I was just curious of what everybody thinks of the Civil Air Patrol.
Anybody had any experiences with them...good or bad.
Do they do their job well?
My son is a cadet member...and I was just wondering what other pilots might think of the organization and how they do their mission.
Randy
I've been impressed with the Civil Air Patrol. They are taught well!
Every year there is a medium sized airshow in the area (Blue Ash Ohio) and a couple of years ago I parked my Super Cub there as a static display. One morning I decided to go flying and found my ELT was missing and I told the local FBOs about it.
A couple of days later I got a call from one of the FBOs and was told that there were some people who wanted to talk to me. I show up and it was two Feds and a local cop and they have my ELT. They told me that on one night during the airshow an ELT was transmitting and a search was conducted. The CAP had found my ELT in the bushes where it had been turned on and then hidden there.
Ultimately an investigation began and after some serious torture one of the CAP kids broke down, confessed to opening the side window of my Cub, plucking the thing from it's mounting, firing it up and tossing it into the bushes.
No charges were filed but the point is that obviously the CAP kids do learn about aviation and they do obviously have a lot of fun doing it!
I believe the the CAP is very cool! I'm certain this is an isolated incident and is not representitive of the CAP but is representitive of kids everywhere. I would have done the same thing...
My 15 year old daughter has been a Cadet for a year, my nephew and niece for a couple of years. My experience is only with the Cadet program. My observation is that different squadrons are vastly different. The stated mission may be the same, but the group dynamics of the leadership, and that of the Cadets are very different between squadrons. I would suggest a trial period within your local squadron to see how your kid fits in with the group. The two squads I'm speaking of are both local. The focus for cadets is aerospace education, moral leadership, and physical fitness. They do survival outings, simulated search and rescue, and get to go up in a plane or glider occasionally. The tone is of military discipline and respect. My only concern with my daughters' group is sometimes the moral leadership sessions turn into a Bible class with the message determined by people I don't know, or necessarily agree with. As with teenager groups everywhere, some groups are enthusiastic and some just drone along. Which group dynamic you have will make the difference in your childs' experience. The danger is a bad group can turn kids off to a good program.
SB
For a New or Old Time pilot it can be a really good deal. If you can handle the paper work, and follow their rules and regs, you can rent a CAP plane for almost nothing! Now this doesn't mean you can throw the wife and kids in the plane but you can use it for training purposes. Mainy units will sometimes have a CFI in the ranks by coincidence. So it goes to say you can advance your flying capability. And you can learn alot from the other pilots.
Now the Other Side.
Paper work can become a hassle. Forms for this, forms for that, kind of story. It is a part of the Air Force, be it our 18th line of defence, so sometimes you get guys who want to be fighter pilots, have rank and all that BS but don't want to take the time to go through the real deal! This becomes a real aggravation when you have to deal with their Ego's and crap they spill out. (We had a guy spent 2 hrs. one night teaching us how to propperly salute, funny thing he had never been in an Armed Force until he join the CAP 1 year earlier!)
Finally the Airplanes
As i said above, you can have some real idiots in the ranks. Now put them in an airplane that they don't own, have to fix, and don't care how they treat it. My father contracted the maintenance for the KY wing for about 5 or 6 years, and the planes would sometimes come back looking and flying like a Sh_t Hole. REALLY aggravating!! 100hr inspections would come in 50 hrs past due. oil changes the same way. Finally had one guy burn up 2 engines in three years from poor technique.
hope i haven't painted to much gloom and doom for the CAP. it's really a good outfit with just a few bad apples around. And hell if you like to fly, then do it !
nkh
Rick, I like that story about the ELT!!!!
Got a similar story
We had a CAP Search and Rescue exercise about 2 years ago. Cadets worked the ramp, directing planes to parking and the fuel pumps. One of the pilots (a really good pilot and a preacher) taxied up to the pumps and had the nose wheel and on main gear of the C172 inside the yellow caution arc around the pumps. A cadet about 15 or so, see's this and proceeds to write up a violation on the pilot. (Now there's no Reg by the FAA or CAP about going inside the arc. It's there just as a caution indicator and nothing else.) Well the violation is handed to the Wing Commander and he proceeds to GROUND the Pilot!!!! it took about two months to get the pilot back on flight status.
