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North Carolina Wing Conducts Flight Clinic

Pilots listening intently
2 of 4
Newest NC Pilots listening intently (r-l SM Brad Durrett, SM Jason Dorsey, SM Calvin Mayo, SM Darren Wilson), CAP photo by Maj Craig Winkelmann
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33 Pilots Complete Ground School

11/15/2010––The Operations Staff of the North Carolina Wing conducted a highly successful Flight Clinic at Wing Headquarters in Burlington on November 6th.  This was the first flight clinic conducted using new guidance from National Headquarters that brought back a program that had been out of use for several years.  The day long event included 4 hours of ground instruction followed by flight operations.  33 pilots participated including 9 instructors, plus TSgt Randy Dean (CAP-USAF Reserve Assistance NCO) and one cadet from the Asheboro squadron.  

The flight clinic had originally been proposed as a Form5 clinic for Group 2, but with the new guidance the decision was made to open the activity to all the pilots in the wing.  Major Craig Winkelmann from the Raleigh-Wake Squadron who is also the Group 2 StanEval officer put the original plan together. He  along with Major Joey Surles coordinated the ground instructors and put together the agenda for the day. Captain John May from the Burlington Squadron coordinated all the air operations including the inbound and outbound flights and the training/proficiency flights flown from Burlington.  Despite a bit of a slow start getting all the aircraft to Burlington due to some weather, 7 North Carolina and 1 Middle East Region aircraft participated in the flight clinic.

The ground instruction covered a wide range of topics to meet the requirements from National Headquarters. These included:

  • Overview of the Aspen EFD1000 PFD, Garmin GMX200 and Garmin GNS430 avionics package (refurbished C-172), presented by Col Ragland
  • CAPR 60-1 Review and North Carolina Wing Procedures presented by Major Joey Surles
  • Flight Operation Procedures presented by Major Jim Shepard
  • Checklists and Emergency Procedures presented by Capt David Morse
  • CAP Crew Resource Management presented by Major Vic Carnevale

The flight profiles were selected from the FAA WINGS Pilot Proficiency program at www.faasafety.gov, with each pilot choosing the profile that best fit their needs. During the course of the afternoon 16 profiency flights were flown in 8 aircraft, including 7 from NC Wing and 1 from Middle East Region. Several Form5 Check rides were conducted as well.

Each participant received FAA WINGS credit for the ground school and those who flew a WINGS profile also received WINGS credit for the flight portion. Additionally each participant satisfied their recurrent CAP safety education requirement and this activity satisifed several key items in the Fall MER Safety Blitz.

This was a truly outstanding activity that would not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of all the instructors and participants.  Additionally Kathy Gaddy, the wing administrator assisted in the handling of the various paperwork and worked out fueling arrangements with the FBO that dramatically simplified the overall operation.