[Pilots] August CAP ops newsletter

[Greg Bestul]

Hello MN Wing Pilots,
Hard to believe that we will be into September already next week!
 We are finishing up another record year for flying in MN wing. As of today we have flown a total of 2971 hours this fiscal year, compared to 2941 last year and 2493 in 2023. We have also completed 463 cadet orientation flights, compared to 434 last year. I think we can reach the 500 O flight mark by the end of the fiscal year (the mission ends on Sept 26). Make every effort to get the cadets flying before school gets started and the days get short. We want to end the year strongly!!
The good news is that we have plenty of funding left to complete orientation flights, with NHQ offering to provide additional funds for orientation flights if we need it. The bad news is that most of the rest of our funded missions will be running out of funding shortly. We have enough funds to take care of most of the form 5/91 flights and there is still some funds left in the A5 unit based exercise mission, but the rest of the missions are down to only a couple of flights left before they run out of money. I will continue to request additional funding from NHQ, but at this point they do not have very much left over to give us.
Another item that comes with the fall is the time to wash all the planes before winter arrives. Please get a “plane wash” day set up in your squadron during September, and let me know when you have washed your plane so I can get it recorded. This is a CAP-USAF requirement that we wash each plane at least twice per year.
If you have signed into WMIRS recently, you have seen the read message about the engine inspection that will be required of all of our C172S planes (the G1000 C172’s) I have talked with maintenance about this and this inspection will be completed on our planes when they come in for their next oil change, and should not keep the planes grounded for any extended period of time.
On another financial note, the wing has a new bookkeeper and will be catching up on the billing for self-funded flights. So if you were wondering about why you hadn’t received a bill for your B or C flights for the last couple of months, rest assured they should be arriving soon. Also, I have been informed that with the new fiscal year starting and due to additional funding from the state, our rate for self-funded flights should be coming down. I will make an announcement and update the wing website with the new rate when the finance committee has final numbers.
Our brand new C182 should be arriving in MN this Tuesday (8/26) and be getting an acceptance inspection then be ready to go out into the field.
Remember to continue to make sure that all the “paperwork” is completed for all your sorties also take care of our airplanes and your crews to make sure we are the safest operation possible.
Respectfully,
Capt. Greg Bestul, CAP
Director of Operation, MN Wing
612.251.4786
gbestul at gmail.com<mailto:gbestul at gmail.com>
U.S. Air Force Auxiliary
GoCivilAirPatrol.com<http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/>
[cid:f58e268e-c708-4864-b542-d83d6121e62e]


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