southeast squadron - apr 2010

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The Water RudderThe Official Newsletter of the Civil Air Patrols Southeast Composite Squadron

Juneau, Alaska

The Quarterly Newsletter of the Southeast Composite Squadron - Juneau, Alaska

For further information contact Major Jeff DeFreest, Public Affairs Officer, PCR-AK-022 at: [email protected]

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April 2010-Spring IssueVolume 4 Number 2

Commanders Call:Major Ken Nestler

A couple of new officers have beenappointed: Bob Goetz is the new

emergency services officer. Kirt Stage-

Harvey has been appointed to the

Standards and Evaluations officer.

We have been actively providing the

crews for the Guardian Angel Flights. In

addition we have been having MonthlySearch exercises. The weekend of

March 13 we had a wing wide practicefor the upcoming Wing SAREX testing.

We put up two aircraft for the practice

search. The second round was canceled

due to weather. We are looking for folks

to participate as crew members in theexercises and real searches. We needfolks to act as scanners along with the

observers and pilots. Scanners are the

folks scanning the terrain looking for

the object of the search. If interested let

Bob Goetz know. In addition, the cadets

are working on getting a ground search

crew going. If you are interested in that

let Karl or Lisa Marx know.

A couple of items are coming up. The

first is that HarryWhitaker, Air Force

Liaison for the Alaska Wing will be

coming to Juneau at the end of March to

conduct his annual review of the

squadron. The second is that the

Inspector General will be here sometime

in May or June to conduct the squadroninspection. More information willfollow on that.

Condolences for the Hazelton

Family:

With deep sorrow we announce thepassing of Lt Colonel Al Hazelton, who

was a stalwart member of the CAP. He

joined June 28, 1965. He was

commander of the Juneau Squadron for

many years. He was a flight instructor

and check pilot. He was very active in

the Cadet program and was a cadet

orientation pilot along with an instructor


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for both the glider and powerencampments. His specialty was the

gliders. He even spent many winters in

Arizona teaching glider flying. He had

numerous certificates and awards. Al

and his wife Evelyn were just about to

celebrate their 50th

wedding anniversary.

We will miss him! Evelyn, our prayers

are with you.

Southeast Composite SquadronsAnnual Awards Banquet 2009:Story and photo by 1Lt Bob Goetz

The business of the Christmas season

precluded us from providing many of thedetails on our annual awards banquet in

the Winter Newsletter. Well it was a

great success! And The Hangar on the

Wharf once again treated us to their

culinary creativity.

This years theme centered around our

long standing relationship with the USCoast Guard in Southeast. Our MC for

the banquet was Todd Buck, whose day

(and often night) job was in the CoastGuard Command Center here in Juneau.

Todd did a great job of keeping us on

task and adding a bit of humor

throughout the night.

We had the privilege of

meeting the new US

Coast Guard

Commander for the

Seventeenth Coast

Guard District; Rear

Admiral Christopher C.

Colvin. His command includes Alaska,its surrounding waters, and the Arctic;encompassing more coastline than the

remaining forty-nine states combined.

During the summer of 2009 he

coordinated the airlift of nearly 7000

people from New Orleans just prior to

the onset of hurricane Gustav, the largest

air evacuation of a U.S. city ever

undertaken. Rear Admiral Colvinprovided us with an inspiring talk, and

we all went away feeling this next

season of partnership with the US Coast

Guard would be very positive indeed.

We were also treated

with the opportunity tomeet USCG SectorJuneaus Deputy

Sector Commander

Matt Jones. Sector

Juneau is one of our primary SAR

partners in Southeast, having

responsibility for Coast Guard missions

up to 50 miles offshore. While we

didnt get an opportunity to hear from

Deputy Commander Jones, many of ushad a chance to talk with him one-on-

one. It is obvious his faith, love for his

country, his family, and kids are very

important to him; which is a good thing

since he is the father of six. I think hehad a special warm spot for our cadets.

The passion, integrity, and humility ofthese USCG representatives was


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obvious. We look forward to workingwith them in the coming months and

years. Who knows, we may even see

one of more of their sons and daughters

joining our CAP cadet program.