Go figure, Government Ops
Jack booted thugs has been my experience. We had a Cheyenne go in the fog a little over a year ago here. Couldn't find it. We were out in the Super Cub looking and the CAP arrived and wanted us out of the area. Fine, but they screwed round with lunch and stuff till the ceilings came down. They wouldn't fly. Helicopters hired by the family found it while the CAP drank coffee.
They did a training exercise (looking for a terrorist ring as noted in the newspaper) a few weeks ago. The main unit arrived in a turbine Otter. I went up to look at it. You woulda thought I was a terrorist. Not even a hello. Tried to strike up a conversation and was meet with a cold shoulder. I have always gone out of my way to help when a pilot doesn't close his flight plan or when an ELT is going off here at the airport but they can kiss my ___.
Steve Pierce
"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."
Henry Ford
I've had 2 experiences, one good, one bad. We had them out at our local fly-in, and it seemed like a good bunch - the kids were excited and amped to be there, and the adults continued to yell at them to walk, not run from plane to plane.My other experience with them was a couple weeks ago, flying around on a Saturday. They proceded to tie up a busy unicom that served two airports, one with 4 planes practicing the ILS, for 20 minutes while they did a role call and position report. I've never heard anyone that verbally abused on a radio after he finished and others could talk :P !
I will be brief, cause most has been said before! check out the local squadron with a "qualified pilot", better yet with an EX or active member from another squadron. Some are great some are horrible.
I have over 2000 hours flyin search and rescue for the CAP in Southeast Alaska, WE worked hard, played hard, and trained a lot of pilots, in everything from SC to an Otter!. I learned to fly a Beaver on floats in the CAP! When I moved to Anchorage, and joined the Birchwood Squadron we had a great group untill it got all F##%ked up with 'city boys from Anchorage and ARCC at Elmondorf, along with the political crap that littery ripped the heart out of the Alaska Wing!
All that being said, I believe there are still a lot of Dedicated Men and Women "actively involved". I would not jump in a plane with any of there "pilots" without a referral from a civilian (not in the CAP) that knows the qualifications of the Chk pilot. I nearly got killed in a C185 when the so called Check pilot was insistant on demostrating to me with (5000hrs) in MY OWN 185 how to short field land a 185! No joke!
Randy, you likely still have some good ol boys that love aviation, kids, God and Country back in your neck of the woods? Go to some meetings, drills and check it out for yourself!
Tim
Many years ago, I attempted to join my local group. I was told (by the interviewing officer) that ?it just wasn?t for me? because I had indicated on my application that I was in my early thirties (too young for their group) and I didn?t have my own plane (would be mooching rides). Those were his words!
I talked to my folks about this, because they were both high ranking officers in another group, and had been in the organization for over ten years. Their advice was that I drop it, because the CAP had turned into a social ?click? with a petty political agenda. Many of the members had sought their own personal gain and promotion first, and the mission statement came second. In less than a year after that, my folks quit and never looked back.
Now that I have the Cub, and have aged quite a bit, I was again thinking about offering my services to them. But after reading these posts, I?m back to my ?screw em? attitude. Thanks for reminding me guys!
Now on the other hand, we do have the ?Young Eagles? program here. That sounds a lot better to me.
Guess the old boy was right, CAP ?just isn?t for me? but depending on where you live, it may be just the ticket for you.
Now here?s the ironic part. If I go down, who?s gonna look for me? Probably the people I just bad-mouthed!
In Alaska, it's the National Guard or the Air Force. I've loaded friends into Blackhawks when injured on snowmachines, and had friends whose bodies were recovered by the Air Force Rescue squadrons. I don't know anyone rescued or located by CAP. I'm always stunned at the number of Beavers the CAP has up here. Not junk, either. Modified, good looking Beavers. 135 operators can't afford Beaver insurance, but apparently we taxpayers can. That tax money would be better spent on a fence to keep the walkers from letting their dogs pee on my plane.
SB
StewartB
You wouldn't happen to own that plane on lakeshore drive that all the dogs visit would you?
I have only good things to say for the people I know who are in CAP, but they were my friends first and I found out they were in CAP later. They don't necessarily have good things to say about other members of CAP either. I think it is a lot like all volunteer organizations and in a way politics. There are two kinds of people, those who value public service and you cherish their work, and those who want the glory or power.
