I shouldn't have to pay for a service to know when regulations change.

Holding Pattern · August 09, 2021, 05:28:15 PM

JohhnyD · August 09, 2021, 09:03:09 PM

A long time ago, in a far and distant land, my job as Cadet Admin Officer was to take the stack of changed regs and update the three-ring binders so that during the annual unit inspection, our regs would pass muster. It was a wonderful way to learn the regs, but otherwise a massive waste of time. About the only reg opened regularly was 39-1.

"plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose "

etodd · August 10, 2021, 12:15:33 AM

I just keep status quo until someone looks at me and says "we do it different now".

Jester · August 10, 2021, 05:24:11 PM

You're right, it's pretty ridiculous. I thought the same thing when I saw the 39-1 ICL posted on Facebook yesterday.

Why are they just relying on the membership to figure out a new thing has been published to distribute it?

You would think CAP would have gotten better at digitally-based communication over the last year but we're constantly seeing things announced through word of mouth on social media (NCSA cancellation, ICLs, etc) or burying things in Props.

Eclipse · August 10, 2021, 06:27:04 PM

Honestly, it seems that there is no one at NHQ who understands what "corporate communications"
are, and certainly no one below NHQ.

The reality is, the majority of this kind of stuff is objectively unimportant from
an organizational perspective.

Uniform stuff? It'll get down to you eventually, unless it doesn't, and you're held out looking
foolish, but then, what difference does that make? Besides, there are literally no
ramifications for non-compliance, and people do what they want, regardless.

Activities cancelled? That works itself out organically by the date of the activity,
(I don't know that the NCSA or encampment page has ever been 100% current at any given time,
it seems to be caught-up in bursts as someone remembers or "has the time".)

To be fair, there is probably no one who has this role explicitly defined, who also doesn't
have eight other CAP jobs, which is the root of almost anything broken in CAP.

But money and operational liability, the things that actually matter? You'll get that from three
vectors with follow-ups, because the people minding that store know there are actual ramifications
to non-compliance, missed deadlines, or both.

If it's not important enough to insure the rank and file is aware, it's not important enough
for them to bother to know or comply.

Like so many other areas where CAP struggles, the mandates are in place, often bound by regulation,
and those mandates are just ignored for expediency.

The ICL in this thread, along with just about every other one I've ever seen, explicitly
violates CAPR 1-2:

"8.2. Interim Change Letters (ICL). Situations requiring immediate action due to a state of emergency
or an unforeseen circumstance involving the preservation of life or property may result in an interim
change letter being issued outlining necessary actions. The National Commander is the only commander
authorized to issue ICLs or emergency regulations.

Smart people may differ, but few would characterize beard waivers and mask colors as an "emergency".

For those scoring at home, there are currently at least 25 active ICLs, dating as far back as 2015,
and there is no allowance for "tack it on the front of the reg and you're good", which is probably
someone's idea that they are covered.

In case you'd like to write one of your own, here's a handy template that is inexplicably posted publicly
for all the Googles to find: https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/media/cms/Regulation__Interim_Change_Letter_970CCA116D013.docx

Holding Pattern · August 10, 2021, 06:33:49 PM

Quote from: Eclipse on August 10, 2021, 06:27:04 PMThe ICL in this thread, along with just about every other one I've ever seen, explicitly
violates CAPR 1-2:

"8.2. Interim Change Letters (ICL). Situations requiring immediate action due to a state of emergency
or an unforeseen circumstance involving the preservation of life or property may result in an interim
change letter being issued outlining necessary actions. The National Commander is the only commander
authorized to issue ICLs or emergency regulations.

Smart people may differ, but few would characterize beard waivers and mask colors as an "emergency".

For those scoring at home, there are currently at least 25 active ICLs, dating as far back as 2015,
and there is no allowance for "tack it on the front of the reg and you're good", which is probably
someone's idea that they are covered.

