CAP and the 2012 Federal Budget

[Al Sayre]

In the context of "CAP's reletive worth"...you still have to figure in the basic fact that someone is going to have to do SAR.

If CAP were to close down today.....who is ready to take on the mission? 

I doubt there even is a mission for CAP at this point, in terms of ES.  In CAWG, we went from 400 missions a year to probably 20/year.  Plus our big CD activity disappeared.  In CA, the local county SAR teams do a great job, and their ground team members are capable of actually doing things like high angle rescues or providing medical care beyond what a Boy Scout is allowed to do.     

Some of this is the "market."  Fewer people are flying these days, so we've got fewer crashes to search for.  But not chasing ELTs is the big thing.  Our crews don't have any way to stay nearly as proficient and our airplanes are flying a lot less.  If this were a corporation, there would have been a big layoff corresponding to the loss of business.

But not all of it is due to external factors.  I see no signs that Wing or National is putting sufficient effort into attracting ops business.  Look at the minutes from National...they spend more time discussing uniforms and awards than they do about the ops side.  They're perfectly fine with a 3 bladed prop that chucked one of the blades.

After 20+ years in it (from MP to almost done IC-T), I really wish CAP were still relevant in ES or CD.  But it isn't, and it was an easy but sad decision to not renew this year to be able to devote my time to another organization that actually needs it.

I'm afraid you're only looking in your own back yard.  Yes there's been a decrease in ELT hunts, and a trend of decreasing SAR/DR missions in the more populous and urban states. This is an expected result of a state government with a larger tax base and higher demand for local services.  We see this in the proliferation of counties and cites with aviation assets.  However, in the less populous/more rural states we see state aviation fleets being cut and CAP being asked to pick up quite a bit of the slack.  Here in MS, we've been doing everything from counting sea-turtles and crab pots to filming tornado tracks and providing aerial photography for flooding damage assessment/hazard analysis.  In the west, CAP is supporting state agencies by doing aerial flood damage assessments/hazard analysis, locating stranded motorists and livestock, and other disaster recovery type missions.  Frankly it's a lot more cost effective for a State to call on CAP for 100 flight hrs a year when disasters hit than to maintain their own aviation fleet and associated equipment and personnel to man it.  While the missions may be changing, I don't see them going away anytime soon.  As States that are short on cash figure out that we can provide the services they need for a fraction of the cost of maintaining a full time aviation program, we are going to see an increasing trend of those type of missions.

[Walkman]

I'm afraid you're only looking in your own back yard.

I agree. This is from the MIWG official website:

Operations & Emergency Services
... In 2010, the Michigan Wing participated in 21 search-and-rescue missions and credited with saving one life. Wing volunteers juggled four distress finds on last Easter weekend alone.

Members are well-trained for missions; in 2010 the Michigan Wing conducted mission aircrew training that graduated eight new aircrew members. Meanwhile, the wing supported homeland security, counterdrug missions and disaster relief. Ranking eighth in its use of aircraft, the Michigan Wing flew its nine airplanes in support of numerous state and federal agenciesfor a total of:
Search & Rescue, Disaster Relief, Counter Drug & Homeland Security: 605
Training Missions, Aircrew Profficiency and Evaluation: 1,173
CAP, AFROTC, AFJROTC Flights: 402
Maintenance / Liaison Flights: 266
Total: 2,445

[RiverAux]

Assuming that those who think the apocalypse is coming are wrong and CAP survives, there is the possibility that this could help prod along the apparently defunct VSAF program aimed at getting CAP members to provide direct augmentation support to AF units.  With the AF cutting both civilian and airmen, this may open up some gaps that CAP volunteers could fill. 

I don't think this is terribly likely to happen, but as long as we are speculating, I'd like to throw in a positive speculation. 

[RADIOMAN015]

Well interesting our Wing Operations Officer just sent out an email stating tht Cadet Orientation Flights would be about 50% of the funding received last fiscal year    Is this money normally 'fenced' at the National level or is it just a lump sum of flying time that is sent to the regions to decide

RM     

[Eclipse]

It's January - wing budgets were submitted and approved 5-6 months ago.  I don't see why / how allocations would be cut that significantly
this far into the game.

[davidsinn]

Well interesting our Wing Operations Officer just sent out an email stating tht Cadet Orientation Flights would be about 50% of the funding received last fiscal year    Is this money normally 'fenced' at the National level or is it just a lump sum of flying time that is sent to the regions to decide

RM   

Sucks for you. Our oride budget has increased every year for the past three.

[jimmydeanno]

Well interesting our Wing Operations Officer just sent out an email stating tht Cadet Orientation Flights would be about 50% of the funding received last fiscal year    Is this money normally 'fenced' at the National level or is it just a lump sum of flying time that is sent to the regions to decide

RM   

It's up to the wing to decide how much of their ops budget they want to spend on oflights.  When times get tough, why let some snot nosed kid get in the way of your free flying?

[RiverAux]

UPDATE -- CAP gets full funding in budget: http://www.capvolunteernow.com/todays-features/?fiscal_2012_budget_fully_restored&show=news&newsID=12397