Civil Air Patrol Details Search For Makovicka, Wettlaufer

More questions than answers. That's the sentiment with missing persons Amanda Makovicka and Cory Wettaufer, but the Civil Air Patrol has released details into what they were looking for during the aerial searches and why it was a cost effective search effort for the counties.

Lt. Col. Dave Halperin, Public Information Officer with Nebraska Civil Air Patrol, detailed the search for the Antelope County News.

“We started with the premise that we were looking for a white SUV,” Halperin said. “The Sheriff’s Department said they may be in a white SUV, so in this case, we were looking for a vehicle.”

Halperin said Antelope County Sheriff Bob Moore contacted the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center on Wednesday, requesting assistance. The Air Force tasked the Nebraska Civil Air Patrol with the search, which began immediately on Thursday with one of the six Cessnas in the Nebraska fleet. Halperin said they planned to continue searching on Friday but postponed the effort to Saturday due to potential threat of ice on the plane’s wings.

On Saturday, the Civil Air Patrol had enough volunteers for two flight crews for two planes. Halperin said Cessnas took off from Omaha and Lincoln on Saturday and returned to Fremont, which served as mission base, during the day to refuel and change crews.

Halperin said the information they received from the sheriff’s office, based on a motorist’s report of having been in contact with Wettlaufer on Sunday, Jan. 5, led to the search taking place in a 60-square-mile area bounded by O’Neil, Chambers, Orchard and Inman.

“Sixty square miles is a big chunk of real estate,” Halperin said. “Activating an aerial search speeds up the search considerably. Both the Antelope and Holt County Sheriff’s Departments still had significant time driving the roads, though. We actually deployed a ground search team for communication between the air and ground teams."

Halperin said the Civil Air Patrol generally flies about 1,000 feet above ground, which is still high enough to change how vehicles and other items appear from the air.

“A vehicle generally still looks like a vehicle even from the air,” Halperin said. “But we were looking for more than just a vehicle. We look for interruptions in the topography as well.”

Halperin said the planes went over the area multiple times looking for evidence of a white SUV or that a vehicle had left the roadway.

“Each area is gridded into squares, and we fly the squares. We’re very methodical in our search,” Halperin said. “We fly the areas that are the highest potential for a find. Because a motorist reported the area of last contact, we focused our efforts south of O’Neill."

Officials reported that the Antelope County couple may be driving a White 1997 GMC Jimmy, Ne License Plate 36-K20. That vehicle has not been located.

“At the end of the day on Saturday, the sheriff decided to suspend the search until more leads were available,” Halperin said.

Halperin said the Civil Air Patol flew 25 hours searching for Makovicka and Wettlaufer, costing roughly $3,000 in fuel. Halperin said Civil Air Patrol crew are all volunteers, so there was no cost for their assistance. Because Moore contacted the Air Force, that organization will foot the bill for the fuel.

Although that means tax payers will still pay for the aerial search, it is significantly lower than other search means and will be paid by national taxpayers and not just those in Antelope and Holt counties.

“A search like this can have a significant budget impact on a small sheriff’s office, but by calling the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, it is more cost effective this way,” Halperin said.

Nationally, the Civil Air Patrol flies in search missions weekly, but the Nebraska division is called upon less often. Halperin said there were three search missions conducted in Nebraska in 2013. However, the Civil Air Patrol assisted in many other situations, including recon and flying firefighters to the wildfires in Western Nebraska and 1,000 hours of recon during the Missouri River flooding.

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