Civil Air Patrol...what I have learned so far

Screaming_Emu said:
you can also fly 100ft above pattern altitude opposite direction without any radio calls while patrolling a nearby bridge and make me almost crap my pants on multiple occasions...then land for lunch and steal one of our flight schools obviously reserved parking spots as you strut across the ramp in a flight suit, inflatable life vests, and aviator sunglasses (even though its cloudy)
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haha, I love it when they burst in my office demanding my managers number and hear "I think an ELT went off, must have been a hard one." awwwww
 
Screaming_Emu said:
you can also fly 100ft above pattern altitude opposite direction without any radio calls while patrolling a nearby bridge and make me almost crap my pants on multiple occasions...then land for lunch and steal one of our flight schools obviously reserved parking spots as you strut across the ramp in a flight suit, inflatable life vests, and aviator sunglasses (even though its cloudy)
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:rotfl:Priceless!
I was told Pilots would be allowed to wear Polo's with Black Pants and Black Shoes. Must have a Belt, though.
Guess after I get my CFI - not a day before.
They apparently would like to have pilots join, but something seems to keep good reasonable people somewhat distanced.
Our SC advertised 4 hours of (paid for) flying per month. Naaaw... 160 hours of meetings :sarcasm: for 4 hours in the air?

Seeing some of clown behavior during the mandatory meetings was too much. I attended together with a CFI (former CAP Check Airmen) and he advised me not to join before being a CFI. To much drama, and once you are a CFI they actually need you and you get to charge for dual given.
 
Cessna414JJB said:
I attended together with a CFI (former CAP Check Airmen) and he advised me not to join before being a CFI. To much drama, and once you are a CFI they actually need you and you get to charge for dual given.
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No, you don't. That was the reg I said Ozone's instructor needed to read.

People may say that it's a crock that CFIs may not charge for their professional services, but neither to the doctors, attorneys, accountants, IT folks and virtually all other members who contribute their time and talents to the organization. Look, CAP is a volunteer organization. If you're not interested in volunteering your services--whatever they may be--don't join. It's that simple.
 
After the accident they had here with some of their Young Eagles in the plane (their version of the hitler youth) the saying at the airport is "Parents don't let your children fly with the civil air patrol". No one was hurt. Maybe some units are really well run but I have yet to come across one in the Pacific Northwest. The unit here has a distinguished accident history. And they can scratch one of those nice G1000 equipped 182's off their list for awhile. However long it takes for them to get a gearbox repaired by the lowest bidder would be a good estimate on timeframe.
 
aloft said:
No, you don't. That was the reg I said Ozone's instructor needed to read.

People may say that it's a crock that CFIs may not charge for their professional services, but neither to the doctors, attorneys, accountants, IT folks and virtually all other members who contribute their time and talents to the organization. Look, CAP is a volunteer organization. If you're not interested in volunteering your services--whatever they may be--don't join. It's that simple.
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What if you just want to join to wear a flight suit in a 172?
 
To those of you who'd rather sit back and snipe:

Volunteer organizations are only as good as those who volunteer. Why don't you join and help improve things? Not enough in it for you? Why not do something for your community? I don't care what, but if you're not doing anything to make your community or country a better place, you've got no room to belittle those who are.
 
Thanks for the good reminder Aloft. I have to say, I have read some of the comments here and in other threads. I cant speak of other CAP wings, but I can speak about the one I am joining: every senior is either ex military or ex police or some other civil job. They are interesting people and I know I can learn a lot from them.

Quite frankly, I am humbled by their combined decades of service to this country and I am somewhat intimidated in terms of trying to learn all the proper military-type protocol. Former cadets at the squadron where I am based have gone on to good careers in the Airforce, placement at west point, air force academy etc. etc.

They are happy to see me join since they have not had anyone qualified to be a medical officer in some years. As a physician, I have often done my "civic duty" by giving away free care (usually not of my own volition) to those who dont have the right insurance etc. This particular wing will allow me, in some small way, to truly give something back to the community.

I was somewhat wary to join given the very negative comments in other threads. Now that I have met the people involved, I agree with Aloft's statement that a volunteer group is as good as you make it. So, if you see some funkiness in other CAP wings, dont just sit there and bitch and moan....go join, do some good, and make your local wing something to be proud of.

Don't forget (because CAP never does :rolleyes:) that it was CAP pilots, after mounting their own torpedo rigs on cessna's, who sunk two german submarines. The original CAP pilots really wanted to help protect this country as well as give something back to their communities.

If a CAP wing has recently failed to live up to that historical standard, then it's the fault of all the naysayers who sit on the sidelines and complain rather than try to make a positive change by volunteering.

...ok my two cents ranting is now over.
 
ozone said:
3. As an air-force auxiliary, you can go onto air force bases and use the PX when you are there on official CAP business = no sales tax!
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Good luck with this one. As an ex-CAP member and ex-military active duty type, I can tell you this one will hang you up often. Even if it IS the letter of the regulation, a lot of BX/PXer's will stop you cold at the register.

