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NRAT (No Really, Actual Tracking) Update

For over 15 years, the Civil Air Patrol’s National Radar Analysis Team (NRAT) has been the GPS-fueled superhero squad you didn’t know you needed—unless you were about to crash into a mountain. Their mission? “Shorten the crash-to-rescue time”—because apparently “just don’t crash” was taken.

So far, they’ve assisted in nearly 1,000 missions, racked up 581 finds, 93 saves, and zero supervillain defeats—because they’re too busy interpreting squiggly radar lines to fight crime.

Radar Team: Better Than FlightAware, And Modestly Humble About It

Using ADS-B data that’s allegedly more accurate than FlightAware’s (sorry, FlightAware), the NRAT can provide aircraft tracking within minutes of activation. If you’re lost in the sky, this is the team you want quietly judging your altitude loss.

Recent Heroics Include:

  • Finding a missing aircraft on sea ice in Alaska
  • Helping locate a downed plane in California

“We noticed extreme altitude loss between the last two radar hits and thought, ‘Well… that’s probably not great,’” said Lt. Col. John Henderson, NRAT’s vice commander and part-time wizard/web developer.

Henderson added that he didn’t initially realize they were dealing with sea ice, not the ocean—because nothing screams “plot twist” like frozen water camouflaged as regular doom.

The Alaska mission had a tragic ending (10 lives lost), but in California, a survivor was located—thanks in part to NRAT’s digital wizardry and the power of spreadsheets.

Activated by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (and probably coffee), the team gets to work in under 20 minutes.

They blend radar, weather, ADS-B, elevation, and time data like some kind of techno-smoothie, narrowing down crash locations from vague guesses to pretty dang close coordinates.

Before NRAT:

“Let’s search everything from Denver to Dallas.”

After NRAT:

“It’s behind that rock. Third tree on the left. Bring snacks.”

Enter: Fancy ADS-B Receivers

Realizing that some aircraft prefer to crash in places with zero FAA tracking (how rude), the team teamed up with uAvionix to install dual-band ADS-B receivers in places the FAA refuses to acknowledge exist.

This allows the team to expand their surveillance network without technically becoming Big Brother.

Nerd Tools on Display

In an epic flex at Kirtland Air Force Base, Lt. Col. Henderson showed off NRAT’s web-based platform: a sleek, data-stuffed interface that even makes Excel look insecure.

Lt. Col. Larry Zentner of the New Mexico Wing said:

“Before this tool, we’d send out half the squadron just hoping someone tripped over the wreckage. Now, we just look at the map and walk straight to it. Honestly, I’m not sure what to do with all this extra time.”

Nine Nerds and a Dream

Henderson credits the nine-person team, led by Lt. Col. Mark Young, for making it all happen—alongside a nationwide army of CAP volunteers who don’t sleep, apparently.

As aviation evolves and drones get sassier, NRAT remains on the digital frontlines, tracking signals, spotting anomalies, and continuing their mission to save lives, one data point at a time.

Because nothing says “futuristic rescue” like being saved by someone named Henderson in a hoodie analyzing your flight path in a dark room with five monitors and a Diet Mountain Dew.

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