pell city squadron - feb 2012

8/2/2019 Pell City Squadron - Feb 2012

1/14

Vol. 3, No. 2 February 2012

nside this issue:

ommanders

orner

1

alendar 2

fety 3

andards and Eval 4

niors Corner 5

lunteer Magazine 6

aracter

evelopment

7

omotions and

hievements

8

adet Corner 9

rospace 10

eocaching Article 11

E.S.S. 12

via 13

COMMANDERS CORNER . . .

From the Commander:

Train, Practice, Train, Practice,

Well, it looks like Old Man Winter may be about to loosensome of his grip on us. Groundhogs Day is coming. Weshould soon know whether to expect 6 more weeks of winter

or an early spring. We have even had a couple of nice daysthis month. So, I have a question. How has your trainingprogram been going this winter?

Do you ever get enough training? The short answer isno. It is very rare that we can say that we have had enough training. I dont recall talking wany instructors or evaluators and hearing them complain about everyone being over trained.

Where are training opportunities? Some are formal and announced well in advance. Somexamples would be the current WESS training or the recent IFR Ground School. Some areformal and unannounced. Training at our regular unit meeting is one example. The SeniorMembers have begun a training program this year. We will be training for all Air CrewSpecialties. The Cadets have training every week.

I believe that we should spend a more time training in the skills needed for the completion ofour missions. How long has it been since you used your handheld DF unit? How long has itbeen since you flew a search pattern? How long has it been since you located a beacon eithin the air or on the ground?

How much training is enough? The completion of the skill sheets and the achievement of rating is not the end - it is the beginning. We all have a responsibility to maintain our skills tothe highest degree possible. We should train so that we will be able to operate all of ourequipment properly. This requires recurrent training on a regular basis. We have manyinstructors for all Mission Skills. Locate one and review the skills that were required to achieyour rating. Remember what we are training to do.

Most people practice until they get it right. That is not enough.We need to practice until we dont get it wrong.

Jim GosnellCommander AL-118

Squadron

Commander

Maj. Jim Gosnell

eputy Commander for

Cadet Programs -

Capt. Cindy Bennett

To serve America by developing our Nations youth; accomplishing

local, state and national emergency and humanitarian missions; andeducating our citizens on the impact of aviation and space.

- CAP Mission Statement

nd Lt. Elizabeth Shurbutt,PAO and Newsletter

[email protected]


2/14

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2Cadet Mt.18:00 PT

Happy Birthday,Randy Boyer

3 4

6

Happy Birthday,

Peter Randolph

7 8 9 Cadet Mt.18:00 Leadership

Senior Mt 18:30Happy BirthdayThomas Bracker

10 11

2

appy BirthdayDavid

Thompson

13 14Valentines

Day

15 16Cadet Mt.18:00CharacterDevelopment

17 18

9

appy Birthdaythan Bedford

20

PresidentsDay

(Federal Holiday)

21

22

NewsletterDeadline

23

Cadet Mt.18:00AerospaceDrill

Senior Mt.18:30

24

25

6

ppy Birthday,

Noel Harvey

27 28 March 1 March 2

Cadet Mt.

18:00

P.T.

March 3 March 4

February 2012February 2012

Calendar . . . Page

Cadet Schedule and Uniform for February 2012:February 2 PT, Safety Brief, Practice Drill - (UniformP.T.)

February 9 Leadership (Dress Blues)February 16 Character Development (BDUs)

February 23 Aerospace (BDUs)

WESSVigilant Warri

WESS

Vigilant

Warrior


3/14

Safety . . . Page 3

Safety

Reminder: Read the newsletter and receive a Safety Briefing Credit.

Please email Ron Harlan at - [email protected]

I am sure everyone remembers the events of April 27, 2011, and if you are like me, you have somepersonal thoughts that go along with that date. It was the day that three different weather systemsbrought us three waves of the most destructive tornadoes in recent times. It all started about 2:00 a.m.in the morning and left some us feeling that it was all over when that wave passed through. It was justa start on a day that would bring devastation to wide areas of Alabama over an 18 hour period. Sixty -

two separate tornadoes would eventually wind their way on the ground over 1,200 miles of our state.The longest track of one these would spend over 132 miles on the ground. One of them would be thestrongest tornado ever recorded.