It's a volunteer organization dedicated to the education of Americans about aviation in their community and cost-effective SAR resources for the U.S. airspace system.

If you're in the program for any other reason than specified above, you're going to be disappointed.

You might make some connections that can help, but this is not a doorway to a cheap pilot license.

You want to learn to fly cheap? Join the Air Force.
 
ozone said:
Don't forget (because CAP never does :rolleyes:) that it was CAP pilots, after mounting their own torpedo rigs on cessna's, who sunk two german submarines.
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It's amazing how much mileage that one organization can get out of these two events.
 
ozone said:
Thanks for the good reminder Aloft. I have to say, I have read some of the comments here and in other threads. I cant speak of other CAP wings, but I can speak about the one I am joining: every senior is either ex military or ex police or some other civil job. They are interesting people and I know I can learn a lot from them.

Quite frankly, I am humbled by their combined decades of service to this country and I am somewhat intimidated in terms of trying to learn all the proper military-type protocol. Former cadets at the squadron where I am based have gone on to good careers in the Airforce, placement at west point, air force academy etc. etc.

They are happy to see me join since they have not had anyone qualified to be a medical officer in some years. As a physician, I have often done my "civic duty" by giving away free care (usually not of my own volition) to those who dont have the right insurance etc. This particular wing will allow me, in some small way, to truly give something back to the community.

I was somewhat wary to join given the very negative comments in other threads. Now that I have met the people involved, I agree with Aloft's statement that a volunteer group is as good as you make it. So, if you see some funkiness in other CAP wings, dont just sit there and bitch and moan....go join, do some good, and make your local wing something to be proud of.

Don't forget (because CAP never does :rolleyes:) that it was CAP pilots, after mounting their own torpedo rigs on cessna's, who sunk two german submarines. The original CAP pilots really wanted to help protect this country as well as give something back to their communities.

If a CAP wing has recently failed to live up to that historical standard, then it's the fault of all the naysayers who sit on the sidelines and complain rather than try to make a positive change by volunteering.

...ok my two cents ranting is now over.
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As far as learning the military protocol, don't sweat it. Ask the cadets to teach you, they love doing that. Also, make sure to get all the updates to the uniform manual. There are a lot of them. Check out captalk.net too.
 
Hacker15e said:
Financially cheap, yes. Unfortunately, you pay for it in ways that are considerably more expensive than money coming out of your wallet.
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I know how it is. I did my time and earned the benefits promised in much the same way. They filled my wallet but left scars as proof of receipt.

... jus' sayin', that's all.
 
Hacker15e said:
It's amazing how much mileage that one organization can get out of these two events.
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To be fair, that mileage is pretty deserved. German U-boats had killed hundreds if not thousands of troops and destroyed millions of dollars in materiel headed for Europe and the US Navy didn't have an adequate anti-submarine warfare on the eastern seaboard at the time. It was a turkey shoot for the Germans, waiting outside the major ports and picking off troop and cargo ships at will.

After the war, senior German Naval officers admitted that CAP's coastal patrols were the primary reason they abandoned their U-boat attacks along the east coast. Not bad for a bunch of civilian pilots in GA aircraft.

Something else to consider is that just as happened after 9/11, civil aviation was pretty much grounded when the war kicked off. In both instances, CAP aircraft were among the few civilian flight operations permitted. We had crews flying taskings throughout the ground stop that followed 9/11.
 
aloft said:
After the war, senior German Naval officers admitted that CAP's coastal patrols were the primary reason they abandoned their U-boat attacks along the east coast. Not bad for a bunch of civilian pilots in GA aircraft.
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But, the real question is, did they wear flight suits back then as well!? :D :sarcasm:
 
aloft said:
To those of you who'd rather sit back and snipe:

Volunteer organizations are only as good as those who volunteer. Why don't you join and help improve things? Not enough in it for you? Why not do something for your community? I don't care what, but if you're not doing anything to make your community or country a better place, you've got no room to belittle those who are.
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I agree, but at many local chapters, the bad people are already entrenched too far to do any good. There is a good one around here that helped my friend's dad out. He has a private license but didn't fly for over a decade due to finances, health issues, etc... It allows him to go along on missions in the right seat and get up in the air a couple of times a month for about $60 a year. Recently, it has helped him to get motivated, get his medical back, and get current.

Just like any place, there are good people and bad people. Unfortunately, people get turned off by a bad experience and never come back.
 
Cessna414JJB said:
Thanks Joe!
I'll run that by the CFI who does so.
Yet, I do not agree with the brainwashing of 12-16 year old kids.
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I've been in my squadron for about a year. There are kids in my squadron so I've seen the cadet program first hand. The cadet program has more of a military structure than the adult program, so the kids are all very up on military protocol. That is what it is and it doesn't bother me either way. The kids are also up on learning leadership skills, on learning to speak in front of large groups, on learning to complete tasks by working in groups and on learning to handle assigned responsibilities. Those seem like good things to me but I could see how others would consider it to be brainwashing. :sarcasm: Especially because all the kids that I see want to be there and want to learn what they're learning.
 
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