[Pilots] CAP Operations new years update

[Greg Bestul]

Happy New Year MN Wing Pilots,

An update on how our operations are doing as we start out in 2026.
Our new C182, N377CA ,has completed its engine break-in period, so it will be available to fly all missions now. If you get a chance to fly this new plane in the near future, just be advised that it is still running on mineral oil for the next several hours. After that, it will go in for an oil change and be switched over to normal 15W50 oil. Just like any of our planes, if you need to add oil make sure you are using the correct type. The type being used in the plane can be found inside the oil door or on the cover of the AIF.
Slowly NHQ has been getting all of our funded missions up and running. In the last week we got our cadet proficiency mission and TOP flight teacher flight missions “up” and should have the WALDO training mission ready for use in the next few days. This should complete all mission opening for now.
Hopefully we wont have a repeat of the government shutdown this Jan 30.  As long as congress approves a further budget, we will have several SAR and training missions that will continue to open going into the spring and summer.
We start a new quarter for A12 proficiency flights. I know the 4th quarter had many issues with weather and shutdown that prevented us from getting a lot of these flights done, hopefully the new quarter will bring some better weather.
One item to consider if you have to personally pay for items that will later be reimbursed by CAP (like Fuel, hotel, meals etc.) If you fill out a form 179 Direct deposit sign up, then you will get your money back much faster than having to wait for NHQ to approve it and wing to issue a check. This can be found in e-services under the "Pubs, Forms and Regulations" tab under Forms.
This is the time of year we need to make an effort to ensure our planes are being run on a regular basis. If your plane has been sitting idle for more than 10 days, get someone from your squadron to get the plane out and at least start it and let it run for 10-15 minutes to make sure the plane is operational, of course flying it would be even better! Airplane batteries are very expensive and we don’t want to have our planes stranded with dead batteries at airports far away from maintenance.
As always, when you are flying a sortie, make sure you are completing all of the “paperwork” in WMIRS. We need to completely fill out the brief and debrief sections, especially if the flight is a funded flight. We have our wing CI inspection coming up this spring and want to make sure we have completed records for the inspectors to see.
Stay safe while flying during the winter months, remember to bring personal survival equipment with you (boots, hats, mittens etc.), and be careful on slippery ramps when walking and moving airplanes across.

Take care,
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:93406c4a-52b0-465a-a337-e6c8ae0e9d59]

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