Fema heard of CAP ??

[Eclipse]

Over time, for several reasons (you pick..), CAP has lost the focus of being THE operational volunteer aviation force. That giant sucking sound is a vacuum, and nature abhors a vacuum. So, the void becomes filled by Airbridge, by Young Eagles, by Aviation Explorers, by Angel Flight, etc, etc.

Face it, the serious minded people and corporations of today that are interested in making available their aircraft and crews, and the agencies that would call upon them, are NOT impressed with a marginal organization that appears inwardly self-obsessed with uniforms, logos, politics and purges, and all the rest.

Those fine organizations are not filing any "void left by CAP", they have different missions, and for the most part are outside the mandates of CAP's mission, which many people, usually those misinformed, seem to feel should be anything with the word "plane" or "air" in it.   

Newsflash, it's not.

We are not in the patient transport business.  Period.  So comparisons to Angel Flight are so off-based as to be kinda funny.

The "Aviation Explorers" no longer exists. 
It is now a niche of the BSA's Learning for Life, and while again, worthwhile for what it does, so small as to be a non-factor nearly anywhere except for the areas where local pilots have decided to give it life.  Hardly "filling a vacuum".

The Young Eagles exist for one reason - to expose young people to aviation and usually their first flight(s).  Noteworthy, but hardly
a "program" in the way that CAP is, and further, I doubt too many here would argue about the fact that Young Eagles is as much about marketing local flight schools as it is a "youth program".  Nothing wrong with that, but let's be realistic.

As noted, AOPA is a friend of CAP, both overtly and in the background, but it is interesting to note how many people love to
espouse the demise of CAP, and in those paragraphs cite unstructured "let's just fly" organizations as somehow filling the need.
The don't, by a long shot.  Not in commitment, not in requirements, and not in the results they produce.  It might make people feel better at night to think "i'm here to help", but in the long term, people who just "show up" are usually sent home (with sour grapes),
and aren't much use in structured disaster relief and similar situations.

What I have found is that pilots who understand CAP are generally benevolent or agnostic, but rarely belligerent.  The belligerence
generally comes from people who have not the slightest clue, or who have bad feelings because of some personal situation, and
those are usually because they came into a unit thinking they have poop with a special fragrance, bumped heads, and left. In many cases, but not all, the level of belligerence towards CAP is somehow magically similar to how much belligerence these people have for the local FBO's, TSA, FAA, flight schools, and even their own club.

[Mustang]

AERObridge will be a full participant in FEMA's National Level Exercise 2011 that is scheduled for May 2011.   The purpose of the exercise is to prepare and coordinate a multiple-jurisdictional integrated response to a national catastrophic   event.

How sad is it that I'm learning of this exercise just now from some random website on the interwebs, rather than from CAP?  I guess we weren't invited to play.

[nesagsar]

AERObridge will be a full participant in FEMA's National Level Exercise 2011 that is scheduled for May 2011.   The purpose of the exercise is to prepare and coordinate a multiple-jurisdictional integrated response to a national catastrophic   event.

How sad is it that I'm learning of this exercise just now from some random website on the interwebs, rather than from CAP?  I guess we weren't invited to play.

Yay for big earthquakes. Seriously, the NLE is going to be crazy.

[Spaceman3750]

AERObridge will be a full participant in FEMA's National Level Exercise 2011 that is scheduled for May 2011.   The purpose of the exercise is to prepare and coordinate a multiple-jurisdictional integrated response to a national catastrophic   event.

How sad is it that I'm learning of this exercise just now from some random website on the interwebs, rather than from CAP?  I guess we weren't invited to play.

Several wings in the New Madrid Seismic Zone are participating. Those who aren't in the NMSZ aren't.

[Eclipse]

Several wings in the New Madrid Seismic Zone are participating. Those who aren't in the NMSZ aren't.

Our wing's involvement has been dialed back to Wing-HQ only activities because of other, real-world stuff going on.  This was apparently
a decision made outside CAP.

[nesagsar]

Several wings in the New Madrid Seismic Zone are participating. Those who aren't in the NMSZ aren't.

Our wing's involvement has been dialed back to Wing-HQ only activities because of other, real-world stuff going on.  This was apparently
a decision made outside CAP.

Most states in FEMA Region IV have opted out of the exercise because of real-world incident response and the entire exercise is no longer 24 hours.

[JeffDG]

Several wings in the New Madrid Seismic Zone are participating. Those who aren't in the NMSZ aren't.

Our wing's involvement has been dialed back to Wing-HQ only activities because of other, real-world stuff going on.  This was apparently
a decision made outside CAP.

Most states in FEMA Region IV have opted out of the exercise because of real-world incident response and the entire exercise is no longer 24 hours.

I know we're going forward, and it was never a 24 hour thing for us...we're scaling for 4 days worth of ops.

[Spaceman3750]

Several wings in the New Madrid Seismic Zone are participating. Those who aren't in the NMSZ aren't.

Our wing's involvement has been dialed back to Wing-HQ only activities because of other, real-world stuff going on.  This was apparently
a decision made outside CAP.

Yeah, the state pulled out. I'm not clear on who we're working with now. I'm a bit uneasy because I am approved for a day off of work to participate in the exercise but since we've scaled back I'm afraid that's about to be wasted.

[Eclipse]

I don't think we're working we anyone, and I believe the total ops will be at Wing HQ.

[PWK-GT]

I don't think we're working we anyone, and I believe the total ops will be at Wing HQ.

Such was confirmed by the ILWG CC to me last night as he visited my unit.

[RiverAux]

hmm, here is an article about AOPA sending requests to help from GA pilots to this Aerobridge organization to coordinate:  http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/articles/2011/110511disaster_sim_to_include_ga_response.html?WT.mc_id=ebrief