Civil Air Patrol Aircrew Excels- Victoria Staging Area 17 February 2007

Civil Air Patrol Aircrew Excels

CAP Officers from the Corpus Christi Comp Squadron’s Aircrew participated in a Statewide Search and Rescue Exercise on Saturday 17 February 2007. The unit deployed en masse to the Victoria Staging Area of that greater mission. This was an historical event of in that he first Aircrew sorties flown completely by CC-CAP personnel took place

In all, the Staging Area was assigned to fly three missions and each of these missions was totally manned by aircrew from Corpus Christi.

The first and second sorties were route searches between Victoria and San Antonio. Additionally, the aircrew was to transport a second aircraft back to Victoria requiring, a crew change of sorts. These sorties were flown by 1st Lt Jerry Lunceford as Mission Pilot with 2d Lt Mike Garmon as Mission Observer (trainee) and Capt Joe Pendergrast as Mission Scanner/ Skills evaluator for 2d Lt Garmon.

The Second sortie later that day was flown by 1st Lt Lunceford as Mission Pilot/ Skills Evaluator with 2nd Lt John Hoelscher as Mission Observer (trainee) and Major Joe Ely Carrales as Mission Scanner trainee.

Also extremely significant is the training that was accomplished in the field of communications. 1st Lt Sandy Phelps, 2d Lt Mike Garmon and Cadet Christopher Villarreal received training in and are pending approval for qualification as Mission Radio Operators.

The continued proficiency of aircrew demonstrates that the unit can deploy air resources if called upon,” said Major Joe Ely Carrales, the unit’s commander, “This training is a key step in making CC-CAP a future staging area.”

Officers in attendance were Major Joe Ely Carrales, Capt Joe Pendergrast, 1st Lt Jerry. Lunceford, 1st Lt Sandy Phelps, 1st Lt John Hoelscher, and 2d Lt Mike Garmon. Cadet C. M. Villarreal was also in attendance.