Nearly 200 Civil Air Patrol cadets and adult member from 43 wings in all eight services are conducting searches, flight line marshalling and other services at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh while taking part in the leadership training experience provided by the National Blue Beret activity.
Members of the Wisconsin Wing are also on the job at and near the air show, with participants based at five airports in central Wisconsin, to provide search support and other assistance during the event.
CAP is tasked to locate all overdue aircraft and emergency locator transmitters within 50 miles of Oshkosh during AirVenture – the world’s largest fly-in, attracting more than 650,000 aviation enthusiasts and 10,000 aircraft each year.
“We would ask the members of the EAA and all other visitors to the air show to pay close attention to the FAA Notice that was published, 
and to be aware that Wisconsin tends to have strong summer storms at times,” said Maj. Nicholas Rushizky, the Wisconsin Wing mission’s incident commander as well as the wing’s director of emergency services.. ‘
Rushizky urged those visiting AirVenture to “please keep an eye on the weather and have a great time in Wisconsin.”
Pilots are reminded to always file a flight plan and check notices to airmen (NOAs). If a flight plan is filed, the air traffic control system will automatically initiate a plan to locate overdue flights. When an aircraft on a VFR flight plan is overdue by one hour, or by 30 minutes on an IFR flight plan, the Flight Service Station servicing the destination airport issues an Information Request.
Failure to file a flight plan means there’s no designated time limit before a search is initiated, greatly delaying the start of search and rescue efforts.