Joining CAP

H

harp1146

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Jul 19, 2014
Messages
3
Location
Atlanta Metro area
Display Name
Display name:
KLZU
OK. Intro's. My father was an Army pilot for 19 years. I worked on the Apache during my time in the Army.

Always wanted to fly and never had the money.
I've worked out a way to start my PPL in Jan or Feb.

I really want to join the CAP (Civil Air Patrol) and fly with them.
My question really centers on this...should I join now or wait until I have my PPL?

I think it's an awesome organization and because I've been in Law Enforcement in the area since 2006 I really want to help out in this area.

Any thoughts on the specific question or CAP in general? :dunno:

Awesome forum by the way been lurking for about a week now and already learned a lot. :thumbsup:
 
Last edited:
harp1146 said:
OK. Intro's. My father was an Army pilot for 19 years. I worked on the Apache during my time in the Army.

Always wanted to fly and never had the money.
I've worked out a way to start my PPL in Jan or Feb.

I really want to join the CAP (Civilian Air Patrol) and fly with them.
My question really centers on this...should I join now or wait until I have my PPL?

I think it's an awesome organization and because I've been in Law Enforcement in the area since 2006 I really want to help out in this area.

Any thoughts on the specific question or CAP in general? :dunno:

Awesome forum by the way been lurking for about a week now and already learned a lot. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Join now. But if your sole purpose in joining CAP is to fly, check out the squadron you're planning on joining. There are minimums, and a new PPL is not going to be Mission Pilot any time soon. Go read the CAP website about the requirements. But why wait to join? It's not the military where time in grade is important, it's a volunteer organization.
 
You need 200 hours to fly with them. I'm in CAP but not as involved as I'd like to be due to travel and family.

Join now and get involved. You can work your way into a bird doing High Bird ops or Photography. But depending on how many members you have and how many actually want to fly, you may be in for a long wait.
 
harp1146 said:
I really want to join the CAP (Civilian Air Patrol) and fly with them.
Click to expand...
It's Civil Air Patrol, btw. It can be very hard to get a flying slot. Lots of hoops to jump through. If your sole reason for wanted to join the Civil Air Patrol is flying, make sure you inquire with the individual squadron first. There are minimums and a whole bunch of requirements -- basically it can be a couple years before you even see a cockpit, if then, and most people simply give up on the process. Official missions are few and far between.
 
If you're located at KLZU, we have a pretty active squadron there. I'm the G1000 IP STAN/EVAL officer. Our website is www.GA112.org. Check out the calendar and come by to visit with us at one of our Monday night meetings.
 
http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/how_to_join/pilots_faq/?&show=faq&faqID=163

I have been in CAP since 1989 and have been a CAP pilot since last November. I got my certificate in August of 2012 with about 73 hours or so (yes I could have gotten away with less). It took me that long, and I'm still not done training.

Note that CAP requires PIC time, so the hours you spend with an instructor before your checkride will not count towards your total.

At 100 hours PIC you can become a transport mission pilot after some training and a checkride. You won't be able to fly SAR / DR missions but you can fly people and equipment around, fly highbird, and basically rent a Cessna 182 dry for around $45/hour (and do a ton of paperwork :) ) You will have to do one checkride per year with a CAP check pilot to keep your transport mission pilot status. Usually, your renewal check rides are funded, and can count as most of a flight review in FAA Wings. Your initial qualifying check ride is normally paid by you out of pocket at the "dry" rate of ~$45/hour (cheaper for a 172, more expensive for units that tack on fees).

At 175 hours PIC you can start training to become a SAR/DR mission pilot, which is a different annual checkride to maintain. I haven't done mine yet, but I do believe that normally your first is paid for by you and your renewals are funded. You won't be able to take your checkride until you hit 200 hours PIC.

Once you are a SAR/DR mission pilot, you will probably get about an hourish funded proficiency flying per month (depending on your state / wing and how they do budgets). This is a fairly new program and I am not sure how this is shaking out everywhere.

In order to fly G1000-equipped aircraft you will need to take G1000 VFR ground school and have a special flight check in that platform. Depending on your wing and equipment availability, your G1000 checkride might be your initial checkride as well. For me, I started in a steam gauge 172, moved up to a steam gauge 182, and finally checked out in a G1000 182. I haven't done my instrument ground and checkride in the G1000.

CAP is pretty serious about ensuring that their pilots are trained. It is what I like about the program. I'm hoping that, if I keep working hard, it will help with my skill and my attention to detail, but we'll see how that works out in the long run. A Cessna 182 with G1000 for ~$105/hr wet isn't too bad either, but I can't just fly it wherever I want. I pretty much have to be on a training or proficiency profile to fly it. That's ok with me, since I'm pretty much a CAP lifer and I am in the program primarily to fulfill a desire to serve my community.

And to you naysayers out there, I would not be a pilot if it weren't for CAP.

Hope this helps!
 
write-stuff said:
If you're located at KLZU, we have a pretty active squadron there. I'm the G1000 IP STAN/EVAL officer. Our website is www.GA112.org. Check out the calendar and come by to visit with us at one of our Monday night meetings.
Click to expand...

I'll have to drop by once I have some time and get some more info.
Thanks for the link!

And thanks for all the info guys.
 
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