Another CAP Mention

[Robborsari]

Check the center panel of E-Services for details.   

[JoeTomasone]

"Civil Air Patrol's role in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response will reach another milestone tomorrow when it is featured on the CBS Evening News. The segment, which will air on July 28 at 5:30 p.m. Central, 6:30 p.m. Eastern, will result from a two-hour flight with a CAP aircrew that day, followed by interviews with the pilot and incident commander. Congratulations to all our members for their outstanding work on these missions, which have now gained much-deserved national recognition."

Gonna miss it. 

[Spaceman3750]

Out of morbid curiosity, why do the aircrew folks get all the screen-time? I guess it's because their job is cool and flashy, but it gives the impression that air is all we do when in fact there is a huge corps of dedicated volunteers that "pound ground" in all sorts of unholy conditions that an A/C would never launch in.

Would getting news stations on our local levels interested in what we do on the ground be that bad of an idea?

[CAP Marine]

I have yet to hear of any CAP ground team involvement during the Deepwater Horizon response. I think one can safely assume that is the chief reason behind the emphasis on air ops. As a fellow ground pounder, I can understand your sentiment, but I don't think any angst is warranted in this case. Would it be nice to get some coverage of our ground ops? Sure it would. It would also be nice to get more coverage for the cadet program, for aerospace education, DDR, etc.

The fact of the matter is that you do not get national news coverage without a "hook". In this circumstance, the hook is CAP response to a mission of national significance, and our ops just happen to be concentrated in the air. Let's just be happy that we are getting the coverage that so many of us on CT have yearned for in other posts. This is a good thing and something that should be celebrated, not scorned because the particular corner of the sandbox that we play in wasn't given the spotlight. It is a win for CAP as a whole. Kudos to whomever arranged for this story to be aired!  :clap:

With that said, I agree wholeheartedly that putting forth the effort locally to get coverage specific to ground ops would be a worthy undertaking. Remember, however, that there still needs to be a hook. A public interest piece on a ground team walking a search line during a SAREX will probably not gain much interest. A real mission searching for a missing child or piling up sandbags in a flood zone  might be able to gain somebody's attention. Choose your stories wisely and go forth and yell to every roof top about the work that our ground teams do.

[CAP Marine]

OK, so I just watched it. Perhaps not what anybody would consider "in depth" coverage of our efforts, but I guess honorable mention is worth something. At least they acknowledged we were in the game.

[Robborsari]

We were hoping for more.  Although with southern california on fire we are lucky that they got our whole name in.  We might have been cut down to "other volunteers"    At first they said it was going to be a live segment from in front of the plane but that changed.

[Capt Rivera]

Anyone find the video clip online yet?

[FlyTiger77]

Anyone find the video clip online yet?

http://www.cbs.com/cbs_evening_news/video/?pid=NAoTmCzUZm4zAKWc7nvxOZOqrEvW_lif&vs=homepage&play=true

[Capt_Redfox30]

This is the video clip, got in from my Wing PA Officer.  It didn't say much about the program the reporter mentioned he flew with them, interviewed the pilot for about 10 seconds with a couple Red/White/Blue planes in the background and that was about it.  This video wasn't a story about us, it was just the pilot bumming a ride with an aircrew. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6722637n&tag=related;photovideo

[Mustang]

Out of morbid curiosity, why do the aircrew folks get all the screen-time? I guess it's because their job is cool and flashy, but it gives the impression that air is all we do when in fact there is a huge corps of dedicated volunteers that "pound ground" in all sorts of unholy conditions that an A/C would never launch in.

Would getting news stations on our local levels interested in what we do on the ground be that bad of an idea?

Uh, because we're the Civil Air Patrol.  The "air" is what differentiates us from the countless volunteer LE and SAR teams out there.  Nobody else does what we do on the air side (tho the CG Aux tries). Anybody can get footage from the ground--and everybody has--but coverage from the air is a vantage point only the aviation community enjoys.

Of course getting good press for what our non-flyers do is great too, but we take what we can get.

[BillB]

What are ground crews doing on these missions? Unless they can walk on water, there is nothing to do other than possibly communications.

[Spaceman3750]

What are ground crews doing on these missions? Unless they can walk on water, there is nothing to do other than possibly communications.

My statement was intended to be pretty general, not focused specifically on this incident. Air is pretty much where it's at here, which is fine, but it simply reminded me of the issue.

[RADIOMAN015]

This is the video clip, got in from my Wing PA Officer.  It didn't say much about the program the reporter mentioned he flew with them, interviewed the pilot for about 10 seconds with a couple Red/White/Blue planes in the background and that was about it.  This video wasn't a story about us, it was just the pilot bumming a ride with an aircrew. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6722637n&tag=related;photovideo

Seem to me even National Headquarters expected more coverage of CAP, based upon all the announcement.  HOWEVER, in all fairness, we have no control what actual gets placed in a segment by any TV news organization.   Hey at least we did get some exposure.   
Also sometimes it is possible to have them write a larger story and include more of the segment video on their website that would highlight the organization.
RM

[RiverAux]

What are ground crews doing on these missions? Unless they can walk on water, there is nothing to do other than possibly communications.

My statement was intended to be pretty general, not focused specifically on this incident. Air is pretty much where it's at here, which is fine, but it simply reminded me of the issue.

When the ground teams do something extraordinary they usually get some coverage out of it, assuming CAP public affairs is on the ball.  Those guys are usually pretty good about trying to get coverage when warranted. 

[brickman]

A real mission searching for a missing child or piling up sandbags in a flood zone  might be able to gain somebody's attention. Choose your stories wisely and go forth and yell to every roof top about the work that our ground teams do.

Even piling sandbags doesn't get you any attention, although we could've done a better job of shouting from rooftops.