I'll take some time and look over that. So, you're CAP? I'm CGAUX. If we have a mission we are provided with a pre-planned plot from our nearest control Sector. Do you normally do your own (or try to)?
When I read over your material I'll be interested in seeing how your search plots differ from ours. We have five standard ways to perform a search and the Sector decides which one we will use.
Oh cool, you didn't say "you are nuts lady!".
My former squadron commander is also CGAUX. Its not working well for the squadron (hence my changing last week). Somehow missing one of our meetings a month is ok?? It was going to be bad enough when he took over, then add to it being gone 25%, well, just not so hot when he wasn't well liked to start with.
I haven't gone on a real mission yet, just training for Mission Scanner. I will get my Ground Team sorties in next month and then jump to the next level in the air. Everything in Florida Wing appears to go off the regular grid. We get told "reported something in the NW quadrant of JAX353D" and go from there. The IC told us what type of search to perform, but again because it was training I dont know how it relates to real world. I'm an hour from somewhere with a plane, the odds of me getting a real world air mission arn't good at the moment. But then again, as long as a pilot gets to my airport, I'm good to go!
I'm seeing there is a newer way of doing it that doesn't use the grids, but that isn't what we are using. Figures! I know the guy doing most of the planning for the DWH missions right now, he is getting coordinates and having to plot them to figure out where to fly crews out of, we all avoid him at 6pm when he gets that conference call.
Apparently topographical maps will help me out too. I think i need to decide how much money i want to sink into maps. The good part is at least there is 2 of us to share them. My daughter is fully ground team qualified until she turns 18 and can do ground team leader training. Me, i'd rather do all my searching from the plane!
But the biggie is finding a way to easily go back and forth between the air crew and the ground team, something CAP does more than anyone else. I just wish they weren't so stubborn and would put the vehicle numbers on the tops of the vans for us. White vans all look alike from the air!
Back to reading more about maps than I want to at the moment.