NEWS: 18 CAP aircraft searching for missing Minnesota pilot
November 17, 2009
BRAINERD, Minn. — Civil Air Patrol's Minnesota Wing continues searching today for an aircraft and pilot that went missing Friday.
The aircraft is a white PA-28 Piper Cherokee with yellow stripes and black highlights. The plane left Air Lake Airport in Lakeville, Minn., on Friday, Nov. 13, bound for Hallock, Minn. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., alerted CAP the aircraft was missing on Nov. 14.
Air and ground search teams searched Monday between Wadena and Hallock; they deployed nearly 70 CAP members and 10 aircraft from Minnesota and surrounding states.
The air and ground search continued today at first light with all operations based at Brainerd Regional Airport.
The search is slowly growing and encompasses several central Minnesota counties, including Becker, Mahnomen, Red Lake, Marshall, Hubbard, Polk, Pennington, Todd and Wadena counties.
Eighteen aircraft, including those from North and South Dakota, are searching for the missing plane and pilot, Andrew Lindberg. More than 50 CAP ground personnel are also involved in the search.
CAP is requesting that pilots stay out of the airspace between St. Cloud and Foston, Minn., to avoid interfering with search operations.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact the local county sheriff's office, which is in contact with CAP and the search effort.
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 58,000 members nationwide. CAP 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 91 lives in fiscal year 2008. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 23,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years.
By Maj. Al Pabon
CAP National Public Affairs Team Leader
The aircraft is a white PA-28 Piper Cherokee with yellow stripes and black highlights. The plane left Air Lake Airport in Lakeville, Minn., on Friday, Nov. 13, bound for Hallock, Minn. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., alerted CAP the aircraft was missing on Nov. 14.
Air and ground search teams searched Monday between Wadena and Hallock; they deployed nearly 70 CAP members and 10 aircraft from Minnesota and surrounding states.
The air and ground search continued today at first light with all operations based at Brainerd Regional Airport.
The search is slowly growing and encompasses several central Minnesota counties, including Becker, Mahnomen, Red Lake, Marshall, Hubbard, Polk, Pennington, Todd and Wadena counties.
Eighteen aircraft, including those from North and South Dakota, are searching for the missing plane and pilot, Andrew Lindberg. More than 50 CAP ground personnel are also involved in the search.
CAP is requesting that pilots stay out of the airspace between St. Cloud and Foston, Minn., to avoid interfering with search operations.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact the local county sheriff's office, which is in contact with CAP and the search effort.
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 58,000 members nationwide. CAP 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 91 lives in fiscal year 2008. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 23,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years.
By Maj. Al Pabon
CAP National Public Affairs Team Leader