KLM,
One of those is mine. The dogs keep coming. I was taking off my wing covers one day, and a dog walked up and peed on my foot. The owner couldn't understand why I was upset. True story.
SB
I read an article in the paper the other day about a cherokee six that went down (can't remember if in NJ or Penn). Cap located it and a group of those kids with one adult hiked in several miles through deep snow to rescue four kids. Pop and fifth kid perished.
Ken
I grew up in a family where we spent a significant amount of time in the mountains of New Mexico searching for lost hikers and hunters. My parents belonged to what was once the premier S&R group in the state. Legal changes and group dynamics eventually ended that organization, and CAP and the NM State Police have picked up the coordination. My step-dad who was also in that S&R group is now a mission coordinator and Lt. Col. in the CAP. They do a great job in concert with other volunteer organizations. CAP also does missions in support of the DEA and INS, overall it has great value. Personally, I don't belong for only one reason-the paperwork.
The CAP in North Carolina has had a run of bad luck recently: late last year four were killed in a stall / spin accident while flying a C172 on a marijuana eradication flight. Shortly before that two were seriously injured when they clipped the trees at the arrival end of my home airport. Both accidents seem to be cases of poor airmanship.
I have watched them land at my home airport (2900', asphalt, 2.6% slope), and they typically land long and fast. Based purely on their airmanship and accident record, I would not allow my children to participate in the local CAP outfit.
Speedo
What do I think of CAP? Not much. I've been a senior member for three years, and have yet to participate in one S&R mission, which is the reason I rejoined as a pilot with almost 400 hours (I had been a cadet many years ago). I really wanted to give something back, both to my fellow pilots, the country that allowed me to become a private pilot, and my community. But there's the good ol' boy club with their massive egos that won't let anyone new break in. My squadron commander kept encouraging us to fly the plane, mainly so HE could get the wing's Top Prop award! But he didn't want us to become a "flying club." He wanted to make sure he could get the plane when he wanted it, and since he was also the scheduler, he had first dibs.
Our cadets are an afterthought, and most of them seem unenthused about anything. Teaching aerospace education to a bunch of kids who won't even read a few pages of the book beforehand didn't inspire me very much, but it's all my SC would let me do.
Oh yes, the paperwork is horrendous. There's way too much of it, and it often gets lost (why???). We had one lady who had to apply six times to get her well-deserved promotion to Major. It was never denied, just kept getting lost.
We've had a number of well-qualified people come into the squadron, then leave after a year or so. Favors are bestowed only upon the privileged few. Too many guys wrapped up in the military aspect, and not enough in the volunteer mode. I say, let them go turn off errant ELTs in the middle of the night! Not for me! Needless to say, I won't be renewing when my dues are up in May.
Anne.
If your interested in S&R missions you might talk to your state aeronautics division. Here in MT the state aeronautics division runs the search for an aircraft. They have a call up list of qualified pilots for both mountain and prairie searches. They also have a yearly mountain search pilot's clinic. Been involved with 3 searches for down aircraft, been good experiences, other than the fact the down crews didn't survive the initial abrupt arrival.
Lug
Although I've never been a member, I've been around the CAP since I was a kid... My observations of them mirror Anne's, it's why I never joined...
Yeah Anne you hit it. The KY wing is just the same.
Heres anouther great story
Recently we had a pilot take out a C182. He stated that he noticed red fluid under the right main gear, and that had little braking power. DUH!!
Anyway, takes off, fly's around for awhile, then remembers he doesn't have a right brake. decides that a down wind, down slope landing would be the best solution. Ends up running off the the end of the runway (5000 ft.) flips over and destroys the C182.
idiots!
My experience with CAP has been similar to many others on the list, and mostly negative.
As noted by one respondent, in Alaska, most of the no joke rescues are completed either by the Troopers or the military, not by CAP. In fact, in my experience, the CAP has been pretty much irrelevant in all the searches I've seen conducted.
Most of the time, up here, friends or relatives do the most to find missing folks, in addition to the troopers and military.
The CAP spends a huge amount of money, flying extremely expensive aircraft for very minimal gain.
