Are the $100 hamburgers getting old? Have you visited every airport restaurant within 100 miles so many times that the staff greets you by name and has your favorite meal ready? Did you already give all your friends rides, so that you are now reduced to approaching people on the street, like the press gangs of early naval warfare, hoping to find someone to go flying with you? Since most people don't have the unlimited resources necessary to go hop in an airplane whenever they want to, maintaining currency and proficiency can be a problem. Even if you do have unlimited cash, boring holes in the sky can get old pretty fast. Because of this, many pilots end up flying just a few times a year. In the meantime, the flying skills they worked so hard to develop get pretty rusty. This in turn leads to days when less active pilots don't feel safe to fly because of conditions like a gusty crosswind, which means flying skills deteriorate even further. It sure would be nice to have a way to stay current while doing some interesting flying.

What if I told you there was a way to fly regularly at a reduced cost or even for free? How about if your expenses could be tax deductible and you would be helping your country and your fellow pilots at the same time? Sound too good to be true? Absolutely not! The Civil Air Patrol offers all this and more. Most pilots are familiar with the cadet program the CAP runs for young people. However, many pilots may not be aware that the CAP also has senior squadrons that often have an aircraft assigned to them and offer numerous opportunities to maintain currency and even increase your skills as a pilot. In fact, the CAP operates the largest fleet of single-engine aircraft in the world, with 546 aircraft owned by the CAP, and hundreds of other aircraft owned by members and available for use by the CAP.

The CAP actually got started at the beginning of World War II patrolling our eastern seaboard for enemy submarines. The CAP was credited with locating 173 submarines. CAP aircraft attacked 57 of those submarines, hitting 10 and sinking two, all using small general aviation aircraft. A German commander testified to the effectiveness of the CAP Coastal Patrol when he confirmed that coastal U-boat operations were ended because of "those damned little red and yellow airplanes." While CAP aircraft no longer hunt for submarines, there are actually a number of exciting missions CAP members fly:

Counterdrug Missions
For over 15 years, the CAP has supported the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Customs Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Forest Service in the fight to stem the flow of drugs into and within our country. CAP members provide aerial reconnaissance, airborne communication support and airlift of law enforcement personnel. Our local squadron, located in Payson, Arizona, usually flies several missions each month along the U. S. border searching for suspicious activity. There is a humanitarian aspect to these missions as the aircrew also direct aid to illegal immigrants who may be dying in the desert.

Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Services
At the request of the governor of New York, on September 12th CAP provided the first direct aerial perspective of the World Trade Center disaster site. The high-resolution photos the aircrew provided were of immediate value to rescue and security personnel at Ground Zero. Over 21 CAP Wings were involved in transportation missions related to the attack on the World Trade Center. Within hours of the terrorist attacks, CAP flew thousands of pints of blood, critical medical supplies and equipment to aid the rescue efforts. The Civil Air Patrol was also active following the explosion of Mount Saint Helens in 1980, the San Francisco earthquake of 1991, and many other disasters that have affected our country in the last 60 years.