[Pilots] April CAP ops newsletter

[Greg Bestul]

Hello MN Wing Pilots,

As we move into springtime, a few things to bring to your attention.
We started off the year with the government shutdown, so we got a slow start at our funded flying. We are doing well so far this year despite this hurdle and have flown 1214 hours compared to 1247 last year. Our orientation flights are also a little behind last year due to the late start, 124 completed this year vs 163 last year at this time. With a little good weather and the motivated orientation pilots we have I believe we can catch up to last years flights.
A couple of items to pass on to you with regards to our aircraft maintenance:

  *   Please DO NOT hang headsets on the aircraft yokes. We have had several instances where the headsets hung on the yokes have broken wires for push to talk switches.
  *   As we move into the busy summer flying season and are getting more flying in, please be vigilant when moving planes in and out of the hangar’s. We still see too many hangar rash damage incidents. We need to slow down and be careful when moving planes around on the ground. Also, a new item that we have been seeing more of – Fueling rash incidents: Damage to the leading edge of the wing or filler neck of the fuel tank due to careless use of fuel hoses/nozzles. Make sure to use extra care when moving fueling equipment around the planes to prevent damage.
  *   Flat spotted tires. Remember to be VERY careful when using the aircraft brakes, especially at high speeds. It doesn’t take much pressure to lock up the brakes and very little time for the tires to be burned down to the cords!

With the above items or other maintenance issues, good preflight and postflight inspections should find many of these items. When you find an issue make sure to contact our wing AMO LTC Tom Fitzhenry, or myself to report items that need to be repaired so that the plane can be scheduled into maintenance and be ready to fly again asap.
Since it is springtime, that means its aircraft washing time. We want all the planes washed by the end of May. (N5154D, N369CP, and N878CP will need to be washed by the end of April in preparation for the wing compliance inspection!) Let me know when you have washed your plane so I can record it in AMRAD. These washes are required by CAP-USAF to be done twice a year.
A reminder to make sure you are completing ALL of the briefing and debriefing sections of the form 104 for all of your sorties, especially for funded flights. For A12 proficiency flights uploading a completed profile syllabus from CAP standards 71-4 is encouraged to make sure all items have been completed.
A new item on the MN Wing website. On the Operations tab > Standardized training and procedures There is a new link in the guides section to “Guidelines for AF funded missions for FY26” This will outline all of the current funded flying missions we have. It includes a summary of the mission,  what qualifications are required and how much time is available.
Some good news, we again will be picking up a new airplane (C182 G1000) from the factory in Wichita KS at the end of June or beginning of July. We will need two pilots that are TMP qualified, instrument current and have completed the CAP maintenance pilot program to go on the trip. CAP will provide airfare to get to Wichita and hotel room for the night. If you are interested in being part of the crew, let me know and I will put you on a list and relay further information to you as I get it.
For check pilots and any others pilots that may be interested, the annual check pilot clinic will be on May 2 at Camp Craig in Hutchinson.
Take Care, Fly Safe,
 Capt. Greg Bestul
Minnesota Wing Director of Operations
Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Air Force Auxiliary
612-251-4786
GoCivilAirPatrol.com<https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/>
MNCAP.org<https://www.mncap.org/>
[cid:f25dd4bc-698b-45c2-81a7-82aec9de0c53]

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