Posted: 9/29/06


Steve Castellano is a Cadet Communications Officer in the Group 3, Pennsylvania Wing for the Civil Air Force, a top 10 volunteer firefighter and a PALCS Junior. Why; because he loves it…

Castellano will turn 17 very shortly, on October 12. Some of you may know him, while others haven’t a clue.

“Civil Air Patrol is the United States Air Force Auxiliary. We do 95 percent of all inland search and rescue operations that occur in the United States. The program was created to do border patrols during World War II, and from there became more of an emergency services organization,” says Castellano.

Castellano became involved in the Civil Air Patrol when he was 12 years old. As he says, this isn’t something you can just walk into and decide to do.

“I quickly went through whatever training I needed to go through including my Ground team member training, Radio Operator, and Communications Unit Leader qualifications,” says Castellano. “I also attended numerous ‘Search and Rescue Exercises,’ one can’t just walk into the program expecting to go save a life; it’s not that simple.”

You have to be committed to it, there are numerous training sessions one must attend to become part of the Civil Air Patrol.

“At the current time I have approximately 14 finds since I’ve been in the organization, all of those were non distress finds, but I have also been involved in two missing aircraft searches that yielded survivors, however I was not on the ground team that found the survivors and one missing person search that turned up negative,” says Castellano.

A non distress find is when an aircraft has a hard landing somewhere and needs help.

There are a few different types of missions that Castellano works on; one of which being an ‘ELT mission’ or ‘Emergency Locater Transmitter mission.’

“All aircraft have these devices, [ELT’s], which are similar to a black box, but they actually transmit a Radio signal that goes up to [the] Search and Rescue Satellite, which is then radioed back to [the] Air Force Rescue Coordination Center which is at Langley Air Force Base in VA,” says Castellano. “They then contact us, and we head out with direction finding equipment that we use to pinpoint the location of the transmitter.”

An ELT can be manually activated or if an aircraft is in an accident, the ELT will be activated in an extreme impact.

A missing persons search is different from an ELT mission. Local organizations will get the missing persons call first, then the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center is alerted, who in turn alerts Castellano’s group.

Castellano is certified in different areas in a missing persons search, he holds certification for ground team member, who actually searches for the missing person. He also holds a qualification that a lot of the members do not, Communications Unit Leader.

He usually serves as a grounds searcher and a radio operator.

“As searcher/radio operator, I would basically be a part of a ground team, or search team, both of which are the same, and generally we work in a line over a specific area in a grid. The grid is divided up into X amount of squares, and each team gets a grid,” says Castellano.

Castellano is also very involved with two local fire stations. He does calls with East Lansdowne volunteer fire company Delaware County Station 24 and Garrettford Drexel Hill Volunteer Fire Company Delaware County Station 20.

Castellano is a junior member now, but only because he is underage. Once he turns 18 he will become a full member.

“Right now I can do all kinds of firefighting activities, I run on all calls, and do all exterior operations at a fire scene if it is a building, or house. If it is any non-structure like brush [or] vehicle, I can fight that just as any other member could,” says Castellano.

He can participate in the calls because he has completed the five month course known as fire school.

“I know it seems like a lot, but it’s really not, I have kept up with my training in Civil Air Patrol, and now I don’t have to go to every training event that comes along. My fire company runs around 750 calls per year, that’s Drexel Hill Fire Company, so I am busy there, but it all works out good,” says Castellano.

One might wonder why Castellano is doing all this, he’s doesn’t get paid, it’s all volunteer. How does someone get started in all of these life saving activities?

“Well, that’s pretty simple; I like being a volunteer, and helping others. Yes my dad being a part of the fire company was one reason, but I like being able to say that I help people, and save lives, and I have assisted the medics a few times so far, but will not put a number next to how many, because to me its not about the numbers, it is just something that I want to do,” says Castellano.

To learn more about the numerous Air Force Patrol certifications and to visit some helpful sites with more information about what Castellano does, please go here.

accident, the ELT will be activated in an extreme impact.

A missing persons search is different from an ELT mission. Local organizations will get the missing persons call first, then the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center is alerted, who in turn alerts Castellano’s group.

Castellano is certified in different areas in a missing persons search, he holds certification for ground team member, who actually searches for the missing person. He also holds a qualification that a lot of the members do not, Communications Unit Leader.

He usually serves as a grounds searcher and a radio operator.

“As searcher/radio operator, I would basically be a part of a ground team, or search team, both of which are the same, and generally we work in a line over a specific area in a grid. The grid is divided up into X amount of squares, and each team gets a grid,” says Castellano.

Castellano is also very involved with two local fire stations. He does calls with East Lansdowne volunteer fire company Delaware County Station 24 and Garrettford Drexel Hill Volunteer Fire Company Delaware County Station 20.

Castellano is a junior member now, but only because he is underage. Once he turns 18 he will become a full member.

“Right now I can do all kinds of firefighting activities, I run on all calls, and do all exterior operations at a fire scene if it is a building, or house. If it is any non-structure like brush [or] vehicle, I can fight that just as any other member could,” says Castellano.

He can participate in the calls because he has completed the five month course known as fire school.

“I know it seems like a lot, but it’s really not, I have kept up with my training in Civil Air Patrol, and now I don’t have to go to every training event that comes along. My fire company runs around 750 calls per year, that’s Drexel Hill Fire Company, so I am busy there, but it all works out good,” says Castellano.

One might wonder why Castellano is doing all this, he’s doesn’t get paid, it’s all volunteer. How does someone get started in all of these life saving activities?

“Well, that’s pretty simple; I like being a volunteer, and helping others. Yes my dad being a part of the fire company was one reason, but I like being able to say that I help people, and save lives, and I have assisted the medics a few times so far, but will not put a number next to how many, because to me its not about the numbers, it is just something that I want to do,” says Castellano.

To learn more about the numerous Air Force Patrol certifications and to visit some helpful sites with more information about what Castellano does, please go here.