Civil Air Patrol: The Quiet Service

[JeffDG]

http://www2.tbo.com/news/opinion/2011/sep/12/meopino2-civil-air-patrol-the-quiet-service-ar-256752/

The 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks brings back many memories. I know I'll never forget what I was doing when I heard about it, where I was and who I was with.

I also remember the next few days, when news reports said military recruiters were inundated by phone calls, foot traffic and website activity. I was among those who wanted to enlist, but at 47, I was much too old.

So I did what I could and joined the Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary.

[Flying Pig]

The quiet service?  Hardly. 

CAP actually was not the only non-military aviation aircraft flying on Sept 12th.  Hearing that is getting a little old.  NYPD and PAPD air support was flying around the clock over ground zero taking photos and video. Its disrespectful to discount their mission in order to cast a light on CAP. Law Enforcement Aviation across the country, as well as many EMS operators were still in full swing performing their missions around the area and nationwide.
As far as the other stuff, such as the Predator mission.  They need to put a caveat in there that says only a very small minority of CAP members will ever get to participate.

"As they approached Manhattan, they were surprised to be challenged by a New York City Police Department helicopter, whose advance notice of the CAP mission had been stalled in the chaos. Ultimately, the challenge was handled by John F. Kennedy International Airport approach, which told the police CAP was not only authorized to be there but in fact had more authority than they did."  Anyone have a cite for this one??

[N Harmon]

"As they approached Manhattan, they were surprised to be challenged by a New York City Police Department helicopter, whose advance notice of the CAP mission had been stalled in the chaos. Ultimately, the challenge was handled by John F. Kennedy International Airport approach, which told the police CAP was not only authorized to be there but in fact had more authority than they did."  Anyone have a cite for this one??

It is from the July-Sept 2011 Volunteer magazine, page 3. "Precedence" would have been a better word to use than "authority", IMHO.

http://brown.imirus.com/Mpowered/imirus.jsp?volume=cap11&issue=3&page=4

"We are on a mission approved by the U.S. Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration, and we intend to complete it." 

[Flying Pig]

"We are on a mission approved by the U.S. Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration, and we intend to complete it." 

Slightly different than ATC telling NYPD that CAP had more authority.

[Eclipse]

Remember, this is the media, where the filter is always set to "sounds cooler" instead of using "high accuracy".