Outgoing CAP Alaska

Wing Commander,

Colonel Carl Brown,was unable to join usthis year due to a last

minute Pacific Region

commitment. Lt Colonel Charles Palmer

was gracious enough to step in and

represent the Alaska Wing. Charlie as

he is know to most of us is our Wings

Inspector General, and current Vice

Commander. He provided us with ahistory of the Civil Air Patrol in Alaska,

and some insights into his 20 year career

with the US Air Force; including some

300 combat missions in Viet Nam. We

expect to see more of Charlie in the

future when he takes command of the

Alaska Wing this spring.

Lt Col Palmer presented the following

Senior member awards:

Paul E. Garber Maj Steve Sztuk

AK Wing, Safety Officer of the Year

1Lt Dan LoganAK Wing, Certificate of Achievement in

Aerospace Education Maj Martha

DeFreestCommanders Commendation CaptJon Ahlgren

Commanders Commendation 1Lt

Robert Goetz

Lt Col Palmer announced the following

Senior member promotions:

Maj Steve Sztuk was promoted to Lt

Colonel, effective 18 Nov 2009.

Maj Ken Nestler were promoted to LtColonel, effective 29 Oct 2009.

Rear Admiral Colvin presented the

following Cadet awards:

Non Commissioned Officer of the Year Cadet Master Sergeant Russadell

Buzard

Cadet of the Year Cadet Master

Sergeant Kevin Burgess

1Lt Goetz presented this years TopFlyer Squadron awards:

Top Flyer for A Mission Flight Time

- Lt Col Ken Nestler (80 flight hours)Top Flyer for Total Flight Time - Lt Col

Ken Nestler (104 flight hours)

Top Flyer for Mission Observer Time

1Lt Dan Logan (18 flight hours)

Lt Col Ken Nestler presented this years

Squadron awards:

Senior Member of the Year - Lt Col

Steve Sztuk.

As in past years our Cadet Color Guard

did and excellent job of opening and

closing our ceremonies. This years

banquet committee included Ken

Nestler, Bob Goetz, and Sheila Goetz.

Shawn Damerval once again rescued us

at the last minute with our printed

programs, and Jon and Brook tackled thethankless job of issuing tickets and

collecting money at the door.

Special thanks to Philippe Damerval for

honoring us with his talented rendition

of our National Anthem, and Jean Sztuk

for scrounging up all the wonderful doorprizes. And lastly, thanks to all theSoutheast Composite Squadron members


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and guests for making this years awardsbanquet another success.

Emergency Services - Missions:

Limited suitable flying weather this

winter made it a challenge to complete

our mission objectives for the many

sorties we planned. Though a challenge,

we still managed to get some good

airtime for our aircrews. Due tofunding limitations AK Wing was only

able to provide us with one monthly

SAREX this quarter which ran from

08Jan thru 08Feb. That said, the

creativity of our AK Wingadministrative personnel succeeded in

enabling us to double our flyable

mission time each month. THANK

YOU!

Our monthly Guardian Angel flights

continue to be a great opportunity forour aircrews to maintain theirproficiency, while at the same time

providing a valuable service to citizens

we serve. These missions place aircraft

on established routes at an altitude which

enables them to listen for emergencybeacons transmitting on the 121.5/243-

MHZ frequencies. While use of ELTs

transmitting on these frequencies is still

legal, the COSPAS-SARSAT satellitesystem no longer monitors them. On a

recent sortie the following old

abandoned aircraft was sited and

photographed.

Keep your eyes open, you may have an

opportunity to spot it yourself on your

next ES training flight.

Each week a Guardian Angel flight isplanned for a 2 hour duration along

predetermined routings at a minimum

planned altitude of 4000 AGL. This

provides approximately 8 flight hours

each month to ES qualified aircrews.

Since these missions can be redirected

by RCC to an actual A-1 (AFRCC SAR)

the aircrew is required to be current andqualified in Ops Quals, and include at

least a SAR Mission Pilot and Mission

Scanner. Qualified and 101 carded ES

trainees can also participate. While each

sortie should include mission training,

these missions cannot be used for CAPF-

5 check rides.

Our squadron is also participating in

spin up exercises in preparation for

this years Graded Wing Exercise to

practice procedures, workflow, assigning

tasks, etc.; which will occur in May of

this year. The Wing will be evaluated to

measure the effectiveness of our


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operational capabilities. During thesecond training (spin-up) in March we

launched two aircrews with specific

mission objectives. Weather was

interesting and our Berners Bay crew

was unable to execute their assigned

tasks due to low hanging clouds and fog

as seen in the photo. After a bumpy ride

home each crew returned safe andsound.

