A Civil Air Patrol aircraft crashed in the evening on Nov. 8 south of Las Vegas, killing CAP Col. Edwin W. Lewis Jr. and CAP Col. Dion E. DeCamp. Lewis, 71, was director of operations for CAP’s Pacific Region and had served in CAP for more than 50 years. He flew in the Air Force and as a commercial pilot for Pan Am and worked as a research pilot with NASA. DeCamp, 73, commander of CAP’s Nevada Wing, had retired from the Air National Guard and from American Airlines. Both men had more than 27,000 flying hours to their credit. The accident is under investigation.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.