The state Highway Patrol told rrspin.com late Wednesday night the pilot of a passing crop duster was the one who spotted and reported what turned out to be the vehicle of Vicki Brewer Wright in a deep ditch off Highway 46 in the Gaston area just past Cal Floyd Road.

Instead, it was CAP pilots Anthony Green and James Newton who both spotted the vehicle at the same time, while CAP North Carolina Wing Communications Director Fred Draper flew in the co-pilot seat.

“It was a routine training mission,” Draper said today. “We do this all the time. We do search patterns to get more proficient if we get a real mission.”

(More information on the Halifax Composite Squadron may be obtained by calling Green at 252-536-9504 or Robert Johnston at 252-536-9686. More information may also be obtained on the CAP website)

These training missions are nothing new for members of the CAP, Draper said, explaining the group on a national scale does 85 percent of all inland searches for the United States Air Force.

That the three pilots flew over the scene of the crash was not happenstance. “We do these over the lake and the old airport.”

Green and Newton spotted something in a ravine off the highway as they were flying at an altitude of 1,500 feet. “They could see it was upside down. It was a light-colored car.”

A photo taken from the CAP plane Wednesday.

The pilots in the CAP plane called 911 and circled the area, giving firefighters the precise location of the vehicle. The vehicle was so deep down even firefighters in tall trucks could not see it.

They didn't know at the time it was Wright's vehicle until they got back to the airport. “We felt sorry for the family and also felt like they had closure. It very much made it worthwhile to us,” Draper said.

The Highway Patrol determined Wright, who was found deceased in the vehicle, had been there since September 10, the day she was last seen on video leaving a store at Premier Boulevard in Roanoke Rapids.

Draper believes had the pilots not spotted the vehicle it may have taken hunters or a grass-cutting crew to discover it.

The Halifax Composite Squadron has 11 members and regularly does training in air and ground searches, Draper said.

He said the squadron wants to participate in more rescue operations. “We have so many resources available. We have 1,600 people in the state we can call on if we have a big disaster. We have 11 aircraft in the state and a lot of pilots.”

The young cadets who participate in CAP learn to do ground searches, learn rocketry and have the opportunity to learn to fly. They also learn camping and outdoor survival skills.

Draper wants to set a meeting with county emergency management and other first responders to let them know the resources available to them. “We're one of the best kept secrets in the world.”

CAP is a member of the Air Force's Total Force, which consists of regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. It operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and is credited with saving an average of 70 lives a year.

Its 58,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction at the request of federal state and local agencies.