I broke an axle once, mid winter, remote lake. Turned on my ELT. CAP came over with a 185 on wheel skis. They wouldn't land on a very large lake to pick me up (at -30 F) so I spent the night, which I was prepared to do in any case.
They noted that they arent allowed by policy to actually land on snow, even though they drag those very expensive skis around all the time. They asked me (via radio) if I wanted messages passed along. I asked that they pass a message to my mechanic that he might want to prepare to help fix the plane.
Next day was Saturday, mechanic showed up with a guy I never met in his airplane. We fixed the airplane and flew home. Turns out the CAP got back to town after telling me to turn off my ELT and called the troopers to tell them I'd been found. The search (and rescue) effort ceased. If it hadn't been for my friend the mechanic, finding a customer who'd fly him out there to fix the plane, I'd have sat out there till hell froze over, thanks to the CAP.
Obviously, I'm a bit biased due to that experience, but if anyone asked, I'd say eliminate the CAP (at least in Alaska) and when there's a search to be done, put out a call to all the local commercial operators. They are the real professionals, they know the country, and they know how to fly.
Furthermore, we wouldn't have to pay huge amounts of money to support expensive aircraft and train low time pilots to conduct task intensive searches.
And, maybe the commercial operators would stop to pick a guy up.
I was in the CAP in the late 60's and had a great time. Not much search and rescue, but lots of time in a Super Cub and Beech T-34.... including hours of spins, loops and rolls..!!
Recent observations of local unit is similar to comments above. They do fly the kids a lot... but their flying ability leaves something to be desired... along with their radio use, etc... but that's just a personal opinion and observation. They seem to mean well... but probably not a good use of tax dollars.
When I lived in Washington I was a volunteer in search and rescue. The first time I ran into CAP was on a search with the cadets marching through the would chopping everything in site with machettes. That was my first impression, and I wasn't impressed. We used to make fun at the fly-in when they'd march along and play cops, but if you think about it, kids could be out doing a lot worse stuff.
Later, when I because a pilot, another instructor told me about CAP and I joined the senior squardron in Portland with a friend. My idea was, being involved in SAR and now a pilot I could combine both. Both of us were CFI's, but in the year I was a member down there I couldn't get any of the basic tests and paperwork done, so we couldn't even ride along as observers. There were 3 or 4 guys who did all the flying, even though there were probably 20 active members. They always said they needed more CFI's, but we couldn't get anywhere. It was almost was like a private flying club like others have said.
In October 2001 I moved to Anchorage and transfered to one of the squadrons here. I was finally able to get the basic training and paperwork done, and as of last weekend, finally got all of the requirements done to ride in the plane as an observer. It only took about 3 years. I'm trying to get checked out in the planes but it's hard to find instructors. They recently said they are going to make it a priority to get me and another CFI who just joined checked out to add to the list of available CFIs. The thing to remember though, is it's all volunteers, and everyone has jobs and/or families. So, I try not to get frustrated. There seems to be a lot of peple who join and end up quitting before too long.
Some people do join just because of the cheap flying, but the reality is, it takes so long to get to the point where you can fly a lot of people don't stick around. For some people, CAP is the only flying they do. There is a long process to get checked out in the planes, but that doesn't mean that everyone will be safe, just like anything else. The squadron here is really strict on safety, and all of the planes are well maintained. As long as I've been a member of the squadron up here, it's been obvious that overall people are members because they love to fly and want to help others. And if there is an oppurtunity to fly at an affordable rate in well maintained planes, take it. There is a lot of paperwork, but most of it is there for a reason. Showing that you've been trained, making sure the planes aren't past they inspection times, etc.
Overall I'd say it's a good thing, but like everything else there are gonna be bad examples. There is a lot of paperwork, and it takes forever to get anywhere, but if you look at it as an opportunity to to use a skill you have to help others, and not as cheap flying or a quick way to build hours, I think it's good.
