Is CAP the best resource for finding pot plantations?

[SJFedor]

Do we have enough flight Crews to do ES, O-Flights, yadda yadda, AND pot farm location? maybe the occasional "hey, we need more men" but not solely a CAP operation.

Anyway, dragging back to the original conversation, as a cadet you probably don't hear much about the CD program, even less if you're not with a squadron w/ an active air operations program, but in general, we do a lot of things that aren't always talked about openly. Heck, until I was an older cadet getting into air operations via me learning how to fly through CAP, I didn't think our aircraft did anything other that SAR, o-flights, and training.

Much to learn still, young grasshopper.

[Krapenhoeffer]

I completely forgot about the Zoom Bag! I only brought my BDUs with me to school last year. My zoom bag must still be up in my room! <Krapenhoeffer runs to his closet, laughing manically>

Yeah, has your plane ever been chased by F-16s? I know ours has, but I haven't. Because I'm not 21. So they wont let me.

[simon]

I enquired with a CAP pilot in my squadron is flying CD. The reply was: "Currently, CD missions (of all types) make up 40% of the hours flown by CAWG."

Interesting statistic, especially compared to SD WG, who, if tsrup is correct, is flying zero CD.

[simon]

Oh, and BTW, finally I have to ask.

What's with the squirrel???

[HGjunkie]

Oh, and BTW, finally I have to ask.

What's with the squirrel???

It's a secret.

[lordmonar]

I enquired with a CAP pilot in my squadron is flying CD. The reply was: "Currently, CD missions (of all types) make up 40% of the hours flown by CAWG."

Interesting statistic, especially compared to SD WG, who, if tsrup is correct, is flying zero CD.

Not really.  CD mission like many other mission have to do with what agency is asking for them.  Here in NVWG we did not fly CD missions for something like 2 years because the guy in charge of the land we were going to overfly did not know/like CAP.  He moved on and the new guy started ramping up CD missions.

This year the supported agencies wanted us to fly A LOT of mission 3-4 times the number of hours that the USAF/CAP had allocated funds for.

We had to go to the customer and scale back what he was asking for.

[bosshawk]

I believe that tsrup is correct, SD does not fly CD.  In fact, I seem to recall that a couple of years ago I was informed that several Mid-West states had notified National that they were not going to participate in the CD program.  Can't remember which ones, outside of SD.

CAWG regularly flies between 2,000 and 2500 hours of CD per year: that is about 35-40 percent of all hours flown in CA.  It certainly helps justify the 26 aircraft assigned to CAWG.

[Flying Pig]

I cant imagine why a wing would take themselves out of the game by telling NHQ that they were just not going to do it.  Lets see, a free opportunity to allow your crews to participate, on a daily basis sometimes, in real world operations?  Not to mention, CD can be a great way to recruit solid, experienced members.  Ummm, nah, not interested.

CAUTION Below conversation based on actual events.  Names and locations removed for OPSEC purposes.

Cop to Pilot "Man, this is awesome.  I've always loved flying."

Pilot to Cop  "You ever thought about joining CAP?"

Cop to Pilot "No, Im not a pilot but I've always loved flying."

Pilot to Cop "You don't have to be a pilot."

Cop to Pilot "Huh? I always thought you had to be a retired military pilot or something to be in CAP?"

Pilot to Cop "Since we are flying though a canyon at the moment, we'll talk after the flight.  By the way, do you have any kids?"

[Flying Pig]

As far as the best resource, CAWG CD serves some agencies as almost their full time air unit just about in certain times of the year.  Some of the ops we do here can involve 10+ CAP planes and crews all at once.  Other times, we slip in, do the mission and slip out like it never happened.  Yes, CA has a mission that isn't everywhere, but if you market it right, there isn't an agency around who couldn't use CAP.  You may run into some flak from volunteer Air Squadrons with some departments but again, not every department needs us. 
Sure, CAP isn't a resource that every department needs or uses but for those who do many of our pilots are on a first name basis with the cops who fly with them to the point of "or so I have heard" some agencies even request pilots by name.

[RiverAux]

I can certainly imagine CAP Wings saying that they didn't have the operational capability to support CD missions (though that would be pretty embarrassing) or CAP Wings saying that the local agencies weren't interested in using CAP for these missions.  But, I have a hard time believing any CAP Wing Commander would refuse to do CD missions based on some sort of personal opinion of their own.

Now, if this was back in the time before the NOC when the Wing Commanders had a lot more responsibility for taking a risk on approving "iffy" missions (in regards to posse commitatus), then I wouldn't be surprised if some Wing Commander declined to do CD missions just to make sure they didn't accidentally approve something that crossed the line.  But today all that responsibility (and any perceived legal risk) has been shifted to NOC. 

[tsrup]

I cant imagine why a wing would take themselves out of the game by telling NHQ that they were just not going to do it.  Lets see, a free opportunity to allow your crews to participate, on a daily basis sometimes, in real world operations?  Not to mention, CD can be a great way to recruit solid, experienced members.  Ummm, nah, not interested.

AFIK it was a simple ORM call.  Did the risk outweigh the benefit?  No.  Pot grown here in the state tends to be indoors, as we have seasons that are less than favorable to growing well, anything.  So the payoff of an arial search did not seem to outweigh the risk that we could impose on our members.  We are not a large wing, so it's pretty easy to tell which squadron is running the aircraft in your area. 
And if the reasons that were explained to me were true, that seems like an awfully large risk to assume for the off chance of recruiting.  There are many other avenues that that goal can be accomplished, simple education is one of them, that don't paint a target on your members backs.

No worries, we lend ourselves useful to our state in many ways, CD is just not one of them.

[simon]

Pilot to Cop "Since we are flying though a canyon at the moment, we'll talk after the flight.  By the way, do you have any kids?"

LMAO. I am visualizing it right now.