When a B-1 Bomber crashed during landing at Ellsworth AFB last year, the accident board called on South Dakota Wing, Civil Air Patrol for fast-turnaround airborne photography of the accident site. CAP photography was included in the Air Force accident investigation report, showing the site and CAP’s rapid response capabilities.
A dozen people attended South Dakota Wing’s airborne photography academy January 11 in Sioux Falls, including members and invited guests.
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.
CAP’s South Dakota Wing B-1B Lancer crash photography mission was “pivotal” and “groundbreaking,” according to the president of the Air Force Safety Investigation board studying the mishap.
Civil Air Patrol’s South Dakota Wing flew aircraft and drone photography surveys over Ellsworth Air Force Base to document the scene where a B-1 crashed on Jan. 4. Acting in its role as the auxiliary of the Air Force, Civil Air Patrol was tasked by the Air Force Interim Safety Board to fly photography surveys around the area of the crash, which happened as the bomber was attempting to land.
South Dakota Wing, Civil Air Patrol, flew an airborne photography mission for the South Dakota Air National Guard's 114th Fighter Wing on Thursday, May 12. The aircrew photographed the scene where an F-16 assigned to the South Dakota Air National Guard’s 114th Fighter Wing went off the end of a runway.