I was active in the CAP during most of the 1950's and into the early 60's. I was a first class mission pilot. Back then we flew airplanes that were owned and maintained by the Air Force. I flew the L-4, L5, L16, L17, and PA18s. Sometime during that time the Air Force gave the airplanes to the CAP and we had to maintain them. I flew many SAR mission in the North Carolina mountains and we found many downed planes including Air Force planes. I know some folks that are in the CAP now and it's not the same. I just came back from flying my Fairchild F-24R to Kitty Hawk and back (from California) and tried to look up some of the folks that I knew back then. I guess they're all dead now or I've forgotton their names. None of the airports look the same either. Both New Bern and Kinston have towers now and nothing looks the same. The New Bern tower asked me if I was familiar with the airport. I told him that I flew from there about 45 years ago and he commented, "well... the river's still in the same place". I've good memories of the CAP in those days but I don't think it's the same now. ...Clyde
I was active in Utah wing and was a mission pilot, wing director of communications, and formed a wing and squadron Membership Review Committee.... The problem with CAP is that they can't police their own ranks and get rid of the bozos fast enough. The turnover is huge(except for the bozos, who stay forever, and thus cause the huge turnover...)and training is a huge drain on resources.....the regs call out the establishment of membership review committees, and encourage 'discontinueing' memberships for ANY reason....it just doesn't work, though, due to politics. After a while, everone looks at the effort expended vs. the value recieved, minus the frustration of dealing with the bozos, and leaves. Having said that, I've had some great experiences and met many friends through CAP.
I approached the CAP at Eielson AFB several times about joining. Each time I was basically told that I was not welcome. Talking to people that had been members they said if you were not one of the good ole boys you never got to fly. CAP leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I would not recommend them.
Torch
CAP showed up at my home field this spring. They now base 2 c172s and 2 gliders here. Now what the hell are they gonna do with gliders? I'm trying to conjur up an emergency situation where a glider would come in handy, but I just can't. These bozos just pull out on the runway like they own the place, not even at the end, they don't seem to concerned about existing traffic in the pattern. They just announce on unicom then pull out. Then they gotta spend ten minutes on the runway gettin organized before they take off. If any CAP guys from Chesapeake, VA are reading this, your pissin a lot of guys off.
Ken
I think the gliders are usually used for cadets.
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Gunny
My thoughts tended toward 50 lbs of lead ballast in the nose. That should keep em out of my hair for awhile
Ken
Don't hold back Ken.Originally Posted by Ken Grindlay
Gunny
My thoughts tended toward 50 lbs of lead ballast in the nose. That should keep em out of my hair for awhile
Ken
I've never been a CAP member, but after being in aviation for only a few years I knew that I never would want to. The CAP is absolutly worthless as a search and rescue organization - a few of you said it earlier, that it would be far better to have another outfit/commercial operator find you in the snow, and I agree!! As for their other agendas, they often seem to be just in writing and never acted upon, thus being a HUGE waste of money. The original idea was great, but it's obviously been lost among the egos.
There are much better organizations out there, such as the EAA Young Eagles or AOPA Pilot Mentors, if kids want to fly. ANYTHING has got to be better than a bueracratic club, full of wannabe fighter pilots, who couldn't cut it in the real military.
I say not only do away with CAP in Alaska, but across the US - we all can think of better ways to spend our tax dollars.
Kate
Kate,
Thanks for expressing my feelings, with slightly more emphasis than I might.
They sure spend a lot of money up here, and the Army or the Guard generally winds up doing the majority of rescues.
Mike V
Thank God we live in a country that allows us to speak so freely - I'm not usually so negative, and I KNOW that there are good people in CAP. However, it angers me that a good idea has turned so sour.
Kate
It's interesting how wrong some of the general public (especially the general aviation community) can be regarding Civil Air Patrol and the perception of safe flight operations.
Civil Air Patrol has had a 'sub-par' safety record over the past few years (when compared with CAP averages), even coming close to being as bad at the GENERAL AVIATION safety record a few years ago. CAP is consistently twice as safe as General Aviation, year after year. In fact, the last time we had consistently poor numbers like General Aviation was 19 years ago. 3 years ago the Air Force has an all-time low occurence of accidents, and at that time we were lower yet ( .94 accidents per 100,000 flight hours VS 6.33 for General aviation in the same year).
If General Aviation spent less time following the lead of people such as the President (clown) of the AOPA and more time on safety, the tides might turn.
The problems in CAP often come from the members with the "good old boy flying club" mentality. The guys who do it for the insurance benefits. The perverbial cowboys.
CAP is still full of tens of thousands of more dedicated volunteers. The people who can't justify spending time or money or filling out paperwork or working hard either don't stay or they don't join in the first place. It is the nature of any volunteer organization that we do what others CAN'T do or WON'T do.
