Cadets and Orientation Flights...Grrrrr...

[Major Carrales]

Boy, I must have a unique problem...kids that want to fly but the nearest O-pilots was 200 miles away.  Cancelled out three times on us due ot weather and other factors.

One of our goals for this year was to have an O-PILOT in house, we will have two at teh end of the month...now, to beg for an aircraft.

[CASH172]

CASH172 the answer to your question is.  "A PILOT".  I have known few pilots that would turn down an opportunity to fly for free.  You may have solo'd, but you still have a lot to learn and a good pilot can always teach you something.
There is much more to flying than landing and taking off.  For instance, do you know how to operate the gps, or the df unit.  How are you on the radios.  These are things you can do from the right seat.  Take advantage of every opportunity if your really serious about becoming a pilot.

I've been a pilot for many years, but I still like to go along for the ride, even if I have to sit in the back seat.    Nuff said.

I am pretty proficient in the Apollo GPSs we use.  I have used the DFer in a many at some times, know the basics, just some of the advanced procedures are something I could learn if I go for my observer rating when I reach 18.  My radio work is amazing.  With the amount of flight time I have gotten from CAP and the good chance that I'm not gonna leave CAP suddenly, I'd rather give any O-flight slots to some other cadet.  

Only problem is when cadets don't wanna fly, then I'll consider flying to give me some fun.  

[airdad]

Just my $.02.  I wear many hats-group deputy cc, ops officer AND o pilot.
Every month at commanders call, I tell the commanders that I can arrange o flights with minimum notice-give me a date and the number of cadets and I guarantee them a pilot (I am lucky enough to have o pilots that are free weekdays as well as weekends).  Our problem is getting cadets to the airports nearest our group.  Bottom line is that we've only flown about 20% of our cadets this past year, and I consider that shameful.
As far as making o flights mandatory for promotion, my wife, a wise squadron commander reminded me that cadets take an oath to participate in unit activities, and participation in unit activities IS a requirement for promotion.  Even if a cadet is afraid to fly, he or she can still come to the airport and participate; perhaps the proximity to the airplane will help him/her to overcome their fear. 
Let's keep 'em flying

[RiverAux]

Haven't heard there is a problem getting cadets to fly.  The issues I've seen is that its just a pain to organize them.  Unless you're only going to fly 1 sortie and only have to arrange to have those cadets meet the pilot at the right time, you get into a situation where you have to have another senior sit around and supervise the waiting cadets while the others are flying.

I know our wing used up all our funds, but I think that is probably because some units were doing a lot of flying while others weren't doing much at all. Not sure why the ones that weren't flying weren't doing it. 

[Eclipse]

CASH172 the answer to your question is.  "A PILOT".  I have known few pilots that would turn down an opportunity to fly for free.  You may have solo'd, but you still have a lot to learn and a good pilot can always teach you something.
There is much more to flying than landing and taking off.  For instance, do you know how to operate the gps, or the df unit.  How are you on the radios.  These are things you can do from the right seat.  Take advantage of every opportunity if your really serious about becoming a pilot.

I've been a pilot for many years, but I still like to go along for the ride, even if I have to sit in the back seat.    Nuff said.

I am pretty proficient in the Apollo GPSs we use.  I have used the DFer in a many at some times, know the basics, just some of the advanced procedures are something I could learn if I go for my observer rating when I reach 18.  My radio work is amazing.  With the amount of flight time I have gotten from CAP and the good chance that I'm not gonna leave CAP suddenly, I'd rather give any O-flight slots to some other cadet. 

Only problem is when cadets don't wanna fly, then I'll consider flying to give me some fun. 

Remember Wings are also judged based on the 99 rides they do as well.  If yo have the chance, take the ride.

[SJFedor]

We found ways, too.

We brought in just about every plane in the Wing during the Summer encampment, and ran o-flights every moment that the encampment staff would let us have cadets. I believe we ended up doing ~130 o-flights that week.

I could understand tying o-flights to promotions, but if you require them, is it fair to hold the cadet back that's at the unit that doesn't see an airplane much, and no one is proactive in promoting flying?

Our group has an o-flight project officer who arranges the o-flights with the different units. Each unit has a weekend on a rotating schedule. If they choose not to use it, we go to the next unit that wants to fly. Some units fly a lot, others, not so much. 

