Photo shows 2nd Lt. Phil J. Dryden of Gulf Shores (left) and Maj. David R. Mauritson of Fairhope (right).
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE – Two members of Civil Air Patrol’s Alabama Wing died Monday when their single-engine plane crashed near Mobile while they were returning from a 170-mile compassion flight to southern Louisiana.
The pilot, Maj. David R. Mauritson, 67, of Fairhope, joined CAP in September 1991. Second Lt. Phil J. Dryden, 66, of Gulf Shores, a CAP member since November 2015, served as mission scanner for the flight. The two were members of the Mobile Composite Squadron.
Their CAP Cessna 182 was found 1 mile west of Mobile Regional Airport at 2 a.m. today after searchers tracked the aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter to the crash site. They were returning from Louisiana Regional Airport in Gonzales, near Baton Rouge, after returning a medical caregiver and patient to her home.
Pilots perform compassion flights as a public or charitable service, often to transport patients or their family members to or from treatment in cases where ground travel would be too painful or difficult or when expediency is required.
The pilot bears the expense of the fuel, maintenance and related costs for such flights.
Mauritson flew as a volunteer pilot for Mercy Flight Southeast, based in Leesburg, Florida and for SouthWings, an aviation-oriented conservation group. He was a Certified Flight Instructor with 50 years of flying experience.
He was chairman of the Awards Committee of the Flying Physicians Association, previously served as its president and received the group’s Distinguished Service award in 2004. A lawyer as well as a physician, he also belonged to the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association.
After joining CAP on Nov. 3, Dryden gained certification in emergency services and trained as a mission scanner. He served as the Mobile squadron’s assistant operations officer.
“Dr. Mauritson was a hero to our Mercy Flight Southeast family, having signed up to fly 33 missions over the years,” said Steve Purello, CEO of Mercy Flight Southeast. “He was an admired pilot who flew over 11,000 hours and was a certified instructor. Taught to fly by his mother who was also a certified flight instructor, David passed along his passion for flying to his children and was their instructor as well. His compassion and commitment to our cause to get people to far from home medical care will be sorely missed. Our sincerest condolences go out to the Mauritson and Dryden families.”
Mercy Flight Southeast’s network of 650 volunteer pilots provides free air transportation to life-saving medical appointments for people who otherwise could not get there. For information about Mercy Flight Southeast, visit http://www.mercyflightse.org/.
About Civil Air Patrol
Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force, which consists of regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, along with Air Force retired military and civilian employees. CAP, in its Total Force role, operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 78 lives annually. Civil Air Patrol’s 56,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Its members additionally play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. Performing missions for America for the past 75 years, CAP received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014 in honor of the heroic efforts of its World War II veterans. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit http://www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.
About Mercy Flight Southeast
Mercy Flight Southeast is a non-profit volunteer pilot organization that provides free air transportation by private aircraft to distant medical facilities when commercial air service is not available, impractical or simply not affordable. Mercy Flight Southeast is a member of Air Charity Network, an association of charitable aviation organizations comprised of more than 7,500 pilots and who represent over 90% of all charitable non-emergency flights flown in the nation. Mercy Flight Southeast has won the seal of approval from Independent Charities of America recognizing Mercy Flight Southeast as a good steward of the funds it generates from the public.
