South Dakota Wing, CAP, has been assigned the newest Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS or drone) by CAP’s National Headquarters. The X10D is the latest military-grade UAS produced by Skydio, a US based company. It has the most advanced IR camera on the market today and the company boasts that the color camera will zoom to 160 times a normal image.
SD Wing members gathered in Pierre and Sioux Falls this weekend to hone emergency services skills, both refreshing existing skills and accomplishing tasks need for additional ES specialties.
FEMA praised SD Wing for the quality of its drone photography after responding to a call for aerial imaging after deadly tornados in Iowa in May. Iowa Wing requested support from the South Dakota drone (UAS) team. A FEMA official said the Wingtra results were the best UAS imagery they've ever seen from Civil Air Patrol, yielding a resolution of less than two inches per photo pixel.
Members of South Dakota Wing, Civil Air Patrol, recently assisted in a multi-agency search for a Lakota teenager who has been missing for over 50 years.
Civil Air Patrol provided essential aircrew services, allowing an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft to visit Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD.
Civil Air Patrol’s Lookout Mountain Composite, Spearfish, held an open house and memorial service commemorating for family members of one of the men who died in an aircraft accident 30 years ago. Family members returned to Spearfish to mark the anniversary.
Nearly three dozen dedicated members of South Dakota Wing, representing all squadrons plus wing staff, participated in an intensive Emergency Services Academy aimed at enhancing their emergency response skills.
Members of the South Dakota Wing completed FEMA's G0361 - Flood Fight Operations class at the state emergency operations center in Pierre on February 13 and 14. The class addressed basic flood concepts, coordination with multiple agencies, flood threat analysis, expedient flood works and their monitoring, and the recovery process. The class featured a combination of lectures, discussions, activities, and exercises. Emergency managers from across the state attended.
Close to forty South Dakota Wing members participated in a day-long online training event Saturday (Jan 13) highlighted by mission staff training by CAP’s National Emergency Services Academy’s Mobile Training Team (NESA-MTT).The topics directly addressed CAP’s involvement and practical considerations in such a mission, and also the broader picture of management of a large multi-agency disaster mission.
SDWG members gathered in Sioux Falls on October 14 for continuing training for CAP’s operational mission training.
