Any experience w/ the Civil Air Patrol??

[Josh]

There is no wanna-be to it. CAP is chartered by the US Congress as the Auxiliary of the USAF. As such, they wear an AF uniform, with a few badge and patch changes to set them apart. When you do something inherently dangerous like flying around at 500-1000' AGL at slow speeds, you may as well be prepared. Nomex is a great fire retardant. Besides, there are a bunch of cool little pockets for pens and such. Needed? No. Nice to have in case? Yes. Try telling the weekend drag racers they don't need a fire retardant suit for their driving because they are not pros

Anyhow, I think the worst folks I ran into in CAP were either:

1. Former military, and old enough to be going a little senile
2. Never made it to the military, but wanted to, if they weren't so bad at dealing with others.

Pretty much in that order.

The cadet program was fun, and there are few who have the know it all attitude, since everyone is learning. It is when you get into the senior side of the organization that personal issues can become more of a problem. If you like your local unit, chances are you will be happy for a very long time.

 

[JGriffis]

Does anyone have any helpful websites about the Cival Air Patrol?

 

[mtsu_av8er]

The Civil Air Patrol Website!!!

 

[Lima_Charlie]

[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone have any helpful websites about the Cival Air Patrol?

[/ QUOTE ]

I checked out the CAP website, and found some valuable info. I was hoping to find some sort of calendar for our local wing, but it got too complicated.

Let me know if you find anything else worthy of checking out...

 

[JGriffis]

Thanks a lot, i'm gonna check it out.

 

[ricecakecm]

I'm in CAP. I'm a Check Pilot and Mission Pilot.

Like everybody has said, there are good units and bad units. There are wanna-bes. There are people who just want to do something good in aviation and help out.

As far as requirements to fly our airplanes, here are some basic (by no means complete) guidelines:

CAP Pilot - At least a private pilot, complete a CAP "Checkride". Basicly an aircraft checkout.

Transport Mission Pilot - Be a CAP Pilot, 100 hours PIC, 50 XC.

SAR Mission Pilot - Be a CAP Pilot, Mission Scanner (3rd member of an aircrew), complete various training tasks, 200 PIC, 50 XC.

Cadet Orientation Pilot - CAP Pilot, 200 PIC, 50 XC.

Check Pilot - CAP Pilot, CFI, Check Pilot Checkride.


As far as uniforms, I typically wear a CAP Polo Shirt and grey slacks when I fly. Some people wear flight suits. I have one and wear it sometimes. But I feel silly getting out of a C-172 or C-182 in a flight suit.

One thing is to find a unit with a current, active CAP Pilot. They can help you get going. Most squadron (local unit) commanders don't have a clue about the flying aspects of CAP. I just had two guys I work with join. Both are CFIIs with over 1000 hours. I've basicly held their hands to make sure they don't fall through the cracks. I've made sure they've gotten their checkrides and paperwork completed.

Chris

 

[John2375]

I'd like to join too - I started going to the meetings last year but my job then interfered and so I've completed some of the steps but not all.

About how many hours a month can you typically get? With my hours, I'd be qualified to be a SARS Mission PLT and Cadet orientation pilot.
I'd love to be involved in something like that and fly for free too!!!! lol

I was disappointed last year that my job hours changed and I missed out, especially since they were involved in the Columbia shuttle debris search.

John

 

[aloft]

[ QUOTE ]
It sounds like someone in the organization is a "wannabe" Air Force pilot w/ a few unsolved "issues"! I can understand wanting to volunteer, and give you time in the service of helping others, but to actually make the pilot's wear a nomex flight suit!!???

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I'm sure there are a few "wanna-bees" in CAP's ranks (and to be fair, a great many of the cadets are "gonna-bees", I mean, that's the point of the cadet program; a great many of them go on to military careers [ahem, MikeD], see here for a small sample). As for wearing nomex, ya gotta keep in mind that SAR flying is not your average point-to-point VFR joyride, especially in mountainous areas. CAP aircraft fly search missions at 800-1000' AGL, even in the mountains, to put eyeballs on every possible piece of terrain. And in the process, stuff happens sometimes; I know personally one dude who was the sole survivor of a CAP C-182 crash during a search sortie in the Sierras who was severely burned everywhere that wasn't covered with nomex. His face is a mess and he almost lost his hand due to postoperative infections. The other two crewmembers weren't so fortunate. Next time you feel like calling a CAP crewmember a "wanna-be" for wearing what is ultimately protective clothing, remember that it could have been any one of them in that wreck.

 

[drumminpilot]

[ QUOTE ]
About how many hours a month can you typically get?

[/ QUOTE ]
I just joined a Senior Squadron, and they fly a TON. There's not many mission qualified pilots in it, and we're doing a lot of low level route surveys. One mission pilot is going to log close to 20 hours flight time between Friday-Monday just doing the surveys. Supposedly, this will be a regular thing (1-2 times a month). We've got 2 planes based here (172P/172S) and access to a brand spanking new 182T based an hour away. I've visited a few other squadrons in other states, and they don't fly anywhere near this much, if at all. My squadron is extremely laid back, but I've visited some that have the proverbial stick up their @$$. My advice is to attend a few meetings, and if you have the option, a few squadrons before you make a decision, as every squadron is a little different.