pell city squadron - mar 2010
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8/2/2019 Pell City Squadron - Mar 2010
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FLIGHT LOGPell City SquadronAlabama Wing – Civil Air Patrol
March 2010
CALENDAR
Mar 4th Cadet meeting 1800-2030
5th
Cadet Trip to Planetarium @JSU 1645
11th Cadet meeting 1800-2030
Officers Meeting 1830-203013th Commanders Call MXF 0900
18th Cadet meeting 1800-2030
18th
-21st Thunder Over the Valley Columbus
GA.( Air-show)
23rd Officer Meeting @ BHM Museum of
Flight 1900-2100 (AOPA safety Sem)
25th Cadet meeting 1800-2030
26th-28th WESS
25th
-28th Maxwell AFB Air-show
Commanders Corner:
“The Only Constant, is Change”, I have heard
this saying for a great many years. What does this
mean to us? Let us take a moment to examine a fewof the changes that have affected our Squadron.
We have an excellent aircraft.
We have an excellent large capacity van.
We have increased our communicationscapability.
We have increased the number of Officers
and Cadets in our ranks.We have increased our professionaldevelopment.
We have increased the number of Aircrewand Ground Team members.
We have convenient meeting areas withadequate capacity for our members.
We have an Operations Room at our hangerat the airport.
We have a new Wing Commander.
We have a new Wing Vice Commander.
We have a new Squadron Commander.
We have a new Squadron DeputyCommander for Seniors.
We have a new Cadet Commander.
These changes mentioned have taken place becauseof the hard work of many people. We have seen
many members move through the positions of authority in our organization. We have watched as
each one brought their strengths, experience and
energy and used it to help our organization. We arestronger because their efforts have made many
positive changes that make us more effective in our
missions.
Join me in thanking Captain Christopher Iddins forhis tireless work as our Squadron Commander. Let
us also take the time to thank all of our pastSquadron Commanders. Join me in welcoming ColLisa Robinson as our new Wing Commander, and
Lt. Col. Brad Lynn as our new Wing Vice-
Commander.
I want to ask each of you for your continued support
as I assume the task of Squadron Commander for
the Pell City Composite Squadron. I know that withyour support we will continue to be successful.
Captain James T GosnellSquadron Commander, 118
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First Lieutenant Ron Harlan
Safety Corner: This past weekend, the Pell City Squadron participated
in a state-wide training SAREX designed to test the
ALWG’s ability to conduct the exercise from a remotelocation and requiring the squadrons to operate in and
out of their own home base. 118 was assigned a photo-
reconnaissance mission involving one site just NW of
Cheaha Mountain and one south of Alexander City. Theday was clear but windy and gusty. The wind, at our
flight altitude, varied from 16 to 20 knots from the NW.
When obtaining the photos of the Cheaha site, the
photographer, peering through a telephoto lens, and the
observer, looking down to record the photo shots, bothbecame very queasy. Although the FAA definition of
this turbulence would have probably been light to
moderate, it was bumpy, to say the least. Had our
assigned target area been on the downwind side of the
mountain, we could not have carried it out at a low
altitude due to the strong down drafts from the wind
current rushing over the ridge. With March coming on us
with its historically strong, gusty winds, I think it will be
useful to review some of our Mountain Flying notes
from a previous safety meeting:
Technically, Alabama does not have any terrain over
3,000’ MSL. However, many of our flight areasapproach that elevation and we could be charged with
conducting searches in the neighboring states of TN and
GA that do have high terrain. The following pointers are
from AOPA’s Interactive Mountain Flying course thatyou can access from the AOPA web site,
www.aopa.com.
Mountain flying poses a higher risk level due to a
number of factors:
- Density altitude. While we need to be aware of DA
considerations in our flat land flying, operating
around high elevations when DA is a factor
increases the risk because you are already operating
at higher altitude. Climb rates are lower, terrain can
rise much faster than the climb capability of the
aircraft, and you may be more susceptible to the
classic stall/spin situation with no room for
recovery.
- Night flying. Flying at night in mountainous areas
should really be considered an IFR situation even if
conducted VFR. You are more likely to lose the
horizon as a reference and terrain avoidance
becomes more difficult after dark. If you are not
prepared to fly IFR, it is best to limit your
mountainous flight operations to daylight only.
- Weather. The increased risk of flying in adverse
weather nearly goes off the chart when you are in
mountainous areas. We all lament the fate of some
of the pilots that we have searched for around the
local ridges. Use proper techniques and risk
avoidance to make sure we aren’t the subjects of aSAR.
- Flight planning. Preplanning in high elevations is
essential to safely conducting operations there. In
low ceiling operations, a lot of thought must be
given to maintaining ground clearance and staying
out of the clouds at the same time. You could use
IFR enroute charts to help avoid high terrain since
their Off Route Obstruction Clearance Altitudes will
give you at least 1,000’ of clearance from anyobstacle in the area.
- Winds. In flat land flying, strong winds cause us
concern with our ground speed and cross-wind
landings. Around ridges and mountains, even the
relatively low ones in our area, strong winds canproduce downdrafts on the leeward side that
overcome the aircraft’s max climb rate.
N261CA has a terrain mapping feature on its MFD. It is
not approved for terrain avoidance but it can be useful
for keeping you aware of nearby terrain elevations.
Practice good crew resource management and makeeveryone on board aware of the risks inherent in high
terrain operations and equally responsible for ground
and obstacle avoidance!
