Tara Copeland
Lost outdoor enthusiasts, plane crashes, people in crisis — there are multiple reasons why people go missing. In Kamloops, we have several groups of volunteers working hard to save lives and give families closure. One of those groups is PEP Air Search and Rescue, the British Columbia chapter of Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA).
“I got involved because I like flying and I like the idea of being able to help people who are lost and may need help,” said Steve Van Wagoner, Kamloops manager for PEP Air.
Van Wagoner has been involved with PEP Air for 18 years.
“The number of callouts we get is declining, which is good,” said Van Wagoner. “We used to get a lot more calls to help search for missing aircraft. 10 years ago, we’d get about three calls a year here in Kamloops alone. Now, we only get calls for missing planes once every three to four years. Flying has become safer.
“Most of our calls now are for missing people.”
Given Kamloops is surrounded by mountains and wilderness, there are some situations where PEP Air Search will have an edge over ground search teams in locating missing people.
“We can cover large areas quickly,” said Van Wagoner. “There was one missing person search where the RCMP along with ground SAR teams had been out for a few days. The person’s dog had been located, but the dog wasn’t in a place where the person was expected to be. Then we were called to assist. We found the person’s car in 12 minutes. It had been driven way off the local dirt road. We then radioed the ground teams, provided the location and they attended to the scene.
“We’re also working on new high-tech systems. We can now locate people with their cell phone signals, provided the phone is on and the battery isn’t dead. An aerial photography system is in development that will allow digital movies taken from our aircraft to be computer analyzed very quickly to locate a missing person or aircraft that might be missed by the human eye.”
Of course, not all searches end well. The team has searches that haunt them and cases they will never give up on. “In the search I mentioned, although we found the person’s vehicle, we still couldn’t locate the person. Even after flying the area again a few weeks later, the person remains missing.
“In the cases where we don’t get the results we want, we are providing support for families. We try to give them answers and we try to provide closure. But most times, we do succeed — we are helping those in need and we are saving lives. It’s great to be part of that,” said Van Wagoner.
Disclaimer: Tara Copeland is volunteer with PEP Air. When she is not contributing to community journalism or working at her day job, she is a spotter and she works with drones.