LIHU‘E — As soon as Kaua‘i Civil Air Patrol Wing Commander Col. Roger Caires heard of the tsunami advisory for Hawai‘i Wednesday afternoon, he bolted to Lihu‘e Airport to be on standby. When the tsunami watch was canceled, he was
LIHU‘E — As soon as Kaua‘i Civil Air Patrol Wing Commander Col. Roger Caires heard of the tsunami advisory for Hawai‘i Wednesday afternoon, he bolted to Lihu‘e Airport to be on standby.
When the tsunami watch was canceled, he was airborne, as instructor and check pilot, conducting a check flight for another CAP pilot.
His job on land is owner and surveyor of Caires Land Surveying.
But he was ready, along with two aircraft and at least one other pilot, to go airborne and warn those in remote coastal areas away from the Civil Defense warning sirens of a potential approaching destructive wave or waves.
Such areas include Polihale, Na Pali Coast and Ni‘ihau, said CAP Lt. Col. Neil Rapozo.
Roger Caires’ wife Susan was at the CD Emergency Operations Center in the Kaua‘i Police Department/CD complex near Vidinha Stadium and the airport, ready to call her husband immediately should he have to get airborne, or if, like Wednesday, it was announced he could stand down.
Standard operating procedure for the CAP pilots and crew in potential tsunami emergencies is to make bee lines to Lihu‘e Airport if they’re available for duty, said Rapozo, saying their readiness is measured in minutes.
“In one hour time, we’re ready to go.”
If needed, they would fly over coastal areas with warning sirens and voice microphones, telling people in the shoreline areas that a tsunami may be approaching, based on the most up-to-date information available during the flight.
Even before Wednesday’s tsunami watch was canceled, Caires used the opportunity of having some available pilots to do some training, including touch-and-go landings to stay close by in case they were needed for emergency-notification purposes, Rapozo said.
Between Caires, Rapozo and Lt. Col. Ron Victorino Sr., who makes pilot- and crew-notification telephone calls along with Caires, there is over a century of flying and CAP experience, Rapozo said.
Their readiness has been tested regularly of late, as there have been four earthquakes in eight days, included three on Wednesday, Hawai‘i time (Thursday in the South Pacific and Philippines): two near Vanuatu, 7.8 and 7.3 on the Richter scale; and near the Jolo, Sulu Archipelago in the southern Philippines, 6.7.