Civil Air Patrol saves dozens of lives in the course of any given year. Last year it was 144. The year before it was 88. Our statistics don't even take in to account missions like the blood-flights for '9-11'. A few years ago our pilot (former Michigan Wing Director of Counter Narcotics) found a $40 million dollar field of drugs during a routine cross-country flight. Did that save a life?
Civil Air Patrol members have no grandstand or box to stand on to shout and tout what we do and why we do it. This is the way most members prefer it, although the misinformation has seriously impacted our recruiting, public awareness, and mission capabilities.
Hopefully, ignorance on a newsgroup doesn't carry on over to 'pilot error' in the cockpit. Fortunately, we still respond to our calls and still pick up the pieces, even for the 'pilots' who disrespected what we do.
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TJ, and Flintcap,
Both of you are right! I think I posted over a year ago, my feeling of the 'current CAP', As I said then and still think today, there is are surely good well meaning folks in different chapters of the CAP. It is just the political "CRAP" and out of check ego's that has ruined this organization.
And as for your first post "Flintcap" I would suggest that you introduce yourself and give us something of your 'credentials' other then just a "new member".
We are much more then a 'newsgroup', although flattering, not accurate. and for your information I have over 10years prior experience as a mission commander/pilot for the CAP back in 70's-80's when we did "actual search and rescue" and could be "counted on" to fly when one of our fellow aviatiors turned up missing. (Today) for the most part that doesn't happen, they just log time and try to justify the possession of aircraft paid for by the rest of us.
Tim
Flintcap, I'm letting my membership in CAP expire this month, after four years, and here's why. I joined to be able to serve in search & rescue, but was only allowed to do a few cadet orientation flights. It's a real "good ol' boys" flight club, and although I didn't expect any special treatment because I was the only female pilot in our squadron, I expected equal treatment.
Safety was a major concern of mine, too. We sponsored a training weekend, and it was my turn to train for scanner (have to do scanner now before you can go for observer or mission pilot). We taxiied out, then I told the pilot to take me back to the terminal. The winds were high and gusting past the crosswind component of the plane, and it was obvious neither the pilot trainee nor the check pilot had listened to the weather. The pilot wasn't paying any attention at all, and failed to use his ailerons while taxiing way too fast. When we heard a larger plane on final having difficulties, both pilots ignored it. Since I had no intention of dying that day, I insisted they take me back. After that, all flight operations were shut down for the day because someone finally decided to check weather.
There was a lot of paperwork, but not so much that I would have quit just because of that. It's that it kept "getting lost in the mail," and had to be resubmitted. We had one lady who was a Captain, and had earned her Major. She had to submit her paperwork six times, and was finally promoted "within the squadron" by the Wing.
Our squadron commander was a joke. He never wore the uniform, just the CAP shirt, and was often dirty, late, and rude. He'd spend an hour chewing out the entire senior membership because someone had scratched "his" plane, instead of talking to the person who did it. I got absolutely no advice on what to do, except from fellow senior members, who often weren't sure themselves about a procedure or training. I was so lost I didn't even know which questions to ask.
So tell me again why I should volunteer with CAP??
Anne, 2LT (ret).
Baloney is still baloney, no matter how thin you slice it.
Anne,
Ditto! I like your signature at the end of your messages
"Baloney is baloney, no matter how thin you slice it."
and another: "if it looks like a pig, smells like a pig" and acts like a pig; it probably is a pig!"
Tim
I am a member of the CAP, I have been for about three years and I have had to fight tooth and nail to gain anything in the program. I am a mission SAR/DR pilot for them (among many others) and am training for the position of Air Operations Branch Director. I truly love search and rescue, and do it with a passion, which is quite a lot less than I can say for many others in the program. I guess its important to say that I am not your average CAP guy, and some of them simply wont work with me, I have just turned 21 in the past few months, and have about 500 hours (not much experience to my standards), most of which is in high-performance tail draggers (mainly a Maule M7-235B). My assessment of the program is that it is a great program, but there are bad apples, and politics screwing it up.
