Fall 2009 NEC Agenda posted

[JC004]

That was all they had to say for themselves?

[NCRblues]

I hate to admit this but, I almost feel asleep several times watching this discussion...sorry just wanted to know if i was the only one.

[BillB]

I wonder if the NEC considered several of the possible reasons only 13 glider sites did so many of the o-rides. For example, Florida has two gliders. Both are based in areas with strong SSA operations. Neither is near the major cadet population areas of the state. (a four hour drive from the most populated areas, meaning an expense for fuel)  Wing Commanders appear to put gliders in locations where it's politically expident.
CAP glider pilots can't maintain proficiency
Weather plays an important part. Winter in northern states cuts into flight operations for many months of the year.
Tow aircraft are not available, few CAP aircraft have tow capabilities.
Southern states have rain problems coming from the Gulf of Mexico.
Under the centralized maintenance program, gliders are not a priority item for the service locations. I've seen an annual take six weeks for a glider.

[NIN]

One of the reasons they're considering it is that they've got a bunch of old gilders that have a ton of hours on them.  Take them out of commission and move the good gliders to the spots where they are being used all the time makes sense to me. 

If 13 squadrons were doing 75% of the powered flying in CAP, don't you think it would make sense to look at whether we need planes all the over the place?

Its been my experience that the "glider takes the hindmost" when it comes to scheduling, funding, ops, etc.  Gliders that I've seen are not assigned to units like a powered plane, but rather they seem to be managed at the wing level.    Powered pilots don't always know what to make of a glider (ever see a Glider Pilot as a Wing DO?) so it doesn't always get based, used, scheduled, etc, in a way that makes effective use of that particular asset.   Don't get me going about the @#$% arguments I had to listen to at wing meetings about equipping planes with tow hooks.  You'd have thought we were suggesting carrier landings...

It would seem to me that 13 places in the country have figured out the paradigm.    Perhaps they need to be held up as examples.

As Jimmydeano pointed out, its a hoof to get to our glider.  It used to be at another airport, but rumor had it we wore out our welcome (the house of one of the Strum Ruger big wigs was supposedly just off the end of the runway at that airport and  the family didn't like all the increased traffic). So then it we partnered with the next state over (which did not have a glider) to base the glider at an airport on the state line.  That idea had some merit, because the airport was where a CAP squadron met, they had a physical building (that I believe was decked out to sleep in), and it just seemed a little more suited.

Unfortunately, by moving the glider, some units in my state have to drive, as Jimmydeano said, about 3 hrs to get to it.  That actually *reduces* the ability of people to access the asset.  If we consolidated on, say, 20 sites around the country, tell me how far most of our CAP population would have to drive to get to that?

Probably a lot further than 3 hrs.

[RiverAux]

Probably so, but the reality is that even with the current number and distribution of gliders most cadets do not have easy access to them.  So, the question becomes how do we get the most cadets we can into the usable gliders that we have?