Stay Safe! Ronald Harlan,Safety Officer/Squadron 118
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Cadets Page
Cadet: Paul Bedford receives his Curry Award
February has been a busy month for everyone in
the cadet program! We all started with the AlabamaWing Conference on Feb 5th and 6th.Senior
members attended breakout sessions on Aerospace
and Cadet Programs. We heard some really goodplans for the cadets coming in the future and we
hope that everything discussed will come to
fruition.
On Thursday February 11th
, three of our cadets
Nathan Bedford, Michael Norwood and Christian
Norwood went for Syllabus 7 Orientation Rides
Many thanks to our pilot, Roy Smith.February 13
thbrought us SNOW along with the
ALWG Color Guard Competition in Clanton, Al.Congratulations to the Bessemer squadron for their
win and great job to the other squadrons that
participated.In our squadron Al-118 we have had a cadet staff
application and interview process ongoing all
month. The Change of Command ceremony will be
Feb 25th
, 2010 at the Community Center. We havesome very talented cadets in our squadron as
evidenced by the resume process and then theinterview process.
Not only in the squadron do our cadets succeed.Friday, Feb 19th brought the Technology Fair to
JSU in which C/CMSgt Brian Scott brought home 3
gold medals, one in Individual ComputerProgramming, one in Team Computer
Programming, and one in Internet Technology. Also
C/CMSgt Jerrod Finlay brought home the gold for
Video Production. These cadets had to be at JSU at7:00 am Friday morning, stay almost all day and
then both attended WESS for the weekend. Cadet
Finlay was asked about the reaction of his parents to
his winning a gold medal and his reply was he
really didn’t know because he had not had time to
go home after leaving the competition; he had tocatch his ride to WESS.
During the month of January we had NINE pass
tests for promotions. There were four that passedAchievement 1-the Curry award; Paul Bedford,
Allaina Howard, Michael Norwood and Christian
Norwood promoted to Cadet Airman. Daniel Smith
completed Achievement 5 to receive his rank of C/MSgt. Three cadets passed Achievement 7 and
promoted to C/CMSgt; Jerrod Finlay, Wes Morris,
and Brian Scott.
Nathaniel Bedford achieved the Wright Bros
award, which is the first milestone award. This
means he has passed the first three achievementsplus taken a comprehensive exam in leadership and
a physical training test.
Thanks to everybody involved with making ourCadet Program a success. Each one embodies allaspects of the Cadet Oath which is;
The Cadet Oath
“I pledge that I will serve faithfully in the Civil
Air Patrol Cadet Program and that I will attend
meetings regularly, participate actively in unit
activities, obey my officers, wear my uniform
properly, and advance my education and
training rapidly to prepare myself to be of
service to my community, state, and nation.”
Capt Cindy Bennett
AL-118 DCC
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Communications Tip
Net Professionalism:
This list of guidelines is intended to aid all Alabamacommunicators, and make it possible to pass moretraffic quickly and efficiently while adding
professionalism
1. When checking in without traffic say: "This is
Golden Rod __ over”
2. When checking in with traffic say: “This isGolden Rod __ (list traffic and station it is for)
over.”
3. Have a pad by your radio and make a list, before
the net, of stations to whom you wish to pass traffic.
To prevent redundancy and to insure that yourmessage is complete, have traffic written.
4. Stay by your radio when traffic is listed for you
or your squadron, and be ready to promptly acceptthe traffic.
5. Advise Net Control if you need to close early
when you check in. YOU ARE EXPECTED TOREMAIN ON FREQUENCY UNTIL THE END
OF ROLL CALL AND TRAFFIC AND
ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR ALL STATIONSNAVE BEEN PASSED.
6. Do not list traffic for stations within locallandline or with whom you are in reliable VHF/FM
contact.
7. If frequency conditions are bad, pass traffic only
if you have a sufficiently good signal. Otherwise,
hold for a later net.
8. It may help to turn down other radios and TV
during the net.
9. Stations accepting traffic are obligated to pass thetraffic by whatever means necessary. If unable to
deliver the traffic, the originator should be promptly
advised.
10. Stations participating in the Net are obligated to
pick up all traffic and announcements for their units
and relay to the proper person(s).
11. DO NOT RELAY DURING A NET UNLESS
SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BYTHE NET CONTROL STATION (NCS).
12. When Net is closed with less than one minute of
net time left, do not transmit. There is no excuse forrunning into the following Net's time.
13. All operators are reminded of the required 3
second pause before beginning a transmission. Toavoid unnecessary duals, wait for the other station
to say "over
14. If you are checking in other stations at your
location or on VHF/FM, please check them at the
proper time during the Net.
J.M. Randolph, Major
Communication Officer
AL118
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Captain Bennett’s Aerospace Educator of the year award:
Lt Harlan receives his Safety Officer of the year from
Major Randolph
Captain Iddins accepts the safety squadron of the year
from Major Randolph:
AL-118 Receives awards at
Wing Conference:
During the Wing conference this year Pell
City Composite Squadron AL-118 received
numerous awards. Captain Cindy Bennett
was recognized for her hard work by
receiving the Aerospace Educator of the
year award. Lt Ron Harlan was recognized
for his excellent work as the squadron safety
officer by receiving the safety officer of the
year award. And the squadron wasrecognized as the safety squadron of the
year. I want to thanks everyone who helped
make these awards possible. It takes a joint
effort to make these awards a reality.
Captain: Chris Iddins
AL-118 Stan/Eval