JACKSON, Wyoming – The Wyoming Wing Civil Air Patrol’s Teton County Senior Squadron planned and executed the airlift of 470 Covid-19 test samples and 3 boxes of test kits from St. John’s Medical Center in Teton County to the Wyoming Public Health Lab in Cheyenne on Friday, May 29th according to Teton County Squadron Commander Capt Jim Ormsby. This airlift mission was in coordination with Teton County Emergency Management Coordinator Rich Ochs and the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security.

The samples, in two large sealed coolers, were transported to Big Piney Airport by Public Health’s Stephanie Lund and loaded on a Civil Air Patrol T206H aircraft piloted by 1st Lt Alex Heil. Lt Heil flew from Mableton/Big Piney airport to Cheyenne Regional Airport. Upon arrival in Cheyenne, the samples were unloaded and delivered to Public Health’s Cari Sloma. Lt Col Rick Fawcett, Wyoming Wing Director of Operations served as CAP’s Incident Commander (IC) and Lt Col Rod Burnett, Assistant Director of Operations served as the Air Operations Branch Director for this mission.

1st Lt Heil’s return flight was delayed by severe weather conditions near Big Piney that Friday evening and required an overnight stay in Cheyenne. 1st Lt Heil, a highly skilled pilot, completed the return flight on Saturday, May 30th with the empty sample coolers avoiding windy conditions to land safely back in Big Piney.

The pilot wore protective gear during the flight and the aircraft was cleaned and sanitized as per COVID-19 CAP regulations and is deemed mission capable for future missions.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with over 66,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions utilizing 560 aircraft as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 22,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for over 78 years. For more information visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com