Since last week's aborted training exercise, I thought it would be a while before I got to get some more in depth training. The squadron and wing leadership instead decided to try again this weekend. Unfortunately, I had a prior commitment and couldn't make it for most of the day. I figured I'd show up to get some classroom training out of the way and check off at least a few boxes toward either a staff assistant or mission scanner role.
Staff assistant simply refers to an administrative go-fer who can keep track of the mission status and ensure updates make it to the appropriate people and places. The mission scanner role is more interesting, as that is one of the sets of eyeballs in the air during a real search.
Even after arriving so late at the exercise command post, there were still two more training flights on the agenda. With one of the hardest tasks being a trainee on an actual training mission (due to the infrequency of the exercises), it made sense for me to go up and get one of them out of the way. Most positions require at least two training flights, some require three.
I learned a few things from this mission:
- I can retain and recall something I read just once months ago (namely, some of the scanning techniques).
- I can quickly read the manual for a direction-finding radio and make some sense of it just minutes before flying.
- I need to fly more before I would ever feel comfortable in (a) any CAP aircraft, (b) especially the glass cockpit planes.
Even as a "passenger" in the right front seat, with my primary duty being interpreting the direction-finding radio to home in on a training ELT, I felt behind the airplane. This was one of the newer G1000 crafts, and I struggled to keep a glance at the instruments as a secondary backup for the pilot. Part of it is my time away from flying as of late, and of course there is the lack of experience with the Garmin G1000. I have a biennial coming due in February, and I may not even get to fly before then. It will have been five months by the time it rolls around.
On a more positive note, I was able to visually locate our target (a military parachute on the ground) even as the much more experienced pilot said, "That can't be it..." and kept circling the area looking for something else.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Weekend Emergency Services
More training today. Every so often, the CAP squadron will have a formal exercise to train, test, and practice for a real search-and-rescue event. Yesterday, with high winds forecast, the leadership decided to forgo a real exercise with planes in the air and instead just do some classroom training.
Naturally, it's not the same as being out in the field, but I couldn't argue with the logic of being inside while it was freezing and windy outside. For that matter, some of the work is necessarily administrative in nature (how to do incident paperwork, track resources, etc.) so the classroom is still a part of the overall process.
Due to the limited agenda, the meeting was also limited to senior members rather than inclusive of the cadets. That actually turned out to be a positive, as we discussed some issues regarding recruitment and meeting organization that falls to us as adult leaders to handle.
For me personally, it was a good meeting to clear up a few gray areas regarding advancement and emergency services operations qualifications (OpsQuals). I am now a trainee for a couple of operations specialties: Mission Scanner and Mission Staff Assistant. The first is a step on the way to becoming a CAP mission pilot. The second is more or less a go-fer position, but is still an important role during a real incident (think Radar from M.A.S.H. -- you remember that show, right?)
In follow up to the last post, I ordered four gyroscopes and received them today. They're the cheap kind, but they kept three kids busy for at least two hours today. I'd say that's a pretty good result. On top of that, we were able to talk about how they work in an airplane, how the gyroscopic effect keeps their bicycles upright, and learned that dogs don't like the noise of the spinning tops. Who knew?
Naturally, it's not the same as being out in the field, but I couldn't argue with the logic of being inside while it was freezing and windy outside. For that matter, some of the work is necessarily administrative in nature (how to do incident paperwork, track resources, etc.) so the classroom is still a part of the overall process.
Due to the limited agenda, the meeting was also limited to senior members rather than inclusive of the cadets. That actually turned out to be a positive, as we discussed some issues regarding recruitment and meeting organization that falls to us as adult leaders to handle.
For me personally, it was a good meeting to clear up a few gray areas regarding advancement and emergency services operations qualifications (OpsQuals). I am now a trainee for a couple of operations specialties: Mission Scanner and Mission Staff Assistant. The first is a step on the way to becoming a CAP mission pilot. The second is more or less a go-fer position, but is still an important role during a real incident (think Radar from M.A.S.H. -- you remember that show, right?)
In follow up to the last post, I ordered four gyroscopes and received them today. They're the cheap kind, but they kept three kids busy for at least two hours today. I'd say that's a pretty good result. On top of that, we were able to talk about how they work in an airplane, how the gyroscopic effect keeps their bicycles upright, and learned that dogs don't like the noise of the spinning tops. Who knew?
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