The aftermath of this day left us wondering what we could have done to have saved some of the 250+people that perished. The governor established a council of citizens to search this out in detail andcome up recommendations to help us in the future. The council was named the Tornado Recovery

Action Council or TRAC for short. They did an excellent job of recording the exact events of that dayand how the adverse weather brought havoc, destruction, and death to many of our citizens. But thatwas only part of their assignment. The most productive section of their report was theirrecommendations for minimizing the loss of life and injuries in the future. You may have read about

this report in the papers, but I am challenging you to read the actual report. You can access it atwww.tracalabama.org , and it is about 117 pages of information. If you dont find the historical andpersonal accounts as intriguing as I did, you can skip to the 20 recommendations of the council.

The recommendations include building public shelters and giving the people better instructions onhow to find them, planning to restore utilities faster, encouraging businesses and homeowners topurchase portable generators, integrating and better targeting our storm alert systems, having a radiocommunication system plan in place before the next disaster, establishing a state agency tocoordinate the activities of volunteer organizations, and having debris removal contracts in place priorto the destructive event are state or community endeavors. But we are the state and the communityso we need to understand the importance of these recommendations and push our representatives

and community leaders to help us implement them for the future.

There were also a number of recommendations for individuals and families to better ensure theirsurvival and quick recovery from a disaster. Pay attention to sirens and newscasts. Stay informed onthe developing weather events and have a personal disaster plan that includes where to go what tobring and how to regroup with family members. Also have a safe room or someplace that is going tooffer protection and keep some cash on hand. Electrical outages will render credit cards and ATMsinoperable. For more instruction on how to prepare, go to www.redcross.org for many otherrecommendations.

Normally, I will give a safety briefing credit for anyone who has read the Newsletter and my Safety

Article, but this time, due to the weight of the information and its importance to our joint survival, I amasking that only persons that have read the TRACs recommendations report to me for a safetybriefing credit.

Learn and Live!Ron Harlan, Safety Officer


4/14

Standards and Eval. . . Page

The Emergency Services of the Alabama Wing has not wasted any time getting 2012 started off. Wehave already had an IFR refresher and written test prep weekend sponsored by the Pell City CompositeSquadron. A SARX was conducted in North Alabama last weekend and next weekend there will be aG1000 ground school also in North Alabama. With all of these activities, it is difficult to believe that weare only one month into this New Year.

As you are all aware, areas of central Alabama once again suffered damage from some violent tornado

AL-118 Captain Glenn Wilson and I were tasked with documenting the damage from the January 23 rd

storms. Flying CAP161, Captain Wilson and I flew the storm tracks in Center Point, Springville, and OaGrove areas. The devastation in these communities was amazing. It is a credit to our weather warningsystem in this state that more people were not killed. For a storm to hit an area in the early hours of themorning and cause this kind of damage to such well-populated communities and the fact that there wernot more deaths is nothing short of miraculous.

I hope everyone will make sure their personal weather radios are in good working order. Please do notdepend on the area sirens as your only weather warning device. This article did not have much to dowith Stan/Eval but I wanted to share some of my experiences while surveying the damage for the recentstorms.

This is also a good time for everyone to make sure they know where their safe place is for both homeand work. Have a disaster plan in place for all of your family. Designate a central meeting location if yoare separated from your loved ones. If you do not have a weather warning radio, I have two words tosay, Get one!!! These devices can save you and your familys life. Most can be programmed tospecific parts of the counties. This means you wont be alerted if the severe weather is not going toaffect the area you have pre-programmed.

Be safe and be prepared.

Maj. Chris Iddins

Safety Beacon - Official Safety Newsletter of theCivil Air PatrolFebruary Issue

Click on the link below to see the latest copy of this newsletter:

http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/Safety_Beacon__February_2012_299EB9581D9FC.pdf

Share the JoyOne of our responsibilities as Pilots is to share the joy we have of aviation withothers in a safe manner. In the CAP one of the opportunities we have to do that

is by giving Cadet Orientation Rides (O-Rides). These are aircraft flights that lastabout one hour following a syllabus that has been approved. Each Cadet is

allowed five funded Powered Flights, and five funded Glider Flights. If you havenot had the pleasure of giving the First Flight to a Cadet you are truly missing a

great experience.Major Jim Gosnell


5/14

Seniors Corner . . . Page

Attention all SENIORS !!!

January was a great month for the Seniors - we had the most flying in a month to date. To reach our goawe need to average 30 hours/month for the rest of the year. Operations feels that our pilots need to fly atleast 4 hours/month to remain proficient. Although many have their own planes, you will not find a betterdeal for flight cost per hour and gain proficiency in CAP aircraft at the same time. We had a great turn oufor the communications training in our January meetings and are starting to review all flight task inFebruary plus are planning a fun Saturday later in the month to practice your new and refreshed skills.