In case you'd like to write one of your own, here's a handy template that is inexplicably posted publicly
for all the Googles to find: https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/media/cms/Regulation__Interim_Change_Letter_970CCA116D013.docx

At a guess, Article XX, Para 3 of the CAP Constitution and Bylaws states:

Quote3. The Board of Governors may direct the National Commander to issue, modify or rescind interim
change letters, regulations or portions of regulations.

That overrides the regulatory requirement, but you are correct that it is silly that this isn't properly codified in regulation nor are the ICLs incorporated in a timely manner.

Holding Pattern · August 10, 2021, 06:36:38 PM

Although my favorite bit of silliness is this CAPR getting rescinded the way it was:

https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/media/cms/CAPR_761_Memo_1EE22F1977B05.pdf

Jester · August 10, 2021, 06:53:50 PM

Quote from: Holding Pattern on August 10, 2021, 06:36:38 PMAlthough my favorite bit of silliness is this CAPR getting rescinded the way it was:

https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/media/cms/CAPR_761_Memo_1EE22F1977B05.pdf

That's the first I've heard about that too. Hooray.

N6RVT · August 11, 2021, 04:19:19 AM

Quote from: Holding Pattern on August 10, 2021, 06:36:38 PMAlthough my favorite bit of silliness is this CAPR getting rescinded the way it was:Https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/media/cms/CAPR_761_Memo_1EE22F1977B05.pdf

And if you go to that PDF, the title of the page you find is 'August 30, 2005"

RiverAux · August 11, 2021, 11:30:28 AM

Quote from: Holding Pattern on August 10, 2021, 06:36:38 PMAlthough my favorite bit of silliness is this CAPR getting rescinded the way it was:

https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/media/cms/CAPR_761_Memo_1EE22F1977B05.pdf

So, it appears that CAP-USAF rescinded a CAP reg. Obviously not the case, but you would think that they would at least take the time to issue an ICL based on the memo rather than taking this extremely lazy (and inappropriate) way out.

N6RVT · August 11, 2021, 02:42:18 PM

Quote from: Eclipse on August 10, 2021, 06:27:04 PMThere are literally no ramifications for non-compliance, and people do what they want, regardless.

To be fair, there is probably no one who has this role explicitly defined, who also doesn't have eight other CAP jobs, which is the root of almost anything broken in CAP.

But money and operational liability, the things that actually matter? You'll get that from three
vectors with follow-ups, because the people minding that store know there are actual ramifications
to non-compliance, missed deadlines, or both.

1. We comply with FAA regulations. As far as CAP regulations go, People figure out what regulations to not even bother reading. Its most of them.

2. I have seen members who take on as many as 11 staff jobs and spend very little time doing any of them. Not for a lack of knowledge or ability, or motivation, or caring. But if you are a full time student, run your own business, and have staff functions in another volunteer activity besides this one, it isn't possible to accomplish.

I think the concept here was not to leave unpopular vital staff positions vacant, but this isn't much different.

3. So it effectively works like Triage at a hospital. Too few people, too little time, so they focus on what Keeps the organization going. I think the higher levels are aware of what is not getting adequate attention, they just do not have the resources to deal with it.

.............But getting back to the original topic, email is FREE, and a mailing list you can either subscribe or opt out of that announces regulation & policy changes seems like something not too difficult to implement, and once implemented, automated, so no further effort would be needed.

Shuman 14 · August 11, 2021, 08:09:21 PM

Quote from: Dwight Dutton on August 11, 2021, 02:42:18 PM3. So it effectively works like Triage at a hospital. Too few people, too little time, so they focus on what Keeps the organization going. I think the higher levels are aware of what is not getting adequate attention, they just do not have the resources to deal with it.

Triage? Interesting analogy. Doctor, do you think the patient will survive?

N6RVT · August 11, 2021, 08:56:54 PM

Quote from: shuman14 on August 11, 2021, 08:09:21 PMTriage? Interesting analogy. Doctor, do you think the patient will survive?

Honestly......no. We are kind of in a Hospice mode here.

