The Chattanoogan.com news article this morning reporting the change of command and the overall great condition and high level of readiness of our local civil air command causes me to take a minute to express my gratitude and to acknowledge the importance of these wonderful volunteer aviators.
I first became aware of the civil air command on March 22, 1972, when I was nine years old.
My dad was flying himself back home from a business meeting in North Carolina; and while en route to Chattanooga, through the Rome corridor, his plane crashed after encountering a violent thunderstorm cell.
The next day, I would learn that my dad died in a plane crash.
I would also learn that it was the civil air command that rapidly dispatched the night of this plane crash, and that these volunteers searched tirelessly until they located my father and his aircraft the next day.
What I remember most prominently, and for which I will always be grateful, is how tirelessly and unrelenting these local, volunteer aviators were in searching for and locating my father and his aircraft.
Every minute of waiting was excruciatingly painful.
These volunteer aviators ignored their own safety and well-being and did everything they could as quickly as they could.
51 years later, I remain grateful to these extraordinary and dedicated public servants.
Michael Mallen