CAP participation causes frenzy over an ELT

[RiverAux]

Evidently just calling out CAP can make the media go nuts:


From the Durango CO Herald:

False alarm causes ruckus at the airport
State media jump at non-event thought to be a plane crash

November 23, 2006
By Shane Benjamin | Herald Staff Writer

Officials at the Durango-La Plata County Airport received a scare Wednesday after an emergency-locater beacon - the kind used in aircraft - sounded and smoke was seen near the end of the runway.

The incident prompted rescue personnel to mobilize, and brought phone calls from Front Range media outlets looking for a scoop. The media eventually found no news.

Nobody saw a plane crash, but all indications were that one had happened at about 10:30 a.m., said Don Brockus, spokesman at the airport.

Airport firefighters dispatched an engine to investigate the column of smoke rising southeast of the runway. They also called the Los Piños Fire Protection District. But all that firefighters found was a new gas well burning off waste, Brockus said.

Yet radio scanners continued to howl, suggesting that a plane was down somewhere in the area. Airport officials drove up and down a side ramp along the runway listening for where the signal seemed loudest.

After about 20 minutes, they centered their search on a small private plane that was being removed from a hanger.

"We eventually found that there was an aircraft that had been pulled out onto the ramp about 10:30 a.m.," Brockus said. "We had the pilot reach into the cabin where that (beacon) was stored and reset the device, and the beacon sound went away."

Sudden movements caused by bringing the airplane out of the hanger apparently activated the beacon, Brockus said. It is a rare occurrence - one that happens maybe once a year at the Durango-La Plata County Airport, he said.

That a column of smoke could be seen near the airport made this occurrence unique.

"It was an interesting coincidence," Brockus said.

"In a situation like that, seconds matter, so you don't waste any time. If you're going to make a mistake in a situation, you make the one that is going to save a life. Getting a quick response started was the best way to do that."

During the incident, the Civil Air Patrol was called, which somehow alerted media outlets on the Front Range to the possibility of a downed plane. Media started inquiring about 11:15 a.m. Brockus said he received about four calls Front Range media outlets, including The Denver Post, Newsradio 850 KOA and Fox 31 television.

[BillB]

After working at several TV or radio station in my career, I have never known one that had CAP VHF frequencies installed on their scanners. This included several station is top 100 markets plus smaller TV stations. The fear that the media routinely monitors CAP is groundless. Granted a station or newspaper may punch in the frequency during a missing plane search, but news assignment editors I've spoken to say they can get better facts from the Mission PAO or OTHER emergency service, law enforcement or fire-rescue  frequencies than try to figure out facts from CAP frequencies.
However one TV station says they do have 121.5 set on one scanner, but the news desk said they have never heard anything on that frequency.

[RiverAux]

I suspect that CAP was probaby first mentioned on one of the other frequencies.  Given that time frame (less than 45 minutes from start to finish) I doubt any CAP units were even on scene yet.