Watsonville Emergency Airlift Command Team is participating in a Bay Area wide exercise on 26 October to exercise communications between airports, procedures, and local interfaces. Expected time is from ~9am to ~3pm.  Scenario is a major earthquake in the San Francisco area with resulting impacts around the Bay Area.  We need volunteer pilots/planes and ground crew (ramp control and material handling) to try out our processes and to fly missions around the Bay Area.   

Contact Tom Hail at 831-531-8440 or fly44d@gmail.com with WEACT in the SUBJECT.

If you participated in last year's exercise and got Disaster Service Worker (DSW) certification and a badge from Santa Cruz County, you will be covered with insurance as this is a sanctioned exercise.  If not, we would like you to sign up with CalDART and be covered with their insurance.  See CalDART info below.   

It is building up to being a great addition to the Cal Pilots Association and may be something you want to get more involved with.  Take a look at CalDART.org 

CalDART 

CalDART, The California DART Network, is building a statewide network of local Disaster Airlift Response Teams (DARTs) to improve California's disaster resilience in the face of earthquakes, floods and similar events which impair regional surface transportation. DARTs utilize a common operating model and are located at airports around the state. CalDART is a wholly owned subsidiary of the The California Pilot Association - Membership in CalDART includes membership in CalPilots.  

WEACT and CalDART

WEACT is separate from CalDART and CalPilots but many of our leadership are CalDART members also and are participating in planning for the October 26th CalDART exercise.  WEACT leadership recommends but does not require CalDART membership.  CalDART membership is required to participate in DART exercises but not in WEACT only exercises where we are only interfacing with Santa Cruz County or City of Watsonville. 

Join CalDART By joining with a $45 membership, you help CalDART support others in time of need and also receive these benefits: 

• 501(c)3 tax deductibility on your membership fee, 
• Updates on what CalDART is doing around the state
• Membership to CalPilots,
• Email delivery of CalPilots magazine.
• Additional liability insurance coverage during DART exercises.

$30 of your membership fee goes to CalPilots, $15 goes to CalDART. There is not an option to join CalDART by itself - all CalDART members are also CalPilots members. For more information and to join go to: https://caldart.org/