CAP: KY Ops

Col. Joseph S. King
Public Affairs Officer
Illinois Wing

ILLINOIS – Feb. 5 marked the fourth day of Civil Air Patrol’s support of disaster relief efforts in western Kentucky, where severe snow and ice storms left thousands of households without electricity, telephones or transportation.

CAP’s airborne reconnaissance, ground damage assessment and well-being visits to the hardest-hit areas were hampered early in the week by continued inclement weather. The past few days, though cold, were much more conducive to completion of aerial and ground missions, said Capt. Stephen Bishop, Kentucky Wing emergency services officer.

CAP officials said that of about 72 air missions assigned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to CAP, some 48 had been completed through the afternoon of Feb. 5. Most aircraft have flown out of Barkley Regional Airport in Paducah, and the Kentucky Wing Headquarters Mission in Frankfort has served as mission base.
Members of CAP ground search and rescue teams have been working alongside Kentucky National Guard troops in making door-to-door checks of residents’ welfare. A CAP high bird aircraft is being used to relay radio communications between National Guard command posts and their troops in the field.

With rugged terrain and limited cellular coverage, CAP provides the only link to the ground assets. CAP uses the same high bird to facilitate its communications as well.

The relief effort has involved volunteers, aircraft and communications equipment from the Illinois, Indiana and Ohio wings as well as the Kentucky Wing.