Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

The Civil Air Patrol, in coordination with the Offices of Emergency Services for Humboldt and Del Norte Counties, intends to deploy one small airplane on a north-to-south coastline flight on Saturday, January 17, 2026. The flight is an exercise to train personnel and test loudspeakers that might be used in a distant-source tsunami warning situation, such as the 2011 undersea 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that first struck Japan and then sent dangerous waves onto our shores hours later.

The test flight is expected to begin at the Oregon state line at about II:30 a.m., cross into Humboldt County at about 12:20 p.m., and leave the coastline just south of Shelter Cove at about 1:40 p.m.

The plane’s loudspeaker system will announce that the flight is a test of the Civil Air Patrol’s public address system and reference the County Office of Emergency Services.

This Saturday’s flight will utilize a brightly-painted red, white, and blue single-propeller airplane, with the letters “CAP” prominently visible under the wings.

Similar Civil Air Patrol loudspeaker test flights took place in 2018, 2021 and 2022, with coordination from coastal counties, the National Weather Service Eureka Office and the Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group.

Bad weather or technical problems may cause the test flight to be rescheduled.

During a real tsunami warning, if the distance from the earthquake provided adequate time to mobilize an aircrew and fly the plane to our coast, the audible announcement would instruct beachgoers to head inland or go to high ground, and seek further information from the local County Office of Emergency Services.

Citizens’ feedback, comments, and recordings of this Saturday’s test flight may be submitted online to the local County Office of Emergency Services as follows: · Del Norte County OES Give-Feedback form https://www.preparedelnorte.· Humboldt County OES email address: oes@co.humboldt.ca.us

The Civil Air Patrol is a volunteer-operated auxiliary of the US Air Force, and an important resource for a variety of emergency missions, including searches for missing aircraft, search and rescue operations, damage assessment, and disaster relief. For more information about the Civil Air Patrol, visit gocivilairpatrol.com.