CAP fees

[aviator_josh]

In doing my research about joining the Civil Air Patrol, I'm hearing lots of folks refer to it as "Come and Pay". People say how they nickel and dime you to death. What are the fees to join and what other fees will I be out of?  Do you pay a yearly fee?  If I fly as a pilot, and want to do training, do I cover those costs? 

[Luis R. Ramos]

You join, there is a fee for National, it changes by state to state. There may be a fee to pay to the Group if your state has Groups. No fee for the Wing, this is taken from the fees you pay National. There may be a fee for your squadron. When you take a class, you are charged a fee. After all, there are materials to copy, building that may need to be rented, food to buy. Encampment? A fee. To pay for food, rent, etc. You participate in a bivouac? More fees. Again, held at a state park which simnetimes charges user fees. And food. Which is not free.

And for every activity, there are miriads other fees.

Which generated the following:

CAP, Come and Pay; CAP, Cadets always Pay; CAP, Commanders always Pay...

Flyer

[Rick-DEL]

There is an annual dues for members ($ ranges from state to state), seniors purchase uniforms. This depends on what you want to wear. If you are in the H/W standards to wear the USAF style blues and chose to do so - their are costs to acquire the uniform and accessories. If you are prior USAF, like many of us are, you can save a lot by re-using components from your USAF uniform. Again, if you want to wear the BDU's, you'll need to acquire those. None of these are mandatory, as you can chose to wear the Grey/Whites or the polo shirt. A lot of the costs depends on how engaged you want to be in the program.

[RiverAux]

When you take a class, you are charged a fee.

I don't ever recall having to pay a fee for a CAP class.  The closest was an out-of-state training class that was non-mandatory but I wanted to take so had to pay for travel costs to go there.  Most CAP classes are given locally at no charge. 

Now, in some places there could be minor fees associated with some of the classes needed to meet  promotion requirements, but you are under no obligation to take them. 

[EMT-83]

Paying a nominal fee for a CAP class is not unusual, to cover the cost of refreshments and printed material. We're not talking about a lot of money.

[Bayareaflyer 44]

If I fly as a pilot, and want to do training, do I cover those costs? 

To fly as a pilot in CAP (and more appropriately, becoming a CAP pilot), in terms of fees, is somewhat dependent upon a couple of factors:
-   What is your skill level prior to taking your CAP checkride (form 5), and will you need to fly with a CAP instructor pilot prior to hone your skills?  All costs (aircraft and gas) will be assumed by you as the member.
-   Do you need to get a high-performance checkout if the only aircraft available to you is a CAP 182?  Again, training costs are assumed by the member.

All proficiency flying is member paid after you get your form 5 (incidentally, the form 5 checkride is usually member paid).

Why go through all of that?  Well, if you become an orientation pilot, costs are covered for that.  After you get your mission pilot, Air Force assigned missions are covered.  Some Wings have schools that will create missions pilots, and sometimes those costs are covered.  You will need to ask around your unit/Group to see if your Wing does something like that.

Is it worth it?  Absolutely.  I feel a great sense of satisfaction bringing my skills as a pilot to be of assistance in my community.

[FW]

Yearly dues for senior members range from $45 to about $80 per year, depending on which wing you reside in (wing dues vary from state to state, and is determined by the wing with Command Council approval).  Your squadron may also require a monthly or yearly dues amount.

Flying for/with CAP is not free, however when qualified, CAP pays the bill during AFAM missions. 
CAP flying rates/hour are lower than average.  Qualifying to fly a CAP aircraft depends on your proficency and experience.  Once you get used to the process, it works out to be a pretty good deal.  If you take currency seriously, it is the best way to keep your skills sharp. CAP instructor pilots will help you with your training.  The instructors volunteer their time! This is an amazing show of support from our instructors.  We are very lucky to have such members.

Most schools charge a small fee to cover books, t shirts, and other incidentals.  You need to figure in costs of housing/food when going to weekend or longer courses.  There are also registration costs with conferences, however they are much lower than other organizations.

We joke about "Come And Pay", but it's all tax deductable, LOL!

[Panache]

So far, this year (and I mean my "CAP year", April to April) the only fees I've paid are the annual dues, NSCA tuition, personal travel costs to and from NSCA, a new suit of BBDUs, and whatever I've decided to pitch in to the Squadron coffee-and-donuts fund.  All being said and done, considering how much I do with the CAP, I've had far, far more expensive hobbies.

[Rick-DEL]

Costs are not too bad if you spread it out. I'm in, my wife is in, and my son is in. So, we just try to spread out whatever associated costs there are. The biggest costs are the Banquets/Conferences we attend, Encampments, etc. Uniform-wise, we tend to benefit from me being prior USAF, as I have a lot of the stuff leftover I can use. And being in a while ago, I was in during the OD/BDU phase, so I have some BDU's left that are in good shape. For my son, we just buy used ones at our local Army/Navy Surplus since he'll out grow them in a few months anyways.

