Iowa Wing News Online
Friday, January 30, 2004
By Maj Doug Jansen
Local Searchers look for Ted Leichtman near his home near New Hampton, IA
New Hampton, Iowa—Today the Iowa Civil Air Patrol continues to search for a New Hampton man reported missing on Sunday. The Chickasaw County Sheriff says 54-year-old Ted Leichtman left his farm home, southeast of New Hampton, on foot, at 6:30a.m. Sunday and was not dressed for the bitterly cold weather. His family told authorities Leichtman fell on the ice earlier last week and his wife was preparing to take him to the hospital for related complications when he disappeared.
Cold weather and strong winds are hampering search efforts, but volunteers from across the state are helping out. Searchers have spent the last two days scouring the area near his home and have brought in tracking dogs to help in the search. Search crews are using snowmobiles, ATV's, search dogs, and Civil Air Patrol aircraft to locate Mr. Leichtman. The Iowa Civil Air Patrol is working with Chickasaw County authorities to coordinate the massive search.
"We've tried to place experienced searchers with community members to ensure reliable search data," said Major John Halbrook, of Ames, coordinator for the Iowa Wing Civil Air Patrol. "We're using aircraft with thermal imaging technology."
This is the first time Iowa Civil Air Patrol has used the equipment, but Halbrook hopes that it will aid rescue efforts. Despite weather conditions, the thermal imaging technology allowed aircrews to identify heat masses such as cows and deer during initial passes. "We flew until dark Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday and plan to get more aircraft out there tomorrow," he said Monday. Eager searchers returned from assigned tasks only to ask for more assignments. "We will keep going until something changes," Halbrook said. "We have no reason to think differently."
As the United States Air Force Auxiliary, the all volunteer CAP is mandated by Congress to perform rapid response search and rescue missions assigned by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and to conduct a cadet leadership and aviation education program The Iowa Wing numbers 280 adult volunteers and 150 Cadets between the ages of 12 through 20. CAP units operate throughout the state to accomplish these Missions for Iowa.
While CAP members wear Air Force military-style uniforms, they are all civilian volunteers. The Central Iowa Composite Squadron of the Iowa Wing, based in Ames, is providing much of the CAP leadership and manpower for the search in New Hampton. Local Incident Command Staff were alerted to the search early Sunday afternoon and were on scene working with local authorities and the STAR 1 Search and Rescue Team by late Sunday afternoon. Over a two dozen volunteers from Central Iowa have aided in the search efforts. CAP has flown almost a dozen sorties over the search area taking live and still photography of the area to aid local authorities in looking for Mr. Leichtman. They have also coordinated and organized the foot search and helped to coordinate the volunteer staging areas.
CAP aircrews receive extensive training in visual and electronic searches from the air, often flying grid searches or other patterns that can help to locate search objectives from the air. After locating the search objective, aircrews lead in CAP ground search teams, law enforcement, and emergency medical personnel to render life saving aid. Last year in Iowa, CAP conducted 14 actual search missions.
Local Civil Air Patrol units meet weekly throughout the state and are always looking for more volunteers. For more information about Civil Air Patrol, contact Major Doug Jansen at (515) 291-9625 or visit us on the web at www.iawg.cap.gov.