We still need qualified pilots to fly Cadets as much as possible. We have also been asked by other units fly their cadets as time allows. If you are available, please contact us with availability and we can fix yourright up! You can help satisfy three goals all at the same time, teach our Cadets more about aviation, bui

time on the aircraft and help increase pilot proficiency.

Hope to see everyone at the meeting next week. If anyone has any questions, please email me [email protected] and let me know.

David L Taylor1st LT, Senior Deputy Commander205-470-9801 - [email protected]

Date 18:30-18:45 18:45-19:00 19:00-19:10 19:10-20:30

12-Jan-12 PD Review BCUT Basic

26-Jan-12 BCUT Air Crews

9-Feb-12 PD Review Safety BREAK Scanner AC

23-Feb

-12

&

Scanner AC

8-Mar-12 PD Review Mentor Discussion Scanner AC

22-Mar-12 Scanner AC


6/14

Volunteer Magazine Information . . . Page 6

-

Pell City Cadet StaffCadet CommanderC/1st Lt. Rachel Shurbutt

Executive OfficerC/1st Lt. Brain ScottCadet Deputy CommanderC/2nd Lt. Jerrod Finlay

Flights Commanders C/Chief MSgt Michael Norwood (Bravo Flight)

C/Chief MSgt Jonathan Watkins (Alpha Flight)

Flight Sergeants C/MSgt Christian Norwood (Alpha Flight)C/Chief MSgt Allaina Howard (Bravo Flight)

Leadership OfficersC/TSgt John Smith and Christian NorwoodAerospace OfficerC/Chief MSgt Jonathan Watkins

Safety OfficerC/2nd Lt. Daniel SmithEmergency Services OfficerC/2nd Lt. Jerrod Finlay

P.T. OfficerC/Maj. Peter Randolph

Civil Air Patrols Volunteer magazine forJanuaryMarch is now available online!

If your household has more than one CAPmember and you receive multiple copies of

this magazine, you may choose to opt out tohelp save CAP money.

Help CAP save money and resources by optingout of receiving a printed copy of the Civil AirPatrol Volunteermagazine. To manage howyou wish to receive the Volunteer, log in to youreServices account at www.capnhq.gov

Under My Info select Review/Edit MyInformation. Select the box titled Opt out of

receiving the CAP Volunteermagazine andyou are done.

If you change your mind in the future and wantto receive the printed copy, you can simplyreturn to the webpage and deselect the option.

A digital version of the magazine is availableonline http://www.capvolunteernow.com/cap_volunteer


7/14

Character Development and PAOs CORNER . . . Page

Character Development

At the last Character Development meeting, our cadets watched a video about the 2011Arthur Ashe Award Winner, Dewey Bozella. Bozella spent over 30 years in prison for a

crime he did not commit. His story is about how he learned morals, obligations,responsibilities, and discipline through boxing. He was able to transfer those traits to hisown character, leading him to begin his long fight for freedom. Dewey says that His lifewas defined by how he lived it and not by where he lived it. He would not compromise hintegrity by confessing to something he didnt do in order to gain his freedom.

While in prison Dewey earned bachelor and masters degrees and was able to forgive themurderer of his brother. He also married.

Dewey Bozella learned to love life no matter where he was. He learned the secret of

letting things go so that they would not make him bitter. Because of his persistence inwriting a letter each week for 5 years, the Innocence Project took his case. He eventuallywas cleared of all charges.

You can also watched this inspiring story at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AsxLuvHepk&feature=player_embedded

2nd Lt. Elizabeth Shurbutt

WHERE TO FIND US ON THEINTERNET:

Civil Air Patrolwww.gocivilairpatrol.com/

Cadet Serviceshttp://www.capmembers.com/

Alabama Wing of Civil Air Patrol

http://www.alwg.cap.gov/

Pell City Civil Air Patrolhttp://www.pellcitycap.org/

Wing Emergency Services School (WESS)http://wess.alwg.us/

Photo Files on Flickrhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/bethshurbutt/

collections/72157615727997818/

On Facebook: Civil Air Patrol, AL WingCivil Air Patrol, Pell

City Composite Squadron, SER-AL-118, Civil Air Patrol

CADET PROGRAM EMAILGROUP:

A Yahoo Email group has been set up to macommunication between members easiInvitations were sent to all the cadet members

If you are not receiving updates and remindefrom the Yahoo Group, you most likely are no

member of it yet.

Please contact Beth Shurbutt at:

[email protected] and request that sadd you to the group.

