by Courtney Kohut and Lisa Van Clief, Major, CAP

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ —    The Civil Air Patrol assisted a team of ocean scientists from Rutgers University in the recovery of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) off the coast of New Jersey on May 12, 2004. The AUV lost communication with Rutgers scientists on May 2, 2004 during a Hudson River plume experiment.

Unsuccessful attempts were made to communicate with the underwater vehicle until Mr. Herve Barrier; East Brunswick NJ, and Dr. Scott Glenn; Hopewell NJ, of Rutgers University solicited the services of the Civil Air Patrol.

Lt. Col. Joseph Sirois; Bridgewater NJ, incident commander, directed two search aircrews; Flying a Piper Seneca from Maine were Lt. Col. John Trask Trenton (Mission Pilot); Easton ME and Maj. Thomas Goetz (Mission Observer); Woodland ME, who flew over a 225 nautical mile section of the ocean off the New Jersey coastline in search of the underwater glider.

Dr. Josh Kohut; East Windsor NJ, of the Coastal Ocean Observation Lab at Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences provided the Civil Air Patrol with search coordinates using CODAR, a coastal radar that uses radio waves to measure ocean surface currents. Based on the measured ocean currents, Dr. Kohut was able to determine the gliders probable location and define a search area for the Civil Air Patrol.

The two aircraft departed on their mission at 10:45 a.m. EDT from Trenton, New Jersey. The second aircraft a 172 Cessna, was flown by Lt. Col. Richard Olszewski; Trenton NJ, and aircrew members 1st Lt. John Gibson; Yardly NJ and 1st Lt. William Ward; Trenton NJ, acted as the "High Bird", a communication relay, while the other was the primary searchaircraft. Several passes were made through the search area when on the seventh pass, 1st Lt. William Ward of the Civil Air Patrol spotted the glider. Coordinates were then communicated to Ms. Liz Creed; Cranbury NJ, of Rutgers University waiting on board the Sorensen Miller, the rescue vessel provided by Miller's Launch, Inc.

"The Civil Air Patrol handles 95 percent of search and rescue," said Lt. William Ward. Ward explained most rescues do not usually have such happy endings. They previously participated in rescue efforts including the John Kennedy Jr. tragedy.

The AUV, or glider name "Cruiser" by New Jersey school children, was initially commissioned to perform water sampling tests in a week long experiment in the Hudson River called the Lagrangian Transport and the Transformation Experiment (LATTE). Nontoxic red dye was released exposing the movement of water from the Hudson into the Atlantic Ocean. The six-foot AUV provided real time measurements of the density, salinity, and temperature which were relayed to researchers on shore and ships participating in the experiment.

Civil Air Patrol is a nonprofit organization with some 62,000 members nationwide. It performs inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited last year by the AFRCC with saving more than 140 lives. CAP volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 27,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 60 years. For more information regarding the Civil Air Patrol contact: Major Lisa Van Clief 201-768-8313 and pa@njwg.cap.gov  website: http://www.njwg.cap.gov/. 

For more information regarding the Coastal Ocean Observation research lab, contact: Courtney Kohut 732-932-6555 ext. 532. chkohut@marine.rutgers.edu. 
http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/