Missing Person in the DryStraight Area

Major Wallace Long and Captain Jon

Ahlgren along with a dog ground teamflew a shore line search on Feb 11

thfor a

missing person. They searched from

Thomas Bay to Dry Straits and over flewseveral cabins on the Stikine River and

along the shore line of Sumner Straight.

They dropped off a search dog and

handlers; Kerry Kirkpatrick and MikePilling at the Petersburg Airport to

continue the search from the ground.

The missing person was not located bythe air or ground team.

Emergency Services - Training:

To participate in emergency servicestraining and operational missions you

must be either fully qualified and

current, or in a supervised trainingstatus. Specific requirements are

described in CAPR 60-3 (CAP

Emergency Services Training and

Operational Missions). Chapter 2

provides detailed guidance on the

standards which must be met. Most ES

specialty qualifications expire 3 years

from the date they were attained orrenewed, and the member has anadditional 2 years to re-qualify once they

expire without having to start all over.

See sections 2-4 and 2-5 for specific

guidance on how to renew your

qualifications. Contact 1Lt Bob Goetz

to discuss your specific ES training

needs, or what options are available to

you to renew your qualifications.

Another option available to all members

is to participate in one of the annual

Emergency Services training academies,

Wing or National. This years AK Wing

Mission Aircrew School is planned for

May 16th

thru 22nd

, and moreinformation can be found on the AKWing web site (www.akwg.cap.gov).

Additionally, you can attend the

National Emergency Services Academy

(NESA) at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.

There are two sessions this year from

June 13th

to June 26th

. More information

is available at www.nesa.cap.gov.

Senior Development - Training:

Maj Martha DeFreest is beginningpreparation for a Senior Leadership

Class (SLS). Completion of an SLS

class is required to complete Level II of

your Professional Development training.

To obtain credit for completing an SLS

you must have completed Level I

training. If you are interested in


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participating in this class please contactMaj Martha DeFreest or 1Lt Bob Goetz.

More information will be forthcoming as

the details and dates come together.

Cadet Activities:

C/CMSgt. Kiefer was accepted into the

Honor Guard Academy in Maryland.

C/CMSgt. Holt has been accepted into

the Evergreen Aviation BusinessAcademy in McMinnville, Oregon. He

also received a generous scholarshipfrom the Alaska Wing to Glider

Academy in Clear, Alaska.

C/CMsgt. Buzzard was also accepted

into the Honor Guard Academy in

Maryland.

C/CMsgt. Hales was also accepted into

the Honor Guard Academy in Maryland

New Ribbon:

It appears we now have a HLS ribbon inthe CAP regs; Wow, that was a fewyears in the production! This ribbon wasdesigned by our own former CadetBates.

CAP REGULATION 39-322 FEBRUARY 2010

AWARD OF CAP MEDALS, RIBBONS,AND CERTIFICATES

l. Homeland Security Ribbon. Awardedfor participation in ten actual HomelandSecurity sorties as defined by the tasking

organization as being in the interest ofthe security and/or defense of the nation.This ribbon applies to all membersparticipating on the mission in anycapacity.Personnel performing duties, such asbase support or staff functions, may becredited with one sortie for each 8 hoursof participation, but not to exceed twosorties for any 24-hour period. Claspsmay be added to the ribbon forparticipation in every ten additionalsorties.

Light Repair:Story by Jean Sztuk

High winds tore loose the main outsidelight of our hangar. Lt. Col. Steve

Sztuk rides up in scissor-lift and replaces

it. As a past Journeyman Lineman, he

has no fear of heights or electricity. The

new light illuminates the whole front

and side of the hangar, like daylight at

night. A big THANK YOU to ChathamElectric Co. that donated the lightreplacement!

Safety News:Submitted by 1LT Rob MacDonald; Safety

Officer

Bird Flu/Avian Influenza Status:

For a few years now a hot topic has been

bird flu, or more officially, HighlyPathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1.

News of this bird flu has decreased in

recent months. However, its still an

environmental threat for other countries.

