“Cessna aircraft, you have been intercepted by a United States armed fighter.” 

Two Wisconsin Wing aircraft heard that call as F-16 jets pulled up on their left side during the Fertile Spade Exercise held Tuesday, July 7.  The CAP Cessna 172s simulated stolen aircraft while Madison-based fighters from the 115th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard scrambled to intercept them.

F-16 fighter from the 115th Fighter Wing  intercepting CAP Flight 4832 (Photo by 1 Lt Terese Barta).

While all intercept practice missions are important, this one had particular significance since it was a no-notice exercise.  Fighters did not realize this was not a real event until right before take-off.  They were also evaluated during the exercise on parameters such as timely scramble, intercept, identification, and escort procedures.

While it may seem a relatively simple task, it requites a high degree of precision for a fighter pilot to locate and slow up to the speed of a small single engine aircraft, even in a known block of airspace.

The goal of intercept exercises is to emulate real-world scenarios as accurately as possible.  This includes the target aircraft ignoring repeated attempts of the fighter to contact them through visual and radio signals.

The importance of these intercept exercises was realized in April when a flight student Yavuz Berke stole a Cessna 172 aircraft from Thunder Bay, Canada, and crossed into U.S. airspace.  Fighters assigned to 115th Fighter Wing were called upon to intercept that plane.

Safety has the highest priority.  CAP aircraft are required to maintain basic VFR minimums and remain under air traffic control.  Intercept aircraft fly no closer than required to insure the pilot of the intercepted aircraft can see the required visual signals.

Fertile Spade exercises are sponsored by the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS).  They are used to test track detection, identification, and intercept procedures. They are often used to prepare a unit for a NORAD Alert Force Evaluation. 

Participating as targets in the July 7 exercise were CAP flights 4836 (La Crosse) and 4832 (Stevens Point).  This was also the first mission for the Door county Senior Squadron's C182Q, which served as the high bird aircraft.

The Wisconsin Wing provides targets for intercept missions about once per month.  In addition to providing valuable training for the Air National Guard, these exercises also give our aircraft an estimated 130-150 hours of flight time per year, according to CAP Incident Commander Lt Col Jowett. The exercise held this week also provided an opportunity to troubleshoot any possible communication problems with the newly assigned CAP radio channel frequencies.

What do you have when there is severe flooding, a tornado touchdown damaging a local hospital, and a major power outage that affects five states including Wisconsin and Canada?  You have the makings for a statewide Emergency Service (ES) training weekend recently in Wisconsin for Civil Air Patrol (CAP) members. 

Operation DARK BADGER simulated a response to multiple Search and Rescue (SAR) and Disaster Relief (DR) incidents during a major power failure, similar to the Blackout of 2003.   "The goal is to get all of us to think about how we can successfully respond to missions even with difficulties," stated Major Nick Rushizky, Exercise Project Officer, "The basic concept is that we will be suffering a statewide power outage and will have to respond even with that issue going on."

The exercise started with a severe weather event in southeast Wisconsin. Flash flooding closed I-94 and State Highway 50 in Kenosha County.  A small tornado touched down causing "damage" to a local hospital in Elkhorn, WI.  CAP assistance was requested by local emergency management and the wing's Mobile Command Center was dispatched to the scene.

As the scenario unfolded, an Incident Command Post (ICP) was established at the Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center near Tomah, WI.  Since there is no local CAP unit in the area, a field antenna system was flown in while the incident management team traveled to the location.  Once operational, the ICP coordinated operations between the Mobile Command Center and a staging area at Stevens Point, WI. 

Twelve units participated in the three day exercise; flying photo missions, tracking practice Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) and providing communications support as well as conducting local training.  Poor weather and high winds hampered some activities.  Things were further complicated on Sunday when the Wisconsin Wing (WIWG) CAP was advised that an actual lost person SAR was underway in north central Wisconsin and that CAP assistance was being recommended.   An aircrew and ground team was placed on standby for possible response, but no mission request was received.  The missing subject was located the following day. 

"While we didn't get everything done that was planned, I think it was a successful mission," commented Lt Colonel Jerry Krueger, WIWG Emergency Services Officer, "We did get people to start thinking about this contingency.  If this situation happened tomorrow, I think we would have a better handle on it."

How distant are the heavens? As part of the culmination of this year's Aerospace Education Excellence (AEX) program, the day following the summer solstice, June 22, the Timmerman Composite Squadron featured a two-hour special event with a college-level introduction to the science of astronomical measurement given by Dr. Kerry Kuehn.

It is one thing to look up these distances and take someone else's word for it; it is something else to understand for oneself how these facts are determined. So, how far away is the sun? How far is it to the moon?

Dr. Kuehn, a physicist and professor at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee, led us first to an inductive appreciation of what all is involved in measuring these astronomical distances. Then he outlined the science and math of classical theorists such as Aristarchus (b. 330 B.C.), who measured the distance to the sun by trigonometric calculations based on the observation of the half moon, and of Hipparchus (b. 190 B.C.) who employed parallax to determine that the distance from the earth to the moon is approximately sixty times the distance from the earth's surface to its center.

Dr. Kuehn responded to questions that compared the classical calculations with modern understandings of these distances (the Greeks were remarkably accurate in their conclusions). He also explained briefly a current research project that he has engineered for the study of vortexes. His study is being funded in part by NASA because of the application of vortex theory to flight dynamics.

Milwaukee, WI - C/Major Niko Ruud handed over command to C/2nd Lt Luke Fenelon during ceremonies which included a Dining Out as a farewell to C/Major Ruud who is leaving for the Air Force Academy.

Following an outdoor inspection of the cadet flights, the cadets and staff members entered the building where the staff office and assembly room had been turned into a dining hall thru the efforts of some of the senior and cadet staff.  The Wing Commander, guests from SE Group Headquarters, other squadrons, and friends also attended - all of whom were in on the secret of the Dining Out portion of the evening except for the guest of honor – C/Major Ruud.

The new Cadet Commander, C/2nd Lt Fenelon, has been Cadet Executive Officer under C/Major Ruud for the past year and will be attending technical college in the local area as he pursues education in police science.

Milwaukee, WI - Cadet Second Lieutenant Chad Nowak, Milwaukee Composite Squadron #5, received his Mitchell Award during outdoor ceremonies, which were interrupted by the ever-increasing sound of rotors. Finally, a military helicopter came into sight near the outer parking lot of the ANG building where the CAP squadron meets adjacent to General Mitchell International Airport. 

The chopper hovered during the entire ceremony, provoking Nowak to remark afterward that he will remember his award ceremony more for the “air cover” than for any other reason.  Since President Obama was scheduled to appear in Green Bay the next day, it was theorized that perhaps the helicopters were part of the security package.

Cadet Nowak joined Civil Air Patrol in April of 2007 and was Bravo Flight Commander at the squadron.  In CAP he has been active on many emergency services and disaster relief missions earning the DR ribbon with V device for service during the flooding last year in Sauk County.

He recently graduated from Whitnall High School and will leave for basic training and then tech school in the Army National Guard at the end of July, having already enlisted in March as an E2 currently working on Private First Class.  He will be attending Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska on a four year Army ROTC scholarship.  Nowak was also in AFJROTC where he held the rank of Cadet Major and the staff position of Information Manager. 

Nowak has interests in history and political science and would like to stay in the National Guard, moving to the officer side upon graduation from college. Additionally he hopes to someday become Village President of his hometown, Hales Corners, Wisconsin where his Mom, Cynthia, and sister Lauren reside.