingsbury in a Facebook post on April 6. “We can never repay so many, many people for their concern and action in this extraordinarily difficult time for our family.”
For each mission in the community, the Civil Air Patrol squadrons are sent out by the Air Force, which can start with an activated beacon or requests from local law enforcement agencies, Petri said.
“Over the course of Civil Air Patrol’s existence the world has changed and the needs of what we do with emergency services has changed,” Petri said. “The biggest thing that we do is disaster relief missions, which could be anything from sandbagging down in hurricane country. Here in Rochester, back when the pandemic was sort of at its height, our squadron helped out at the Mayo Civic Center directing people during the massive vaccine clinic.”
The southeastern Minnesota squadron regularly volunteers at Gold Rush Days in Oronoco, clears tables at Pizza Ranch in Stewartville and marches as color guards in parades.
“Just being able to do that sort of community outreach beyond our original three missions (of the cadet programs, aerospace education and emergency services) … it really gives us something to look forward to and be able to connect with people on. And maybe hopefully get them to ask, ‘Hey, what’s Civil Air Patrol?’” Petri said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Members can also volunteer additional time in other states when natural disasters hit. Petri said the service to the community is one of the reasons he’s “very happy” with his decision to join the Civil Air Patrol seven years ago at 14 years old.
“I like the whole atmosphere and what Civil Air Patrol is really about,” Petri said. “I’m happy to give back to the community, to serve the community and just be a part of something that will hopefully make a difference when the time comes.”
To learn more about the Southeast Minnesota Composite Squadron, visit southeastminnesota.cap.gov/about/our-squadron or the organization’s Facebook page.
The Trust Project
