FLIGHT LOG

Pell City Squadron Alabama Wing Civil Air Patrol

March 2010
CALENDAR
Mar 4th 5th 11th 13th 18th 18th-21st 23rd 25th 26th-28th 25th-28th Cadet meeting 1800-2030 Cadet Trip to Planetarium @JSU 1645 Cadet meeting 1800-2030 Officers Meeting 1830-2030 Commanders Call MXF 0900 Cadet meeting 1800-2030 Thunder Over the Valley Columbus GA.( Air-show) Officer Meeting @ BHM Museum of Flight 1900-2100 (AOPA safety Sem) Cadet meeting 1800-2030 WESS Maxwell AFB Air-show

We have a new Wing Commander. We have a new Wing Vice Commander. We have a new Squadron Commander. We have a new Squadron Deputy Commander for Seniors. We have a new Cadet Commander. These changes mentioned have taken place because of 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 are stronger because their efforts have made many positive changes that make us more effective in our missions. Join me in thanking Captain Christopher Iddins for his tireless work as our Squadron Commander. Let us also take the time to thank all of our past Squadron Commanders. Join me in welcoming Col. Lisa Robinson as our new Wing Commander, and Lt. Col. Brad Lynn as our new Wing ViceCommander. 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 with your support we will continue to be successful. Captain James T Gosnell Squadron Commander, 118

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 few of the changes that have affected our Squadron. We have an excellent aircraft. We have an excellent large capacity van. We have increased our communications capability. We have increased the number of Officers and Cadets in our ranks. We have increased our professional development. We have increased the number of Aircrew and Ground Team members. We have convenient meeting areas with adequate capacity for our members. We have an Operations Room at our hanger at the airport. -1-

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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 ALWGs ability to conduct the exercise from a remote location and requiring the squadrons to operate in and out of their own home base. 118 was assigned a photoreconnaissance mission involving one site just NW of Cheaha Mountain and one south of Alexander City. The day 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, both became 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 areas approach 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 AOPAs Interactive Mountain Flying course that you 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 arent the subjects of a SAR. - 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 any obstacle 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 can produce downdrafts on the leeward side that overcome the aircrafts 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 make everyone 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

Video Production. These cadets had to be at JSU at 7:00 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 didnt know because he had not had time to go home after leaving the competition; he had to catch his ride to WESS. During the month of January we had NINE pass tests for promotions. There were four that passed Achievement 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 achievements plus taken a comprehensive exam in leadership and a physical training test. Thanks to everybody involved with making our Cadet Program a success. Each one embodies all aspects of the Cadet Oath which is;

Cadet: Paul Bedford receives his Curry Award

February has been a busy month for everyone in the cadet program! We all started with the Alabama Wing Conference on Feb 5th and 6th.Senior members attended breakout sessions on Aerospace and Cadet Programs. We heard some really good plans 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 13th brought 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 have some very talented cadets in our squadron as evidenced by the resume process and then the interview 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 Computer Programming, one in Team Computer Programming, and one in Internet Technology. Also C/CMSgt Jerrod Finlay brought home the gold for -3-

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

Communications Tip
Net Professionalism: This list of guidelines is intended to aid all Alabama communicators, and make it possible to pass more traffic 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 is Golden 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 your message is complete, have traffic written. 4. Stay by your radio when traffic is listed for you or your squadron, and be ready to promptly accept the traffic. 5. Advise Net Control if you need to close early when you check in. YOU ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN ON FREQUENCY UNTIL THE END OF ROLL CALL AND TRAFFIC AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR ALL STATIONS NAVE BEEN PASSED. 6. Do not list traffic for stations within local landline 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 the traffic by whatever means necessary. If unable to deliver the traffic, the originator should be promptly advised. -4-

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 BY THE 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 for running into the following Net's time. 13. All operators are reminded of the required 3 second pause before beginning a transmission. To avoid 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

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 was recognized 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

Captain Bennetts Aerospace Educator of the year award:

Lt Harlan receives his Safety Officer of the year from Major Randolph

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