Hi, I am 26 years old and am close to obtaining my private pilot's license. I heard the name "civil air patrol" mentioned somewhere and it caught my attention. Knowing nothing about the CAP I have been trying to find out exactly what joining CAP as a pilot could mean for me? I have no interest in joining the military, and my only desire is to fly. Does the CAP pay me to fly? Do I simply volunteer my time and fly CAP aircraft for free? Or do I pay to fly for CAP myself and enjoy donating my flight time to a worthwhile cause rather than joy riding around my hometown?
What type of commitments could I expect CAP to require as a pilot? Such as am I required to fly at least once per week, to distant locations? I guess I just need to know what being a CAP pilot is all about.
Anyone here familiar with CA (NorCal) or NM wings?
I was a cadet years ago, and went the Army route afterwards (first a gravel agitator with a gun, and then a rotorhead). I finally got smart and left the helo world for Air Guard CSAR, and am in school for MC-130P Flight Engineer presently (a week away from a checkride in Arkansas...wish me luck).
In a few months, I'll be at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, and am hoping to have some time to do some mountain proficiency flying there out of the Aero Club, but one of the CAP members out there suggested I become a Senior member and get some CAP flying in.
It's been years...back in the late 80's...since I was in CAP, so I am pretty much out of touch with how ops go. I am out of the San Francisco Bay Area when I am not off TDY like this for some school, and I am a PPL holder with much tailwheel time and many years experience with semi-remote area flying (Sierras, Northern Coast Range and Diablos)
Does anyone have any suggestions as to which Squadrons in NorCal might be best to look at, insofar as having available aircraft and an opportunity to log actual hours, instead of sitting around and just talking about flying? I recall our composite Sq. back in "the day" had a lot of senior member pilots, who never got any flying in...pretty much a 'hangar flying' Squadron with a bunch of wannabe cadet leaders that watched "Full Metal Jacket" one to many times. (that's a WHOLE other story)
I've pretty much decided to join as a Senior, as I'm quite sure I have a lot to offer the cadets with my varied military experience (from Infantry grunt to helos to Rescue Herks), but I don't know where my time would best be spent as far as trying to build hours and skills.
As far as the Albuquerque time, I'll probably be there for close to 6 months.
Any ideas from the peanut gallery?
Also looking to see if anyone in the ABQ area rents taildraggers (Champs, Cubs, Citabrias, T-craft, etc.)...any leads on that would also be appreciated.
Since each CAP unit tends to focus on different things, the best thing you can do is just start visiting units when you get out there to get a feel for what their local priorities are. Frankly, if you're only going to be in NM for 6 months, and aren't currently in CAP, your time would probably be better spent flying with the aero club. There are quite a few hoops to jump through with CAP in terms of getting trained and qualified as a mission pilot and you would be just partway through the process before going back to CA, and transferring records, etc. between Wings can be a hassle.
Wait till you get to CA and then look into it.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: RiverAux,
Originally posted by uviuar: Hi, I am 26 years old and am close to obtaining my private pilot's license. I heard the name "civil air patrol" mentioned somewhere and it caught my attention. Knowing nothing about the CAP I have been trying to find out exactly what joining CAP as a pilot could mean for me? I have no interest in joining the military, and my only desire is to fly. Does the CAP pay me to fly? Do I simply volunteer my time and fly CAP aircraft for free? Or do I pay to fly for CAP myself and enjoy donating my flight time to a worthwhile cause rather than joy riding around my hometown?
What type of commitments could I expect CAP to require as a pilot? Such as am I required to fly at least once per week, to distant locations? I guess I just need to know what being a CAP pilot is all about.
Good question, I was wondering the same thing. Those two sites don't reall explain what you asked. Any CAP pilots in here?
There are barely any people on this board and though not a pilot am familiar with the CAP aircrew program. Which question(s) did you feel were not answered at the web sites or earlier in the thread? I'll give them a try.
Originally posted by uviuar: Hi, I am 26 years old and am close to obtaining my private pilot's license. I heard the name "civil air patrol" mentioned somewhere and it caught my attention. Knowing nothing about the CAP I have been trying to find out exactly what joining CAP as a pilot could mean for me? I have no interest in joining the military, and my only desire is to fly. Does the CAP pay me to fly? Do I simply volunteer my time and fly CAP aircraft for free? Or do I pay to fly for CAP myself and enjoy donating my flight time to a worthwhile cause rather than joy riding around my hometown?
What type of commitments could I expect CAP to require as a pilot? Such as am I required to fly at least once per week, to distant locations? I guess I just need to know what being a CAP pilot is all about.
CAP Pilots are unpaid volunteers.
If you're flying on an AF assigned mission you can be approved for AF reimbursement for gas, food and lodging expenses based on the time and travel involved. As for other funding a lot depends on which State your CAP wing is in. Some wings have very few members and almost no funding. In a wing like that the A/C fuel will be paid for only if there is an AF mission number assigned where there is AF money budjeted for flight operations for either training or mission activity. I've been told of a CAP wing which is assigned 35 aircraft. That Wing's leadership has worked with the state to get abundant state funding. If I understand correctly that wing has enough money to cover the cost of routine flying for mission pilot qualification and profiency. Even in the poorly funded wing with very few volunteers those who come out work well together but have to bear more of their own expenses.
Just to clarify, that fuel for flying on missions won't cost the pilot anything, it is only for personal proficiency flying where you have to pay for it. That being said, in some wings the pilot has to pay for the fuel for the plane and then get reimbursed later. I think most wings have credit cards in the planes for that purpose.
Overnight missions for pilots are rare unless you volunteer to go to a base for a huge mission like Ike or Katrina that go on for weeks. Most of the time you take off and return to your home base the same day.
Billfords comment about some wings having "almost no funding" is somewhat misleading since the Air Force provides a ton of money to all states for actually carrying out missions and for training. However in about 2/3 of states, the state governent also chips in some additional money which can sometimes be significant.
Whether or not CAP gets funding from a particular state has nothing at all to do with how many CAP members are in it. For example, Florida has over 3000 members and gets 55K from the state while Mississippi has 450 members and gets 60K. Its all about local politics. But really, state funding just helps around the edges -- it doesn't have a huge impact on our primary programs.