I am pretty proficient in the Apollo GPSs we use.  I have used the DFer in a many at some times, know the basics, just some of the advanced procedures are something I could learn if I go for my observer rating when I reach 18.  My radio work is amazing.  With the amount of flight time I have gotten from CAP and the good chance that I'm not gonna leave CAP suddenly, I'd rather give any O-flight slots to some other cadet.  

Only problem is when cadets don't wanna fly, then I'll consider flying to give me some fun.  

Proficiency in the Apollo GPS is more then using the direct to button, that's something I've found that many pilots in CAP don't understand. Can you bring up the SAR map? Do you know how to build a flight plan? Activate approaches in the GX50 and 60 model? Change the sectional in use for gridding the SAR map?

Find something to do. I've got one cadet in my unit who got his ticket on his 17th birthday and still had 4 o-flights left. I took him up, and we kinda tracked along the syllabus, except that, instead of normal flight maneuvers, I put him under the hood and did some normal instrument flight maneuvers. There's no FAR that says you need to be in the left seat to log the time, only the sole manipulator of the controls. That means I can't log the time when he's manipulating the controls, UNLESS i'm serving as a safety pilot. So he got some into to instruments, I introduced him to approaches and whatnot, how to read the approach plates, etc. Of course, yes, I had to fly the plane during critical phases of flight, but there's still a lot that can be learned.

Heck, if you're into the SAR thing and want to be an MO or MP later in life, have the instructor put out a practice beacon. Practice wing nulls, find the beacon without the DF, learn how to set up the GPS to fly a creeping line search.

Unless you're an ATP with thousands of hours, which you don't sound like you are, you can learn something from being in that cockpit. All you need to do is communicate with the pilot in advance and say "Hey, I have some experience, I know this, can we do something advanced?" 99% of O-pilots I know would be thrilled to do something besides explaining the very basics, as we do with every cadet that gets in the plane. Honestly, it's very disheartening to hear the attitude you have that you know the basics, so why should I bother? Because every moment you spend in an aircraft, you can learn something if you choose to use it constructively. And THAT is what makes better pilots, the willingness to learn instead of being complacent in where you are and what you know.

[CASH172]

There's no FAR that says you need to be in the left seat to log the time, only the sole manipulator of the controls. That means I can't log the time when he's manipulating the controls, UNLESS i'm serving as a safety pilot. So he got some into to instruments, I introduced him to approaches and whatnot, how to read the approach plates, etc.

It was to my understanding that cadets couldn't log the time on their O-flights. 

[SJFedor]

Per regulation:

The pilot of powered aircraft will occupy the left front seat. The pilot of
glider aircraft will occupy the rear seat, proficiency permitting (or the left
seat of gliders that have side-by-side seating).
Pilots will not perform extreme maneuvers, aerobatic maneuvers, spins or
emergency procedures (unless, of course, there's an emergency).
Cadets are encouraged to handle the flight controls except during the
critical phases of the flight (like take-off and landing or in an emergency).

Nothing anywhere says that you can't log the time you're at the controls, however, you need a certificate that allows you to log pilot in command time. Private or better. If you just have a current student certificate with solo, too bad, cuz, you're not soloing. But as the sole manipulator of the controls, when you have a pilots license, current medical, and are current, you may log the time. Since it prohibits you flying during critical phases of flight, you don't get to do, and log, landings, but oh well, time is time.

[flyguy06]

I think it stems from the type of person we are recruting as a cadet. Most cadets in my wing and from reading this board and others are more intereste din going to the woods, doing serach and rescue or EMT type of things. Because they have those interests, they usually arent interested in flying. Its just the opposite. People that are interested in flying and aviation arent interested in going to the woods. So i would assume its vice versa.

When I recruit cadets, I recruit youths that have a strong interest in science, aerospace or aviation or engineering. So I know they will be into flying from the get go.

[SJFedor]

When I do manage to get those "ES" cadets into the air for an o-flight, I always try to add a little bit of Air SAR methodology to the syllabus. Sometimes I'll throw a practice beacon out, and while demonstrating different load factors on the aircraft at different angles of turn (syllabus 7), I'll show them how we can find an ELT just by using a map and wing nulls. Or, I have them give me the lat/long of their school or a building they know, and show them how we can plug it into the GPS and be on station rather quickly. Sometimes I'll hide a target in an area we'll be flying, and just have them casually keep their eyes open to see if they can find it. Just to show that it's not all cake and cookies doing the work in the air, either. Usually, once I tie in a little ES, those cadets will take enough of an interest to get up and fly again.