Wing Commander
Hawai'i Wing Commander - Colonel Dana McLaughlin
Colonel McLaughlin’s journey in Civil Air Patrol (CAP) began as a cadet, rising to the rank of Cadet Capt. At age 16, she supported radio operations during one of her earliest missions, assisting in the recovery of a downed CAP flight crew. Her commitment to CAP spans over 30 years, including California and Hawai‘i. She first arrived in Hawai‘i in 1985 and discovered that her great-grandfather lived on Maui in 1897, planting a personal connection to the islands that would grow over the decades.
Colonel McLaughlin is a licensed pilot and a retired paramedic with an extensive background in search and rescue. Her previous experience includes wilderness tracking, avalanche response, rope rescue, a K9 search specialist, team paramedic, and disaster response across half a dozen different agencies. She has participated in hundreds of search and rescue missions and has served as a forensic expert witness in several homicide trials. Within Civil Air Patrol, she has held dozens of operational roles and is currently an Incident Commander Level 1. Notably, she deployed to Florida with FEMA during the response to Hurricane Ivan in 2004, participated in the search for aviator Steve Fossett in 2007, was IC for overflights during the Mauna Loa East Rift Zone eruption in 2018, and ran multi-operational periods for the Lahaina Fires in 2023.
Outside of Civil Air Patrol, Colonel McLaughlin is the founder and executive director of the Hawai‘i Keiki Museum, dedicated to inspiring curiosity and promoting innovation on Moku o Keawe (Hawai‘i Island). From coral reef ecology to volcanology to astronomy, keiki (children) and their caregivers discover island science through locally grounded hands-on STEAM experiences that connect them to the natural world in ways they recognize from living on Moku o Keawe. Col. (sel) McLaughlin is married and has two sons who are both looking forward to joining CAP when they're old enough.
Colonel McLaughlin holds both undergraduate and master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she conducted groundbreaking research in wearable computing and affective robotics at the MIT Media Lab. She also holds an MBA in entrepreneurship from San Jose State University. Her professional career includes senior engineering and leadership roles at Apple, Yahoo!, and The Walt Disney Company. At Apple, she led cross-functional teams in the development and launch of the original AirPods.
With her deep Civil Air Patrol roots, extensive operational experience, and lifelong dedication to public service and STEAM education, Colonel McLaughlin brings a bold and collaborative vision to Hawai‘i Wing—one grounded in preparedness, resilience, and operational excellence. In a place where the vast ocean connects and protects us, she envisions Hawai‘i Wing guided by the values of hoʻomau (perseverance), kuleana (responsibility), and laulima (cooperation).
Bio Current as of 30 October 2025