You can also go to the Yahoo Group site ajoin:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PellCityCAP/


8/14

Promotions and Recognitions . . . Page 8

Congratulations,Cadet John Smith,

on your promotion toCadet Master Sergeant

Eagle Scout AchievementCadet Major Peter Randolph, 17 years old, wasawarded the Boy Scout Eagle Award in Moody,Alabama on Monday night, January 30, at aTroop 514 Eagle Court of Honor. He has been a

member of the Boy Scouts of America sinceSeptember, 2005 and holds the distinction ofbeing the first 2012 Eagle Scout of the ShelbyDistrict, Greater Alabama Council.

His Eagle project was planning the design andcoordinating the installation of a 30 foot longconcrete walkway for the Children'sPreservation Library of Birmingham.

Peter's parents are Major John Randolph and

st Lt. Ellen Randolph. Congratulations, Peter,on your achievement! Paper Airplane ContestWinners

C/2nd Lt. Daniel Smithwinner for longest in the air.

C/CMSgt. Thomas Brackerwinner for longest distanc


9/14

Cadet Corner . . . Page 9

Cadets CornerThe month of January is over. Typically January brings with it our

oldest temps of the year, but not this year. Temperatures have beenretty mild for January and I hope that February continues this sameend. January has also been a mild month for the cadets as they have

otten back into the swing of routines that were disrupted by theolidays. School has started back, the national championship game isver, and the pro football season is about to wrap up with the Superowl soon.

Our activities this month included the WESS training at Titus, Al.his months training was special. Our facilities we have grownccustomed to are changing and at the scheduled weekend we arrived to find that we almoid not have power and we did not have bathrooms. Much more akin to field conditions thaome of our cadets have encountered before.

Until we moved to the Vigilant Warrior facility in Titus, we were using CAP membersersonal property to conduct our training. Those that have used these properties in the paseveral years had a flashback to that training timeline. We had true field conditions, noathrooms, camping out in the woods and no shelter to run comm., ICS training, or logistics

We also did not have power for our coffee pots or hot water urns.We were put on a bus on Saturday morning and driven to the field, dropped off to do our

aining and picked up usually on Sunday morning when it was time to go back to Maxwell.Those that have only ever trained at Vigilant Warrior should appreciate the facilities we

ave and take good care of them so we can continue to use them in the future.We also had a paper airplane contest this month where the criteria for the airplane were

se paper only. Any paper could be used, and tape only was allowed. Winners were selectn longest flight in distance and longest time aloft. Congratulations to C/CMSgt Thomasracker on longest distance and C/2Lt Daniel Smith on longest time. They were our winnerAlso congratulations are in order to C/Major Peter Randolph on receiving his Eagle Sco

Award! I know he has worked very hard to achieve this award and is well deserved. We areooking forward for him to complete the CAP cadet program and receive his Spaatz award. now he can do it.

Cpt. Cynthia Bennett

CADET OATH"I pledge to serve faithfully in the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program and that I will attendmeetings regularly, participate actively in unit activities, obey my officers, wear my

uniform properly and advance my education and training rapidly to prepare myself to bof service to my community, state and nation."

Trivia Question

How many regions are there in CAP? Name them.How many Wings are there in CAP?

Email your answers to Cpt. Bennett at: [email protected]


10/14

Aerospace . . . Page 1

Aerospace Hi

Another month has gone by. . . now how mahave started studying The Journey of Flight inorder to take their Yeager exam. I told you Iwould be hounding you this year to get this donIf you are not a self study type person, would ybe interested in setting aside a Saturday for agroup study and testing session? If you areinterested in something like this email me [email protected] and if there is enouginterest we will make it happen. I will be glad towork with you to help you earn your Yeager.

Did you know that a company named Strato-Launch Systems is wanting to build thebiggest aircraft ever flown for use in civilian space trips. Paul Allen of the MicroSoft Corpsays the vehicle will use six of the biggest engines made for aircraft, and he wants to flywithin 5 years. The civilian entries into space exploration promises to be very interesting iour future.

Trivia QuestionWhat was the U.S. Space Program Gemini also called?

Email your answers to Cpt. Bennett at: [email protected]

Congratulations ,

Cadet Jerrod Finleyupon yourcertification as a

NREMTAdvanced


11/14

Geocaching . . . Page 1

Geocaching is a lot like Civil Air Patrol, everyone has heard of it but very few actuallyknow anything about it. Basically, geocaching is a modern day game of hide-and-seek on aglobal scale. To play this game all you need is a GPS device and access to the internet.Once you have a GPS you need to get coordinates for some caches. There are a numberof websites you can visit to get this information, but the largest is www.geocaching.com.The next step is the fun part. Use your GPS to navigate to the specified coordinates for thecache. Every GPS has a certain amount of error in the coordinates because of the level ofaccuracy and other factors. This is where your searching skills come in to play. Afterfinding the coordinates you will probably have to do some searching in order to find thecontainer. How much searching will depend on the difficulty level.

