Mission Report
Mission #04M0423
March 7, 2004
Emergency Locator Transmitter
Submitted by 1Lt Kim Kirschman

Sunday afternoon at about 1530 local time I received a call from Col Tomlinson, wing commander, requesting that I place an aircrew on standby for an ELT mission in the Centerville area.  An aircraft from the Burlington squadron was already enroute to the search area, as were three ground teams.  Strong and gusty winds in the Ankeny area prevented Col Tomlinson from authorizing a flight at the time he called to request a standby crew, but the intent was to be ready in the event the Burlington aircraft (CPF 1350) was unsuccessful in its search.  At about 1730 Col Tomlinson called again, this time requesting the standby crew meet at the Ankeny Airport to plan and brief a search flight based on lat/long coordinates derived from satellite hits received by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC).  I called Col Tomlinson at 1810 to report we were briefed and ready to go; he gave authorization for the mission.  Takeoff time was 1832.  At 1837 we established radio contact with CPF 1350 to coordinate search area separation.  At 1847, while still 39 nm from the planned search area, we heard an ELT signal.  Within seconds the signal stopped; at 1849 we were directed to return to base (RTB) because ground teams had found the offending ELT in an aircraft hangared on a grass strip located between the Centerville and Bloomfield airports.  Touchdown at Ankeny occurred at 1915.  Flight time was .8 hours.

The flight was crewed by Kim Kirschman, mission pilot, and Mike Ramey, scanner trainee.

Notes:

1.    Strong, gusty winds delayed authorization for the flight until just before dark;
2.    The old-style CAP communications radio in CPF 1376 was detrimental to safe and effective flight.  Frequent and regular contact with Des Moines approach control was necessary, while at the same time constant transmissions were received on the CAP radio.  The inability to separate the audio of the two radios caused a significant amount of distraction and confusion.