Friday, July 11, 2008

Raiders of the Lost Backpacker

Harrison Ford is Chairman of the Young Eagles program mentioned in my last post, despite having once crashed a helicopter while practicing autorotations during his training. ("I broke it," he told James Lipton on Inside the Actor's Studio.) Ford assumed the Young Eagles chairmanship from Chuck Yeager in 2003.

In related news, I learned in my reading that 90% of all search and rescue operations are conducted by members of the Civil Air Patrol, a volunteer auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.

Ford must be a member of CAP too, as I remember reading about him being called on to occasionally conduct search and rescue operations in one of his helicopters from his ranch in Montana, or Utah, or wherever his ranch is. (Ah, Wyoming...I just looked it up. Love the Internet.)

In once instance, he picked up a solo backpacker that had become disoriented and lost. She boarded Ford's Bell 407 and promptly vomited. She didn't know who the pilot was until much later, and upon learning reportedly exclaimed, "I can't believe I threw up in Harrison Ford's helicopter!"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, Ford was a members of CAP's Congressional Squadron. There's more info in the Andrews Air Force Base guide.

For more about CAP:

www.gocivilairpatrol.com

www.natcapwg.cap.gov