News - Page 5

South Dakota Wing completed two tornado damage assessment sorties in Nebraska this week for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

South Dakota Wing garnered lots of interest in free STEM kits for educators during the annual Technology and Innovation in Education (TIE) conference in Sioux Falls.

CAP offers close to 20 STEM kits to educators who join for a one-time membership fee of $35.  

South Dakota Wing held its annual wing conference recently, concluding with an awards banquet recognizing members for excellence.

Eclipse data submitted from South Dakota Wing “made an important contribution” to Civil Air Patrol’s report to NASA on data collected during the recent solar eclipse. South Dakota Wing had seven teams ready to collect "citizen science" data in partnership with NASA's GLOBE Observer program. Most faced cloudy skies, but teams were still able to collect data.

South Dakota Wing, Civil Air Patrol, is “effective” in its ability to accomplish its missions safely, efficiently, and effectively. The rating followed a staff assistance visit (SAV) by the Air Force North Central Liaison Region.

 

CAP Major Ben Shafer assumed command of Lincoln County Composite Squadron April 2, in a change of command ceremony during the squadron meeting at Great Planes Airport, Tea.

Eleven members of the Pennington County Drone Team received drone training from South Dakota Wing, Civil Air Patrol, on March 20. Students used basic flight skills with drones to take accurate photos of what they were seeing and to maneuver between targets based on an NIST training curriculum.

C/CMSgt Jordan Weiand became the first South Dakota Wing cadet to earn the technician rating for CAP’s Uncrewed Aerial Systems, known informally as drones. She is among only 13 members currently certified UAS technicians in South Dakota Wing.

Civil Air Patrol’s South Dakota Wing participated in the search for a missing 17-year-old March 11 and 12 in Hand County.

Unfortunately, local authorities found Wyatt Rowland of Miller deceased in the afternoon of March 12. Wyatt was reported missing on the morning of March 10. Authorities found the youth's pickup truck in a slough north of Miller and his body nearby.

"We flew nearly every search pattern we are trained to fly," said Col. Mike Beason, who directed air operations for CAP’s part of the mission.

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.