Response 1st for Valley Civil Air Patrol cadets

MAT-SU — During his lunch break on Wednesday, attorney John Erickson received a call from the state’s Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) informing him an emergency locator beacon had gone active in the Mat-Su area.

It was showtime.

Also a member of the Alaska Air National Guard, Major Erickson is squadron commander for the Mat-Su Minuteman Cadet Squadron for the Alaska Wing, Civil Air Patrol. Erickson was in charge of readying his ground cadets to respond to the distress call. Although his cadets are younger than the legal drinking age, they are trained to respond at a minute’s notice.

The Mat-Su Minuteman Cadet Squadron is the first group of cadets in the Alaska Wing, Civil Air Patrol. Comprised of 45 cadet members ages 12 to 21 and 15 senior members, the Mat-Su Minuteman provides trained personnel and resources to conduct search and rescue (SAR), disaster relief (DR) and other public assistance missions as requested. Because many missions are in support of persons in distress, they are conducted competently, expeditiously and in a professional manner.

The squadron was born Oct. 19, 2007, in the basement office of the MTA building in Palmer. For Erickson and five other licensed pilots who started the squadron, it had been a long time waiting. Erickson and other aerospace and military volunteers from the area had seen a need to give the Mat-Su Valley and its hundreds of pilots a volunteer emergency response team.

Since that time, cadets have been training for a situation like what happened Wednesday, when a state Department of Administration helicopter with five on board crashed in a remote area on Sheep Mountain. It was the first real search-and-rescue test for the cadet squadron.

With a group of four teens from the Minuteman Cadet Squadron, Erickson’s team was ready to respond to RCC’s call. Leading the pack was Erickson and 15-year-old Chad Speer.

“I called Chad and asked him to get a ground team together,” Erickson said. “I had three other emergency response cadets I knew could go, so we got them involved. We were the first ones on the scene.”

Erickson gathered his five cadets and drove out to Mile 117 of the Glenn Highway to Sheep Mountain, where RCC had picked up the helicopter’s beacon signals. They had no idea what they were walking into. Poor weather earlier in the day had temporarily closed the Glenn Highway and air response teams were unable to fly in the windy, snowy conditions.

“We picked up the signal with our gear and walked up the highway,” he said. “About the time the gear was put on, the [Alaska State] Troopers came. We formed an incident command center off the highway and hiked in about a half-mile.”

With snow at waist deep and conditions worsening, Erickson and his team of young cadets soon lost the emergency signal. Conditions were worsening and nightfall was approaching. Erickson took an assessment.

“The beacon could have been a half-mile to one mile more up the mountain, but we didn’t know,” he said. “So for safety purposes, we headed back and reported to the trooper the trajectory.”

The Minuteman Squadron had loaned its communications equipment to RCC pararescue snowmachiners, who eventually found the wreckage. The crash claimed four lives. A fifth, 14-year-old Quinn Ellinton of Palmer, survived the crash and a night in the elements. He was transported to Mat-Su Regional Hospital with what authorities have reported to be non-life-threatening injuries.

For Erickson and his Minutemen, Wednesday’s call was their first real response. There had been two others that turned out to be false alarms. Erickson is unsure if the four cadets involved in the response efforts Wednesday knew the survivor.

Erickson said the real life response his cadets experienced is what being part of a response team is all about. He also said that when word reached homes about Wednesday’s helicopter crash, five more local teens signed up to become cadets.

“It strengthens the cadets, gives them a sense of teamwork,” Erickson said of the support the Air National Guard’s Civil Air Patrol provides. “It makes them work together. Training in emergency services is important. We do it at our homes and businesses all the time. Our squad focused on teaching our youth responsibility and how to respond.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com, or 352-2269.