[SunDog]

IRT flying; the aircraft are generally well maintained and well equipped - the C-172's are fairly homogenous. The C-182's are a potpourri of avionics configurations. Once you get qualified, there are funded missions that cost you nothing, as someone noted earlier. Great deal!. When paying for your own proficiency flying, CAP rates are usually (but not always)  cheaper than FBO, clubs, etc. Depends on what you are looking for. In my area, a club 172 works out cheaper per hour than a CAP 182. If I'm paying, I'll fly the club 172 to save a few bucks and the CAP hassle.  But CAP 172s are usually the cheapest rate you'll find in most areas. If your sqdn has a 172, you're probably golden!

And shop around, and be sure to have an alternative to CAP aircraft - you might be best served to think of CAP as adjunct flying, instead of your primary flying source. CAP aircraft are often moved, with little or no advanced warning. But it depends - on geography and the local Wing and group/sqdn.

You will probably have better aircraft access if the sqdn you join has an aircraft assigned, and probably be more likely to get a call for a mission. Again, not ALWAYS true, but frequently so. Ask the pilots in the sqdn you are considering when they were last time for a real mission. If it's been a few years, you might see if another sqdn is more "active" (as in politically connected).

Again, once you are a mission pilot, you should be able to get funded training fairly regularly (monthly?). Add in some cadet orientation rides, and you can get some significant monthly flying time. If you hit the jackpot, and end up in one of the wing's "active" sqdns, you'll fly plenty.

Bottom line:
1. Once you are an MP, you can get significant, CAP funded, annual flying time.
2. Be prepared - there is a LOT of bureaucratic overhead in CAP flying, so understand and accept there are plenty of hoops to jump through for each flight. 
3. Other costs - really not significant. You can get by with gray slacks and a CAP polo shirt as a uniform for quite a while.  Classes are usually free, or have a nominal cost.

[Huey Driver]

Also, note that many expenses on behalf of CAP can be tax-deductible - the link below gets to the specifics.

http://capnhq.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/73/~/tax-deductible-cap-related-expenses

[SarDragon]

CAP, Come and Pay; CAP, Cadets always Pay; CAP, Commanders always Pay...

Flyer

You forgot Cash And Plastic. 

With respect to tax deductions, yes, CAP expenses are deductible. Keep receipts for EVERYTHING. Then be prepared to do a Schedule A for your 1040. These are itemized deductions. Most folks who do not own a house do not qualify, so they end up with their Standard Deduction.

[aviator_josh]

Once qualified, how difficult is it to rent the plane?  Say 1-2 hours a month minimum?  Do you fly by yourself or do you get a crew together?

[vento]

Once qualified, how difficult is it to rent the plane?  Say 1-2 hours a month minimum?  Do you fly by yourself or do you get a crew together?

You would be paying the dry rate plus fuel. The process is quite simple. If you are fully qualified you can fly the airplane by yourself.
Just note that CAP is not a flying club, and you will not be able to take any passengers that are not CAP members. Depending on the Wing, some Wing may ask you to fly a certain proficiency profile (in other words, one can not use a CAP plane to go after 100 dollar burgers). There is a lot more paperwork (some online via WMIRS) to complete  before and after the flight when compared to a flying club or FBO.

[arajca]

Depending on your wing, you can get some funded flying every month, if you're willing to take a crew and fly a prescribed training sortie.

[a2capt]

Though you could fly a prescribed training sortie to a place with a greasy spoon if said sortie included a landing. But no, the process of signing out to rent a plane .. isn't the same at all here, and I do have to say, after being on the administrative end of a flying club for 10 years, the majority of renters would not be able to hack it.

They can't even get hobbs numbers on the ops log right, or fill those simple flying club things properly.

[SunDog]

Mostly the arcraft are easy to schedule, depending on your location and how many are near you. Some wings use aircraftclubs.com; others use something more user hostile, but still workable.

Figure two hours of emails, phone calls, web site mucking about, airplane paperwork, crew briefing, per hour of CAP flying. Not including aircraft pre-flight, weather, flight plan, or any local ATC dance.

It can also require less time, like for a local crash-and-dash session; but it can also be a LOT more; just be prepared for some less-than-well-thought-out procedures and goofy hoops. Some of the stuff you can do in advance, like the night before, so you can brain-dump the low/no value tasks in advance, and save your gray-matter cycles for the actual flying the day of.

Bureacracy aside, you'll likely fly a lot with other pilots, see some good stuff, see some stuff maybe not so good, and figure out what to take-away for your own use and growth. 

[aviator_josh]

Thank you everybody for the great info! I've got other questions, but I'll start other threads for those. For now though, you guys have been extremely helpful. I'm hoping I can hack the bureaucracy part of it. I'm all about efficiency, clean, simple, get the job done, and have fun. I'm going to give it a shot and just see how well organized the squadron is where I live (Little Rock, AR).

[rugger1869]

LRCS is a great squadron.