Choo Choo Squadron Commander Deming Gray of the Civil Air Patrol visits Chattanooga Airport on Thursday. Members of the Choo Choo Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol talked about their part in the search for missing hiker Derek Lueking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Lueking's vehicle was found last Saturday and volunteers have been searching on foot and by air for the Blount County man.After unsuccessful ground searches, the Chattanooga chapter of the Civil Air Patrol will take to the air to help search for hiker Derek Lueking.
"It's an extremely rugged and remote area," Choo Choo Squadron Cmdr. Deming Gray said. "There's not a lot of electric life. Not in that area."
Lueking's vehicle was found Saturday morning at the parking lot near Clingman's Dome at Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is under Group One of the Civil Air Patrol's Tennessee Wing. Earlier this week, Group One enlisted the help of Group Two, which includes the Choo Choo Squadron.
The Tennessee Wing responds to about 12 missions a year, spokesman Mark Landrum said. There are generally about 100 a year.
The plane used in the search - a single-engine, a four-seat single-engine Cessna 182 - is equipped with Garmin 1000 GPS and radio equipment. To keep searches alive after sunset, the three-person crew is equipped with thermal imaging equipment, which can detect anything giving off heat, such as a power source or a person.
Both the thermal imaging and night vision goggles used can sometimes make searching at night easier than during the day, spokesman for Civil Air Patrol Mark Landrum said.
"Night vision amplifies any kind of light source that's available a thousand times," he said. "It makes any light source brighter. Darkness does help."
The National Park Service relegated the mission to a two-mile radius by Clingman's Dome, Landrum said. The Civil Air Patrol will fly in four-hour increments and stay 2,000 feet above ground level.
Air searches began Tuesday afternoon. The Choo Choo Squadron's first night search was scheduled for Wednesday night but was canceled due to rain.
"We have to have the visual conditions to be able to locate and identify what we're searching for," Gray said.
The mission consists of three people: a pilot, observer and the scanner.
"The scanner is our eyes and trying to find exactly what we're looking for," Pilot Tony Walker said.
Gray contacted the other four squadrons in Group Two, which are on standby, he said.
"We're just one piece of the puzzle," Walker said.