Mock Aircraft Crash Site Target

[Capt_Redfox30]

I am helping my group ES officer put together a ground team training in February.  I was thinking about doing a mock crash scene and missing pilot and passengers.  The question I have is does anyone have any ideas of what I could use for a crash scene target, nothing to expense, just some cheap materials.  Any suggestions will be helpful.  Thanks.   

[RiverAux]

A couple of old white bed sheets can very quickly be cut into the shape of fuselage, wings, etc.  Just use tent stakes to hold them down.  Won't be full size, but more than close enough.  Can put them down in the shape of the whole plane, or have 1 wing separated and some distance away, etc.

[IceNine]

We found grey/silver backed tarps an the local farm and fleet, they worked great from the air and ground.

Depending on the area you live in there may be an actual crash site you could use for your training.  Sometimes they leave them, use the AFRCC Crash locator (you'll have to google it) to find these areas

[Eclipse]

Somewhere here or on CAP news was information on making an "airframe" out of vinyl canvas or  cloth - basically a cutout sillouette.

Depending on what material you use, it can be rolled up for storage, if you join it using grommets and cables or cable ties the "parts" can be strewn about, and it can have two different sides for colors.  You can even cut out numbers to change the ID.

I've also seen them made out of Tyvek or foam-core siding (though the foam doesn't store as easily or hold up as well).

Sounded like a great winter project to me.

You shoudl also check with your local FBO's or flight schools - one near us is sitting on a wing and 1/2 chassis they will give us if we can fine a place to keep it.

[isuhawkeye]

http://www.cap-es.net/ES%20Projects/Airplane%20Target.htm

Hope this helps

[Al Sayre]

Here are some alternates for crash sites...Since airplanes frequently are not "intact" when they crash, find a farmer who has some space and will let you use it.   

1.)  Dig a small hole and burn a couple of stumps and scatter some tinfoil and newspaper around.

2.)  Burn a few logs then drag the (hot) ashes with a box blade for a couple of hundred feet, and burn the edges of the path in an irregular pattern - just don't let the fire get out of hand.

3.)  Find a densly wooded area and (safely!) build a small smokey fire in the middle of it.

Look at the crash scene photos in the Scanner/Observer training slides, that's what people need to be looking for.  That seemed to be one of the problems with people who were trying to search Google Earth for Steve Fossett, they reported anything that was vauguely airplane shaped, but really didn't have a clue what a real crashsite looks like. 

Hope this helps...

[SoCalCAPOfficer]

I dont know about your part of the country, but here in California we have a lot of old known crash sites that we can send crews to look for, or in the alternative you can take your CAP Van and put an X on the top and park it in an isolated area.

[a2capt]

One of the unit's I've participated in training missions with has two search targets ...

.. you target today is a missing Cessna 182, white, about 10 mil. thick.

They look pretty darn good from the air too.

they cut white canvas to scale size and shapes, one each for the wings, another section for the fuselage and tail patterns.

They can be set out intact, separated, or whatever, and when the winds pick up in the end of the day, and the things roll up.. they can look quite 'real' and hard to find.

No wood, nails, and it rolls up to go back home.

One way to do it is park an aircraft on top of the material and use a noon time shadow to mark the dimensions.

[genejackson]

I went to a local aircraft junkyard and picked up an empty fuselage from a C-150 (firewall to tail) and two wings for $0.00 when I told them what it was for.   Nearly every airplane junkyard will have at least those items sitting around never to be used again and taking up space.   We load it on a members utility trailer and one person can load and unload it since the fuselage is empty and weighs less than 100 lbs.   The wingsweigh about 20 lbs each and came from a C-210.

I take the items to a field somewhere (with permission of course) and put the fuselage nose to the ground and lay the wings nearby.   Always gets the crews full attention when they see what a real crash site would look like from 1000' AGL.

A real eye catch for prospective CAP members as well when it is placed near an intersection with a banner about CAP and where we meet, etc.

Gene Jackson
Group I CC
Virginia Wing

[SJFedor]

My old unit in PA had some parts they acquired through donation from an aircraft junkyard. They were rather thrilled to get rid of it.

It's neat to get some smaller parts and set them up in different patterns. Also fun to hide some in the woods and have the GTs go hunting.

[JayT]

You might wanna consider building a small plane out of plywood and such.

[floridacyclist]

Nearly every airplane junkyard will have at least those items sitting around never to be used again and taking up space.   We load it on a members utility trailer and one person can load and unload it since the fuselage is empty and weighs less than 100 lbs.   The wingsweigh about 20 lbs each and came from a C-210.

This is even easier than loading and unloading it; the wings are cloth and get wadded up and thrown inside for transit since for some reason, my C-150 wings weigh a lot more than 20 lbs. Since aircraft landing gear is not made for prolonged highway use (and the tires are not DOT-legal), I welded trailer axle stubs to leaf-spring plates then welded matching leaf-spring plates to the landing gear legs. With 4 bolts to bolt each of the plates together, you can adjust alignment with washers. It is legally registered as a homemade trailer with a tag and lights that snap onto the firewall. Cost: less than $50 total.

We're negotiating to get a nice Cessna 172 straight-back (no rear windshield = more room and side area) to use for a utility trailer on cadet roadtrips, flight simulator (MSFS 2004 and a flat-screen monitor) and mobile billboard with our website painted on the side.