Suggestion for Local Unit ES Training or "mission"

[NIN]

Last week, while traipsing around the woods, it hit on me that there is a great untapped "search" mission that local units could easily do for training purposes.

Every state in the US has at least one, and sometimes more than a dozen, civilian parachute drop zones with the exception of New Hampshire. 

Occasionally, skydivers have to "cutaway" their main parachutes during a malfunction sequence and deploy their reserve parachutes.   Once they do that, their main parachute drifts to the ground, along with the reserve parachute's deployment bag & pilot chute.   Now, if someone did their homework and calculated the "spot" correctly, there it a chance that their "trash" (the main & reserve freebag) will land back on the DZ.  Certainly, that's a good result.

But more often, the cutaway main lands off the DZ and it takes hours and hours to find it, if at all (a friend had 2 or 3 malfunctions last year and lost at least 2 parachutes because they never found them), and often involves skydivers untrained in the "dark art" of ground search to wander in a disorganized way thru the woods looking around for their stuff.

At an average cost for a main parachute of upward of $1500 (new), this represents a substantial investment to just have laying someplace, potentially soaking up damaging UV rays (breaks down the fabric), getting wet, etc.

The DZ I jump at does tandem parachuting, and a tandem main, being about 75-100% larger than a sport main, is worth a lot more than a sport main, both in terms of its physical or replacement value and also in terms of the availability of the equipment following a cutaway.

It struck me that CAP folks training for ground SAR would be highly proficient (or eventually, will become highly proficient) at "searching a grid."  An organized, logical, search method with trained eyeballs and skills.

So from a CAP standpoint, it would serve as a great training tool.  You can test your alerting system, assembly, transport, deployment/employment, search operations, recovery operations, communications, and recovery/reset in darn near a "real" mission-type environment, without

From the DZ's perspective, this is a great opportunity to work with the community, and skydivers who lose parachutes and get them back thru the efforts of civilians or other skydivers are willing to compensate/reward those who bring back their expensive asset. I've seen skydivers rent helicopters to help look for their parachutes, even.  (when a new parachute costs $1500-$2200 or even more, a couple hrs on an R-22 is an investment)

So this could be an opportunity for the local CAP squadron to put some $$ into their coffers, and get some training, and the skydivers potentially get their crap back.

What would it take to set this up? 

Well, first, understand that this would be no more than a "squadron" activity of sorts.  No different than, say, a weekend bivouac search where an old 26' parachute is the target (can't count how many of those I've been on).  This is almost strictly "ground team employment" stuff, without all the mission base, IC, ground branch, etc.   

The local unit could reach out to the local DZ and say "Hey, we're the CAP squadron that's 10 miles up the road from you, and one of the things we do is search and rescue, and our cadets need training in this kind of thing.  We'd be very happy to help out when you folks have to look for a cutaway parachute and the freebag."

Now, the DZ may say "Hey, wow, that's awesome. How can we proceed with this?" or they could say "Yeah, no, thanks, but no thanks."

I wouldn't "expect" payment, or even discuss it, at least, not at first.  But in the few instances where I've helped shag gear out of the woods (or, as I've sometimes done, chased equipment into a field and landed near it), its pretty much understood etiquette to buy your buddy who helped you out at least a free jump.  I've also seen skydivers hand a civilian who brought in their main $75 or $100, and thats just "Hey, this landed in my front yard."

So it would be worth a phone call to the local DZ.  Ask for the "DZO" or "Drop Zone Owner." Identify yourself as from the local CAP unit, explain CAP's search capabilities and say "I understand you folks occasionally have parachutes that don't land back at the DZ following a malfunction.  We could be an excellent on-call resource to help look for missing parachutes if you'd be willing to call us when there is a need.." and go from there.

Skydivers generally have a good idea of the area where their stuff went (they'll point on an aerial photo of the DZ and the surroundings, and jumpers will help look out for their buddy by paying close attention to where they think the main landed), so its not like you're line searching for a 3 mile radius around the DZ or something.  Every time I've gone into the woods to look for a guy's trash, its been an area of a few (10-12?) acres in size, and the canopy is usually not visible from the air (we have planes, we look), which means it either went thru the trees to the ground, or its hung up someplace under the treetops.   The reserve freebag (which, unlike its name, is unfortunately not "free" but rather costs between $100 and $200 to replace) usually lands nearby, too.

