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last modified: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 |
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original release date:
1/24/05 |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Local teen will taste high-tech aviation on job shadow day |
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| MAXWELL AFB, Ala. — Darius Jones is excited about aviation, so he’s looking forward to visiting Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters Friday, when he will work with mission controllers in the National Operations Center and take a flight on CAP’s newest aircraft outfitted with state-of-the-art aerial reconnaissance equipment. Jones, a junior at Jefferson Davis High School, will spend Friday with CAP employees as part of National Groundhog Job Shadow Day, an annual event that helps students get a real-world taste of careers they’re considering. “Aviation is exciting to me because that’s what I grew up around,” Jones said. “My dad is a military pilot, and he always told me he’d like for me to follow in his footsteps.” In the CAP National Operations Center, Jones will see the steps involved in obtaining approvals and flight clearances for CAP missions across the nation, including flights related to disaster relief, search and rescue, counterdrug reconnaissance, and homeland security. He will see how CAP manages its resources and personnel, comprised of some 550 corporate aircraft, hundreds of ground vehicles and almost 60,000 members nationwide. Jones will also have a flight in one of CAP’s newest acquisitions, a Gippsland GA8 Airvan, which can be used for satellite-transmitted digital imagery and hyperspectral imaging. SDIS allows CAP to capture aerial images with a digital camera, download them to an onboard computer, and transmit them to the ground via e-mail and a satellite phone. CAP has been developing and testing its own HSI system, and plans to put it into use throughout the nation later this year. Hyperspectral imaging allows operators to program the spectral “signature” for an object into a sensor and then search for that object from the air. The imaging system can pinpoint the object even through trees and foliage. Since the technology is based on reflected light, it works only in daylight and won’t pinpoint objects under the ground, or under water or snow. CAP will be the first national organization to put an operational hyperspectral imaging system into regular use. Jones will be getting a preview of the HSI technology, which will be formally “rolled out” at a media event during the first week of March near Washington, D.C. Groundhog Job Shadow Day is sponsored locally by the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, Montgomery Public Schools and Partners in Education. According to the Chamber, last year more than 600 students spent the day at more than 100 locations across Montgomery learning about jobs in information technology, construction, medicine, business, art, history, government, management, manufacturing and more. Jones was selected to participate based on information provided in his application, letter of recommendation and an essay he wrote detailing his interest in aviation. According to Marvin Lowe, director of Guidance at Jefferson Davis High School, “Darius is an outstanding student, both academically and otherwise. I can always count on Darius for conformity to the rules, coupled with a creative spirit.” Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with some 60,000 members nationwide. It performs 95% of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 25,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 60 years. The media is invited to cover Darius Jones during his day at Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters. Contact Colleen Maddock at cmaddock@cap.gov or 334-953-7463 for a schedule of events and clearance to enter the base. |
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