One of the big tasks in the Tech level of the Operations track is to "Perform a check ride trend analysis and make the pilots, operations staff and command staff aware of important trends"

Average age of pilots is going up. Numbers of pilots are going down.
Average age of aircraft is not only going up, its typically more than the pilots flying them.
New airports are not being built. I have seen two local ones close, SMO is scheduled to close and out own WHP was just transferred from LAWA to County control, so no cause for optimism.

According to Plane & Pilot magazine, the price of a new Cessna 172 was $12,500 in 1970 and the average salary in the United States was $6,186. In 2021 dollars the 1970 sticker would equate to about $85,000. The current ask for a new 172 is $432,000 minimum. Chinese-owned Cirrus Aircraft has only been making production piston-singles since 1995 but the list price for its parachute-equipped, fixed-gear SR-22 was $755,000 in 2020.

Sorry, but thats what I see. The Emperor is not wearing new clothes.

The USCGAUX is in worse shape.

RiverAux · August 12, 2021, 01:42:28 PM

Quote from: Dwight Dutton on August 11, 2021, 08:56:54 PMThe USCGAUX is in worse shape.

Not if you're basing it on the same metrics as aircraft costs and sales and CAP. Record boat sales last year. The place where I store my boat trailer had to close down one of their outlets cause they couldn't keep enough boats in stock to justify keeping it open. Now, there isn't any direct correlation between boat ownership and Aux membership that I'm aware of, and of course, the CG Aux does a lot more besides run boats, but it is a key mission and potential available membership from boat owners is quite high.

All that being said, COVID is a major continuing blow to the organization and I am a little fearful we may not be able to recover. Our flotilla is having trouble making quorum at our zoom meetings and our one in-person meeting before they got scaled back again wasn't nearly as well attended as previously.

But, back to topic... most CAP regulations have no direct impact on the majority of members, but are modestly important to the small number that have an interest in any particular one. I had thought that at one time there was a system to get notified of new regs, but either I'm wrong about that or it was discontinued at some point. It does seem like a relatively easy fix to notify the members. I suspect that if it was something someone had to sign up for that only a tiny percentage of members would.

PHall · August 12, 2021, 05:51:39 PM

Quote from: Holding Pattern on August 09, 2021, 05:28:15 PMI've set up an account on a site called visualping.io. It scans webpages for changes on a daily basis and reports to me when there are changes. I've set this up on the following CAP websites because it is the only way to know when there are changes:

https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/indexes-regulations-and-manuals-1700
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/pamphlets-1702
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/standards
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/forms
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/interim-change-letters-1708
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/other-publications-1709
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/approved-supplements-and-ois-by-region/pacific-regions-supplements-and-ois
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/approved-supplements-and-ois-by-region/rocky-mountain-region-supplements-and-ois
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/approved-supplements-and-ois-by-region/southwest-region-supplements-and-ois
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/approved-supplements-and-ois-by-region/north-central-region-supplements-and-ois
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/approved-supplements-and-ois-by-region/southeast-region-supplements-and-ois
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/approved-supplements-and-ois-by-region/great-lakes-region-supplements-and-ois
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/approved-supplements-and-ois-by-region/mid-atlantic-region-supplements-and-ois
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/approved-supplements-and-ois-by-region/northeast-region-supplments-and-ois
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/publications/regulations-for-preview
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/cap-national-hq/inspector-general/sui
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/cap-national-hq/inspector-general/inspection-checklist
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/members/cap-national-hq/national-command-briefing

Is it REALLY that hard to have someone at CAPNHQ send out an email? Or update the e-Services RSS feed? Or set up a non-e-Services RSS feed for these changes?

Why do we make it so hard to keep our paying membership in the loop?

Why do you feel the need to do this?

Holding Pattern · August 12, 2021, 06:00:05 PM

Quote from: PHall on August 12, 2021, 05:51:39 PMWhy do you feel the need to do this?

Because I feel like the regulations matter. Probably because that absurdly long Oath of Membership I took includes a line about agreeing to be guided by said regulations.

catrulz · August 13, 2021, 01:11:12 PM

Anyone remember, when the CAP Bookstore sold subscriptions to the regulations? Although, they were mailing you hard copy!