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Van's Airplanes: Is there anything they can't do?

Dgamble

Well Known Member
Just about a year ago, I was sitting at the departure end of runway 22 at Bolton Field (KTZR) in my RV-12 preparing to launch on yet another $25 hamburger run ($100 hamburgers are for Lycomings and Continentals) when I got to thinking. I have over 1,000 hours in my logbook, 355 of which are in the 12, I have an IFR rating that hasn’t been current in over 15 years, and a growing sense that I might be becoming dangerously complacent.

I started to think that I ought to find another form of flying that would instill more professionalism and purpose in my flying. I had also recently made a new Facebook friend who just happened to be the Major in charge of a local Civil Air Patrol squadron. We will call him Maj. Joe. I had never paid much attention to CAP - my perception of it was that it was basically Boy Scouts that guided me to a parking spot at the Dayton Air Show, and were nowhere to be found after the show when 100,000 cars all tried to leave the parking lot together.

I ended up giving Joe a ride in my 12 and during that ride he disabused me of that perception. While there are obviously a whole lot of CAP cadets, it turns out that there are also what are known as Senior Squadrons. Those squadrons are all adults and airplanes. It also turned out that there was just such a squadron based right up the road at Don Scott (KOSU) airport, and he was the Squadron Commander. He painted a very intriguing picture of that part of CAP and invited me to sit in on a meeting or two. Just about a year ago, I joined.

A year later and I have yet to fly a CAP airplane. Covid and other factors have kept me out of the airplane (a gorgeous Cessna 182T, G-1000 equipped), but I have undergone a lot of training. There are three positions in a CAP mission: Flight Commander/Pilot, Observer, and Scanner. The pilot is not necessarily the Flight Commander, but usually is. The Observer is the right-seater and responsible for operating the radios and search equipment. The Observer does not have to be a pilot, but it helps. The Scanner is in the backseat and is the only crewmember tasked exclusively with looking out the window trying to find the target, whatever it might be.

Maj. Joe flies with me in the 12 quite often now. I have him trained up enough that I will let him fly from the left seat on one of the legs on our flights. We made such a trip yesterday. We were flying down to Jackson Co (I43) to pick up a Koger sunshade that I bought used from Phil Boyer. I flew left seat on the outbound leg, so Maj Joe was in the left seat as we climbed out on our return flight. As Observer, I dialed 121.5 into the Comm radio and set it to Monitor - a habit Maj Joe had instilled in me.

We were immediately hit with the squeal of an ELT. It was a very strong signal, and as the area around Jackson is very rural, my first thought was that the source must be located on I43. Without a Becker system (basically an ADF that points at ELTs) we didn’t have a solid indication of where the beacon could be.

Having just finished Observer training a couple of weeks ago, I knew about a technique called “wing null.” It’s very intuitive - you roll the plane into a fairly steeply banked turn and listen for the ELT signal to be blocked from the comm antenna by the wing or fuselage. The comm antenna on the 12 is down on the bottom of the fuselage, so the moment the ELT signal was blocked I was able to look up through the canopy in the direction of the signal. Sure enough, there was I43. Having narrowed down the source sufficiently to assume the beacon was at least in the neighborhood, we called Flight Service and reported it.

This morning our squadron (OH-085) was tasked with confirming the location of the ELT. They did so, contacted the airport manager, and within half an hour the beacon was found and silenced.

The cool thing is not just that I will be awarded the privilege of wearing a “Find” ribbon on my uniform, the airplane that found the beacon is also qualified for the ribbon. I might have the unique distinction of owning the only RV-12 that can wear that ribbon (in the form of a decal, of course).

When I say “Mission Accomplished,” I’m not talking about the find. I am referring to using my airplane and license for something much more rewarding than an airport hamburger.
 
Awesome!

We have a CAP located near where I park my RV6.

Are there any age limits to how old you can be to join?

Every once in a while they have a C172 and a Cherokee parked outside the hangar. Sometimes a Beaver shows up.

Been thinking of stopping in.

Best regards,
Mike Bauer
 
Do you have to be a member of CAP to get the ribbon?

You can buy all the ribbons you want online.

My understanding is CAP squadrons are a bit hit or miss. They all have the same military themed cosplay bit, but some are better than others. My only first hand experience are the ones that fly out of my home field, seems a bit haphazard. Inversely a buddy of mine flies for a squadron and really likes it... he?s also a Marine F18 driver so not trying to play Air Force and likes educating and working now with the kids.
 
Awesome!

We have a CAP located near where I park my RV6.

Are there any age limits to how old you can be to join?

Every once in a while they have a C172 and a Cherokee parked outside the hangar. Sometimes a Beaver shows up.

Been thinking of stopping in.

Best regards,
Mike Bauer
The minimum age for a Sr. Squadron is, I believe, 18. There is no maximum age.
 
You can buy all the ribbons you want online.

My understanding is CAP squadrons are a bit hit or miss. They all have the same military themed cosplay bit, but some are better than others. My only first hand experience are the ones that fly out of my home field, seems a bit haphazard. Inversely a buddy of mine flies for a squadron and really likes it... he?s also a Marine F18 driver so not trying to play Air Force and likes educating and working now with the kids.
Buying a ribbon is not the same as earning a ribbon.

It is true that the nature of a squadron can be what I call hyper-localized. The Squadron Commander has a lot of leeway and can definitely have a strong influence over the "personality" of a squadron, within reason. Sitting in on a meeting or two will give you a feel for whether you would like being in any particular squadron.

Depending on your location, you might have half a dozen squadrons within 30 miles to choose from.

I did five years active duty USAF and another six in the Ohio ANG. I wasn't looking to go back to a spit & polish, snap to attention full-on military experience, so I was pretty careful before joining even though it is very low risk. It helped me a lot to know that there is no enlistment period and you can simply quit at any time. The squadron I am in is professionally run, but because everyone there is there because they want to be there, there really isn't any need for the strict discipline you might find in Active Duty situations. Uniforms can be as simple as gray slacks and a blue polo shirt. There are no personal grooming or weight standards while in CAP uniforms, although there are a couple of approved uniforms that are the same as USAF uniforms - they do have standards for those.

We have meetings twice a month, but they are not mandatory.

There are notable benefits for pilots. You can work towards advanced ratings in the CAP airplanes (Cessna 182T G-1000) for a very reasonable dry rate, and the CFI is free. I'm going to use their airplane for a portion of the air work for a Commercial ticket - the rest will be in my RV-12. I will probably take the checkride in the 182 - it's a lot more stable than the 12. We also have a glider and I am going to get my glider rating in it. They also own the tow plane, and I want to get trained up in that, too.
 
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