Fall-Winter - Minnesota Wing

Preflight
north of Staples. Staples and the destination airport
of Hallock are located in Northwestern, MN.
Media from North Dakota and Minnesota
wanted information on the search efforts. Interviews
were conducted by all of the TV networks, radio
stations and newspapers. Some interviews were by
phone but most were in person. The media had an
opportunity to see the Civil Air Patrol members in
action, along with talking to ground and aircraft
teams directly involved with the search. They
provide the public with information about the
continuing search.
The search continued with the expansion of the
concentrated area from early day light to after dark
each day.
Pastor, Bob Griggs, said, during a press
conference, “he married Andrew (the pilot) and
Kate Lindberg six weeks ago.” “This is a very
difficult time for the family,” he said. Pastor
Griggs thanked the Civil Air Patrol for operating
so professional, their dedication and volunteering
of their time during the search. “The family is
very grateful for the services provided by the
Civil Air Patrol,” said Griggs.
Aircraft from South Dakota joined in the search
and the concentrated search area continued to
expand. 18 aircraft and nearly 400 Civil Air Patrol
members supported the search mission either on
site or from remote areas. The search covered over
4,000 square miles.
CAP deployed an advanced imaging system
called ARCHER (Airborne Real-time Cueing
Hyperspectral Enhanced Reconnaissance) System
to help search for Mr. Lindberg and his plane.
ARCHER is a custom-designed system which
uses a hyperspectral camera and special software
for search and rescue (SAR), disaster impact
assessment and relief, and homeland security.
ARCHER has three methods for finding things:
signature matching (matching reflected light to
spectral signatures), and anomaly detection (calculates
a statistical model of all the pixels in the
image to see if there is a probability that a pixel
does not belong in the scene). For this search this
system is being used to look for anomalies.
Search operations with the ARCHER System
along with the many aircraft, aircrews, and ground
teams continued.
An aircraft was spotted Tuesday, November
17, in the late afternoon by a private pilot flying
across the missing aircraft flight path southwest of
Bemidji, MN. A Civil Air Patrol ground team from
Bemidji and the Clearwater Sheriff’s Department
went to the crash site about a mile and half from
any roads in a very dense wooded area, to mark the
site, in the dark of night. Members of the family
confirmed the aircraft to be that of their loved one
Andrew Lindberg, he died in the crash.
Civil Air Patrol members were put into action
over the course of the search. The hundreds of
hours of volunteer training to be prepared and then
the hundreds of members who volunteered for the
missing aircraft mission all came together during a
time of need by a family who is so grateful to the
members of the Civil Air Patrol. “Citizens Serving
Communities: Above and Beyond.”
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the
U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with
58,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90
percent of continental U.S. inland search and
rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue
Coordination Center and was credited by the
AFRCC with saving 91 lives in fiscal year 2008.
Its volunteers also perform homeland security,
disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the
request of federal, state and local agencies. The
members play a leading role in aerospace education
and serve as mentors to the nearly 22,000
young people currently participating in CAP cadet
programs. CAP has been performing missions for
America for 68 years.
Pictures taken by 1st Lt. George Supan
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