In fact, the most recent case of AvianInfluenza H5N1 was November 2009 in

Egypt by a person who was involved in

the poultry industry. The person is instable condition.


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Avian Influenza H5N1 is an infectious

disease that can cause a wide range of

symptoms in birds from mild illness to

rapid death. More than 100 million birds

in the affected countries have died from

this virus.

There are many different types of avianinfluenza viruses occurring naturally thatare common among domestic poultry

and some wild birds. Most of these have

no apparent affect on birds and do not

spread to humans. Since 1959 humans

had previously only been known to have

acquired avian influenza 10 times and

symptoms were mild. The effects of this

Avian Influenza H5N1 virus have beenthe exception.

Avian Influenza H5N1 occurred first in a

farmed goose in China in 1996 and the

first human infections started in 1997.

Since then, 15 countries have reported

cases of Avian Influenza H5N1. Allcombined, 442 human cases have beenreported and this has resulted in 262

deaths.

The concern in Alaska and North

America is that many bird species

breeding in Alaska migrate to and winter

throughout parts of Russia and Asia and

its feared these birds could carry the

bird flu virus here in their springmigration. Then, birds that migrate to

Alaska from Canada, the lower 48 states,

and Mexico could possibly contract bird

flu and carry it down there.

Over the past 4 years, federal and state

agencies and other groups have sampled

over 47,000 wild birds, subsistencetaken birds, and sport hunter harvested

birds throughout Alaska to check forAvian Influenza H5N1. No Avian

Influenza H5N1 viruses have been

found.

A concern was that Avian Influenza

H5N1 could cause a pandemic. But, this

hasnt been the case. A pandemic is a

worldwide outbreak of disease that has 3components: 1) a new influenza viruswith little or no human immunity; 2) it

must infect humans and cause illness;

and 3) it must spread easily and continue

without interruption. The Avian

Influenza H5N1 virus meets the first two

conditions but it hasnt met the third.

So, its not officially a pandemic.

Aircraft Status:

Beaver N5142G Mission Ready at JNU

Cessna N4950R Mission Ready at JNU

Meet Our Members:Submitted by: Jean Sztuk

C/CMSgt Cadet Myles Kiefer

What is your rank?

C/CMSgt, Cadet Chief Master Sergeant

What CAP position do you hold?

Cadet Commander

Employment?

Yes, I work at the valley movie theaterFamily? Tell us about your family.


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Mom, Dad, 2 brothers, and a Half sister.Mom: Stephanie Kiefer, Dad: Brad

Kiefer, Brothers:

Logan and Nathan Kiefer, and Half

Sister: Malie Phealen.

What else do you want our members to

know about you? Please brag! We dont

know unless you tell us!

Ive been in the Civil Air Patrol sense Iwas 12. I moved my way up inch byinch, from Safety Officer to

Administrator to Cadet Commander

now. I plan to make my Billy Mitchel,

2nd Lieutenant, maybe higher. I am a

Junior at Juneau-Douglas High School

and cant wait to graduate next year.

After high school plans: I hope to be in

the Air Force Academy or Coast GuardAcademy. I do Track & Field as an after

school sport.

What is your most vivid memory of

flying?

My best trip was to Baltimore,

Maryland. I went there for three weeks

for Honor Guard training. It was a 14-hour flight all with stops and everything,and flying by myself was amazing, I

actually met a retired Air Force enlistee,

he was telling me the amazing trips he

took all over the place in a KC-135.

What is your most vivid memory of

flying with CAP?

The first time I went up, Major Long let

me have the controls of the plane and I

was scared because I had no idea what todo. Well when I took control I was so

nervous that I pushed in on the yoke and

it felt as if my butt was in the air and the

plane was leaving me. It was a blast after

that experience.Do you have pets? Types & Names

I do, I have one dog. He is a Border

Collie and Australian Shepard mix withBlack and White fur.

His name is Mojo.Do you have a pet peeve youd like to

share with the members?

People who cant be themselves around

others. Everyone should be able to have

a good time

no matter who theyre with. And I hate it

when people one-up another persons

answer or statement.

CAP Supporters & Sponsors:

Terry Papf, owner of See Gee donated

their Weight & Balance Calculator for

both the U206 and the Beaver that we fly

here in Juneau. The device makes a

weight and balance calculation before

every flight an easy operation.

southeast squadron - apr 2010

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