Now that you have an idea of what geocaching is I'll go over some of the details suchas what exactly is a geocache and what is in it, etc... First, what is the geocache and whatis in it? A geocache is a small container that is hidden with the intentions of it being foundby geocachers. They range in size from a micro container which is about the size of amarble to larger containers such as military ammo cans. They are usually waterproof or

water-resistant and are sometimes camouflaged. Inside

every cache you will find a cache log. This is a piece of paper orsmall notebook that you sign with your geocaching nickname anddate. This allows the owner of the cache to know who has found itand when it was found last. Larger caches sometimes containa collection of small souvenir items such as key-chains, beads,trackable geocoins, or any other small item. When you find a cachethat has items, it is common practice to take one item and leavesomething in its place.

The origin of geocaching is Oregon in the spring of 2000. At

approximately midnight Eastern savings time on May 2, 2000 theU.S. Government ended selective availability. Selective availability limited the accuracy ofcivilian GPS devices by only allowing them to use a small number of GPS satellites. Whenit was turned off the accuracy of these units jumped from the size of a football field to thepinpoint accuracy we have today. On May 3 a gentle by the name of Dave Ulmer decidedto test the accuracy of this new system. He placed a navigational target in the woods andannounced it on GPS enthusiast forums calling it The Great American GPS Stash Hunt.From that day on geocaching has been evolving a little more every day. With more peopleplaying and better technology the possibilities are endless.

With over 1,532,000 geocaches hidden in over 100 countries on every continent

(including Antarctica) and over 5,000,000 million people searching for them, geocachinghas exploded in popularity since it first began 12 years ago. It's a fun way to get outside,meet new people, and have an adventure. For those of us who participate and search andrescue it is also a fun way to learn and refresh your skills with a GPS. It will help youunderstand latitude and longitude like never before. It also refines your search skills.

C/2d Lt Jerrod Finlay

Go to http://www.geocaching.com for more information.


12/14

W.E.S.S. (http://wess.alwg.us/) . . . Page 1

m Gosnellommander AL-118

W.E.S.S. TrainingFebruary 17-19, 2012Vigilant WarriorTitus, Alabama

Expect the weather to be cold and dress accordingly. You will need to

bring all your gear and plan to stay out in the field. More information ondeparture time will be given as the time approaches. If you are behindyou still have time to catch up and graduate the cycle!!

Watch the facebook for updates and schedules.

f you are interested in purchasing any W.E.S.S. merchandise, go to this site and print outthe order form. You will need to complete it and submit it along with payment no later thanthe March meeting.

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/18332385/392231791/name/WESS+2011+Merchandise+Order.pdf

All items ordered will be delivered in April.

Remember that Wing Emergency Services School has a Facebook page. It would be inyour best interest to like that page. All photos taken are stored there and updated infor-mation is posted as it becomes available.


13/14

Trivia Question . . . Page 13

T

RIVIA Last Months Trivia Question:

In 1912 a competition was devised for seaplanesto encourage advances in the industry. Over itsshort history (it was only held 11 times) it devel-oped into a competition of pure speed. Which com-petition, reinstated in 1981 under a revised for-mat and using a replica trophy, was it?

ANSWER: Schneider TrophyThe Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider

was first won in 1913 by a French pilot at theastonishing speed of 45.71mph. By the followingyear the winning speed had almost doubled, an

incredible advance in aircraft and engine design insuch a short period of time. By the time of the lastrace, in 1931, speeds had increased to 340mph.The Schneider Trophy led, indirectly, to aircraft

such as the Spitfire and the Rolls Royce Merlin en-gine that powered it. The American P51 Mustangwas also a development of aircraft flown in this

race.

TRIVIA QUESTION FOR February:

Everyone knows that Orville Wright made the first controlled flight byman in a powered heavier than air machine. In 1908 he also had amore dubious honor while demonstrating the Wright Flyer at Fort Myer, Virginia. What was the cause of this?

Please send your answer to: [email protected] and put CAP

Trivia in the subject line.

TRIVIA

Coming in March . . .

March WESS Vigilant Warrior

Congratulations,Alaina Howard,

Cadet Trivia Winner


14/14

pell city squadron - feb 2012

Documents