United States Air Force Auxiliary

The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force under operational control of First Air Force, Air Combat Command. Airmen perform three congressionally assigned missions: emergency services (search and rescue, disaster relief, homeland security, and counter-drug operations), aerospace education, and cadet programs. CAP also performs non-auxiliary missions for various governmental and private agencies, such as local law enforcement and the American Red Cross. The program is established as an organization by Title 10 of the United States Code and its purposes defined by Title 36. CAP has 61,000 members and operates 550 powered aircraft (the largest fleet of Cessna aircraft in the world), 50 gliders, 3 hot air balloons, 900 ground vehicles, and a national radio communications network. In 2016, CAP supported 4,055 missions, flying 91,484 sorties for nearly 105,000 flight hours; 81 percent were flown as USAF assigned missions. 10,000 hours were flown in support of counter-drug missions, assisting in locating over $1.5 billion in illegal drugs and 1,957 arrests.