Search and Rescue (SAR): Perhaps best known for its search and rescue efforts, CAP now flies more than 85 percent of all federal inland SAR missions directed by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Langley AFB, Virginia. Outside of the continental United States, CAP supports the Joint Rescue Coordination Centers in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Just how effective are the CAP missions? More than 100 people are saved every year by CAP members!
Disaster Relief: Often overlooked but vitally important is the role CAP plays in disaster relief operations. CAP provides air and ground transportation, and an extensive communications network. They fly disaster relief officials to remote locations, and support local, state and national disaster relief organizations with manpower, leadership and other valuable and needed resources.
Humanitarian Services: Closely related to disaster relief is CAP's support of humanitarian missions. Usually in support of the Red Cross, CAP air crews transport time-sensitive medical materials including blood and human tissue in situations where other means of transportation are not possible
Air Force Support: It's hardly surprising that CAP performs several missions in direct support of the U.S. Air Force. Specifically, CAP conducts damage assessment, radiological monitoring, light transport, communications support, and low-altitude route surveys.
Civil Air Patrol can be a major contributor to our country’s critical Homeland Security efforts. Our members have excellent air/ground observation and communications assets at their disposal. CAP can provide aerial reconnaissance, photography, radiological monitoring, disaster and damage assessment, and much, much more. Congress gave CAP its original coastal patrol charter during WWII, and we are ready to step forward to assist our nation again.