The pilots: A lot of people treat the CAP as their own little flying club. Most of the people don?t own airplanes, and won?t fly if the government isn?t paying it for them. This means that they usually fly less than 20 hours a year, and most in my opinion are downright dangerous, I fly about 100 hours a year, and I think that is about the minimum one can fly and stay on the bleeding edge of proffency, the past two years I have been at school and only able to fly on the weekends, and I can see my profency slipping from where it was. When the CAP purchased a Muale (tricycle version) I was still working up to my mission pilot rating and was flying as a mission observer, I had over 300 hours in a tail-dragger Maule, and this pilot had an hour in type. Needles to say that he didn?t know jack about the plane, but his total refusal to listen to me resulted in his dropping the flaps with the rear door open (if you don?t know about Maules, the back door is in the flap arc and dropping the flaps with the door open results in a loud bang, and dented flaps/scratched door). Now I had just told him that he needed to wait until the guy had finished loading the back and shut the door, and I was informed that he knew ?damn well? what he was doing, well in his infinite wisdom he put them back up and tried to drop them two more times in quick succession until the guy in the back (who was training me) realized what was going on and yelled at him to stop. While there are pilots who are truly good pilots who could make an airplane do magical things, the majority of them are fairly incompetent at flying (and that?s just to my mere 500 hour standards). If you have a child whose a cadet that is doing orientation rides, KNOW the pilot and his abilities, also if you are a member as well, fly in the back (some pilots wont like this, don?t fly with them, I encourage parents who are members to fly with me, they learn as well, and can see the level of safety we perform to).
The SAR side: I am extremely disappointed with the Oregon Wing right now. They had a crack team in the Emergency Services department. Their former director of ES was just recently credited with exemplary work in a search for collecting intel (while he was still ES director), that resulted in a record time find that was covered with snow shortly afterward, if we hadn?t found it, 12 hours later it wouldn?t have been found until spring. But the Wing Commander found it necessary to relive EVERYONE in the ES dept. because there was an issue with how radios were being distributed (it?s a long story, but the wing commander wasn?t issuing radios that were purchased for ES to ES people, the wing ES officer rocked the boat, and they fired everyone, and even more quit on the waves of the firing). The new wing ES officer (I don?t mean to slander him, he is a very good person, and means well, but simply isn?t qualified in my opinion to hold the position) has no business being in that position, his highest rating is Mission Observer, as of the last time I met with him really doesn?t know what he is supposed to be doing/how to do it. There are many other people in the wing who don?t respond with the vigor needed. 98% of all ELT?s are false alarms, but we need to kick it in gear when we are handed an ELT mission because there are two percent that are real, and there are major people in the wing who have never been on a real mission, and assume that ALL missions are false alarms, this leads to delayed responses, and lately people will put missions off to the next day because the don?t want to deal with it that night.
All in all: I feel the CAP is a GREAT program that has the potential to be great, and in places that it actually works, it works well. I would recommend people joining it, because the people in this forum are the type and caliber of people that would help the organization, but you will be fighting an uphill and bitter battle. I am only 21 and I am about ready to say screw the Oregon Wing. I really feel bad about that, but some of these people are so political and simply in it for self promotion and self gratification, I am watching the wing crumble. There are groups that mean to do well, and have the potential to do so, but some people in higher power see this as a challenge to their authority, and will go to great lengths to preserve that authority, even if it means crippling an entire wing Emergency Services Program. If you can?t tell I am a little pissed about the happenings in my Wing. I would like to invite EVERYONE to come out to your local meetings, and get involved, I can?t change this on my own, and I will be needing help, lots of help!!! If you have any questions or concerns feel free to message me and I would be happy to discuss it further, or help you get into the program. Once again there are many HIGHLY QUALIFIED and very PROFESSIONAL people who are the best at what they do, and we are an effective organization. It?s a shame that there are a FEW BAD APPLES running the perception, and abilities of the program. You won?t make any advances standing on the outside yelling in, you have to get into the middle of it, and make changes that way, and its not easy, but there are good people in here doing their best to make CAP the best program possible, and in my pissed off ramblings above, I am talking about the minority, and you CANT overlook the good people doing their best to make the organization the best it can be.
I am intentionally not putting my name (even though it isn?t too hard to figure out who i am), but come on, when some one rocks the boat, and you fire everyone involved, no one will stand up to make the organization better.
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