Civil Air Patrol assists in finding the lost

Since World War II, the Civil Air Patrol's mission has changed from spotting enemy German submarines and U-boats along the U.S. coast to being a search-and-rescue operation.

CAP members from Nevada squadrons are searching for famed aviator Steve Fossett, who disappeared after taking off from a Nevada airstrip Monday.

Klaus Mueller, a mission observer for Cape Girardeau's Trail of Tears Composite Squadron, is trained to use radio and Global Positioning System equipment in such searches. He said the Civil Air Patrol units searching in Nevada fly a series of patterns at 1,000 feet.

"If a plane really crashed, you're lucky if one of the parts is as big as the hood of a car. Seeing that from 1,000 feet is hard," he said. "Sometimes you have to be at the right place at the right time and look for burn marks."

Searchers also look for signs of smoke while pilots fly patterns that begin with a known route and expand from there. For unknown routes, pilots follow concentric patterns. By Saturday, the Nevada searchers had expanded the search to part of Northern California. In the process of searching for Fossett, spotters have documented six uncharted plane crashes.

Mueller, a native of Essen, Germany, said he joined CAP three years ago, inspired by the volunteerism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"I was trying to find somewhere I could do something to help," said Mueller, the city of Cape Girardeau's information technology director.

He said his squadron's last big mission was after the 1993 Mississippi River flood, when Civil Air Patrol pilots controlled the airspace above the river to help coordinate rescue operations.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127