I simply can’t believe it. I have been a CAP member for 15 years now and
never seen anything like this. Cadet
Orientation Flights are what most CAP cadets join for, they really like
airplanes. Let’s face it, besides the members
(cadet and senior) with the over-inflated egos who just want to boss people
around (generally about 90% of the Wing and Region Commanders included) most
people join CAP to fly.
Part of the CAP cadet program allows cadets to go
flying in an aircraft. They can’t be
charged anything for the flight or anything related to the flight (we often try
to cover their transportation costs to the airport) so that they have the best
opportunity to fly. We only do the
flights on good weather days and only with airplanes in tip-top shape. It’s a given that a fair number of flights
will be cancelled due to weather. Some
are cancelled due to aircraft issues (mechanical, geographic placement, or
getting bumped for a higher priority mission), and some are cancelled because
the funding is not in place.
Yesterday, I had a nice new Cessna 182 with the
Garmin G1000 for the cadets to oooh, and ahhh for; I had money in place and the weather was
cooperating with clear skies and light winds.
We even booked two times for the cadets to take a tour of the ATC
Control tower at the airport just to keep them excited. The unit promised me 6 cadets and we were
ready and even had transportation for them to the airport. It looked like it was going to be an
excellent day. I avoided scheduling clients
for the day and tried to make sure my “to-do” list was clean so I wouldn’t be
bothered.
I arrived at the designated meeting point at 0715
AM (cadets were told to arrive at 0700) to be ready to meet me. I found ONE cadet… one… Solo uno…. Obviously I
tried to reach the coordinator of the activity.
Through assorted sources, I got the skinny on the six scheduled cadets:
1)
He was there, good job Cadet Ou.
2)
MIA,
told he/she was going to be 35 mins late. Creed I learned from the USNA: “If you’re
early, you’re on time; if you’re on time, you’re late; if you’re late, you’re dead.” Learn it!
3)
Sick
4)
Family Issues???
5)
Membership paperwork hadn’t been
processed yet
6)
Membership paperwork hadn’t been processed
yet
The unit was responsible for the last 2, and
shouldn’t have asked for 6 flights if they only had 4 members available. The 35 minute late cadet should be prohibited
from flying for at least a year. The sick
cadet should’ve called the night before, as should have the one with family
issues.
So my beautiful day with a perfect airplane and
money to spend went by while I slept. My
rest was disrupted by getting up, getting a weather briefing, driving to the
meeting point, talking with one cadet for 15 minutes and driving home to return
to sleep. (It’s recommended we don’t fly with just one cadet for legal
reasons.) Meanwhile I lost out of a day
for servicing clients, made no money and logged no flight time. Phooey on these irresponsible cadets. If this were still 1993 (when I joined) they’d
be doing pushups for the 3 hour duration of the next squadron meeting!
"...most people join CAP to fly..." Hum, makes me wonder why I joined ;) Don't particularly like flying unless, my seat is reclined with a drink in my hand, and I don't have an over inflated... Oh wait, I guess I do know why I joined :)
Posted by: Shane Ronan | August 14, 2008 at 12:33 AM