In any event, its worth a few minutes on the phone, and it could result in a nice, practical "on-call" mission for a local unit to hone its skillz on the ground, help out the community, and potentially put a few shekels into the unit's bank account, too, to help cover training costs, gas for the unit van, etc.

[RiverAux]

Mixed feelings about this. 

Other than getting some time in the woods and a little experience walking search patterns, I don't see it being a terribly rewarding training experience. 

Now, I could see it being helpful from an aircrew point of view, but getting the planes in the air would involve real money.  Maybe the pilots would be willing to do it as part of their proficiency flying though. 

I would have some concerns regarding accesssing private land as CAP the corporation on behalf of some other individual rather than one of the agencies we usually work for.  Who is responsible for making sure that landowner permission has been obtained? 

Is a parent going to think it worthwhile if their child was injured while doing this "training"?

Personally, I think all ES field training should be done under an AF mission number even though that is no longer required for sign-offs.  I'd rather be covered by the AF for liability, etc. than CAP's.  Though, of course this doesn't make any difference to cadets. 

I wouldn't want to do it, but don't think it could hurt any. 

[Short Field]

Why in the world would you want to have up to a 66% disability pension based on a GS-9 Step 1 ($41,563) pay and full coverage for medical expenses instead of the max $7,950 CAP will pay AFTER your medical insurance is exhausted?

If it sounds like a stupid question - it is not.  I continually talk to local CAP leaders who prefer the CAP C mission coverage instead of the A/B mission coverage.  It is just much easier to not have to do 30 minutes of paperwork a couple of months in advance to get a mission.  It also increases the cadets and senior member participation because they don't have to become minimally ES qualified (as in a trainee).  I personally don't find these two reasons to be that valid.

Get a A/B mission number and go do it.  Sounds like a great mission - either air or ground.

[MikeTJumps]

I co-author the leading introductory text on the sport, "Parachuting, The Skydiver's Handbook" and I know the owners/operators of many Skydiving facilities.

Generally, someone follows the "cut away" and "free bag" equipment down to retrieve it for their fellow jumper when the area is "flat land."

What is normally done in the event of a "cut away" when it is not obvious as to where the parts have landed is to fly a Cessna over the area that one believes the parachute is in (especially if it is a wooded area) and get a bearing on it from the DZ or a local fix and then go in from the ground for it.  Of course, at night, that becomes difficult.  They would do the search the next day. 


Mike Turoff, Maj, CAP, TX-451/CC and Skydiving Instructor Examiner.

[NIN]

I co-author the leading introductory text on the sport, "Parachuting, The Skydiver's Handbook" and I know the owners/operators of many Skydiving facilities.

Hey, Mike, I have two copies on my shelf here at home

Generally, someone follows the "cut away" and "free bag" equipment down to retrieve it for their fellow jumper when the area is "flat land."

What is normally done in the event of a "cut away" when it is not obvious as to where the parts have landed is to fly a Cessna over the area that one believes the parachute is in (especially if it is a wooded area) and get a bearing on it from the DZ or a local fix and then go in from the ground for it.  Of course, at night, that becomes difficult.  They would do the search the next day.

We had a tandem cutaway go into the woods near our DZ recently, and we spent the remainder of the day flying over the area (under canopy, hanging out the door of the Otter on the way up, and even our pilot climbed into his 140 and did some "low and slow" flight over the area) all to no avail.

A CAP ground team, trained in the "art" of ground search, with multiple sets of eyeballs and appropriate landowner permissions, would have found that canopy in about a half hour of line search.

As it was, two of our TMs went up in there (after talking to the land owners) and spent a considerable amount of time looking for the canopy. I never did hear if they ever found it.

My earlier point is that CAP squadrons do ES "training" without a mission number all the time.   This kind of a training evolution is not much more involved than your average weekend training conducted at the local state park or someone's land (where, oddly, you've gotten permission..). It just happens to exercise things like your alerting process, and its more of an "on demand" training rather than something you've scheduled.

At the very least its good community relations, and if the DZ is generous, might be a little fundraiser for the unit, too.