Published: 08.11.2006
Nevada pilots to fly spotting missions along Mexican border

The Associated Press
RENO, Nev. - Volunteer pilots and crews from Nevada are heading south to fly over the Arizona-Mexico border as part of the federal government's increased security effort, according to the head of the state's Civil Air Patrol unit.

Three single-engine Cessna 182 Skylanes will operate out of Yuma, Ariz., starting next month, Col. Dion DeCamp of Reno, commander of the patrol's Nevada Wing, told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Initially, the three-person planes will be flown by Las Vegas-based crews, but those pilots and observers will be replaced by patrol members from northern Nevada after the first couple of weeks, DeCamp said.

The patrol, an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is made up of 57,000 volunteers across the country divided into state wings. The Nevada unit includes 450 volunteers and 10 aircraft, two of which are based in Reno.
The Nevada flyers, many of whom are retired military and commercial pilots, will conduct what DeCamp called "reconnaissance" along the border, looking for unusual activity on the ground and reporting it to law enforcement agencies.

The Civil Air Patrol has no authority to locate or stop people crossing the border illegally, DeCamp said.

"We'll be flying reconnaissance, not surveillance," said DeCamp, a retired Air Force and commercial airline pilot.
There's a difference, CAP officials said.

"Surveillance is following one individual or specific group," said 1st Lt. Scott Lilley of Reno, spokesman for the Nevada Wing. "Reconnaissance is nonspecific. We don't look for a car. We look for the car wreck."

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