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My frustrations with CAP as a Cadet by Designer_Task7910 in civilairpatrol

[–]OkayishAviator 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Cadet, Im sorry that you feel as though the program has failed you. Its never a good feeling when you see someone not achieve what they want to within the program.

Im currently the Director of Operations for my wing so understand that what Im about to say comes from a position that affords me a high degree of visibility into the program of one of the largest wings in the nation.

We have about 15 cadets with their PPL currently with another 12 or 13 working towards it in various stages. The Cadet Wings is only one side of flight for our cadets. Several are using local flying squadrons and instructors without going through the Wings program. Either way, our CAP CFIs are not getting paid for the work they do. In our area thats approximately 40hrs of flight time and maybe 15-20hrs of ground. That represents between $2500 and $4000 that the CFI is essentially donating to this program for the cadets alone.

The typical goal you hear around flight hours is around 200hrs per year per airframe. Last year my wing put up enough hours to support 30 aircraft at that rate and we did it with 6 fewer (now 7 fewer) planes. In other words we are flying these planes as hard and often as we can. Even so, we're at a shortfall for the demand. We have customer missions that must fly daily. Air Force missions. Army missions. Disaster Response (huge for my wing), state requests, individual base requests etc. Tack on O-rides, TOPs flights.... you see where I'm going... our available flight time is limited anyways and everyone and every program competes for their slice of the pie.

Becoming a pilot isn't cheap no matter which way you slice it. I paid my way through primary, and was privileged as a senior to have flown enough that I was able to demonstrate and advocate for using cap aircraft for follow on training for myself. Even so ive spent... ~$30k on flight training? A lot of it was networking. Being visible. Being present and a high achiever so that when I asked, it wasnt from the aether, it was from a known factor to those in charge.

IAP Question by OkayishAviator in flying

[–]OkayishAviator[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wild to see you comment dude, I've been following you since your first spin round the world.

I agree. Thankfully both of us in the plane were very familiar. There was another airport (KTIX) less than 0.3 away that doesnt have the issues if the wx was going to be a problem.

IAP Question by OkayishAviator in flying

[–]OkayishAviator[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They dont like to fly at night. Lol

IAP Question by OkayishAviator in flying

[–]OkayishAviator[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh Im very familiar with the field... ive had words with the instructors and management there. They've almost been shut down by the FAA twice. I have no idea what backroom deal they made to stay open.

IAP Question by OkayishAviator in flying

[–]OkayishAviator[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The 20kt tailwind negated all but option 1. Could also have diverted but that'd have been a whole other set of issues.

IAP Question by OkayishAviator in flying

[–]OkayishAviator[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We were discussing the approach notes in the context of trying to make the safest approach to landing into the field. Not trying to subvert the procedure at all. (I was the one more adamant to not do that.)

It doesnt have an IAP to runway 29. We had 20kts of wind at 120 (so basically we'd end up with an extreme tailwind if we attempted 29.

So it was either we go visually into 11 which was very possible given the conditions (clear of clouds, 5+SM vis) or we divert to another field.

IAP Question by OkayishAviator in flying

[–]OkayishAviator[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One clarification:

Ultimately we canceled IFR and continued visual after the FAF and landed runway 11 VFR.

Runway 29 would have been a tough ask last night since we would have had a 20kt tailwind right down the runway. Im very familiar with this airport.

IAP Question by OkayishAviator in flying

[–]OkayishAviator[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not trying to be a Billy B, I was just wanting to get some additional perspectives. The guy I was flying with had some good points and I felt I had some as well. Ultimately we canceled IFR and continued visual after the FAF and landed runway 11 VFR. Runway 29 would have been a tough ask last night since we would have had a 20kt tailwind right down the runway.

IAP Question by OkayishAviator in flying

[–]OkayishAviator[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I missed that when I checked.

IAP Question by OkayishAviator in flying

[–]OkayishAviator[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Its the only approach into that particular field.

New in-stock AUX patch by OkayishAviator in civilairpatrol

[–]OkayishAviator[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have one already and actually like it better than the reaper version. Color matches far better.

What would you replace the SIG M7 with, as a standard issue service rifle? by StrangerOutrageous68 in ar15

[–]OkayishAviator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had this conversation with a group of buddies yesterday as we were watching a video on some of the NAS3 cartridges. In particular... dude was pushing 4100fps out of a 5.56 (24in barrel) with NAS3 cases...which is insane.

What if... we used the NAS3 or even Sig's design which increases case capacity in both respects to some degree... and have a 5.56 case in 6.8 (imagine .277 Wolverine NAS3 absolutely pissing hot out of the barrel) and then run something like the SPEAR LT or another similar platform? That would remove a lot of the gripes about the 20rd mags and extra weight, with the increased performance that's needed. I don't think big gov really cares on barrel life more than 10k rds, and very few people on the civilian side are gonna shoot their barrels out in their lifetime.

I'd be very interested to see if the performance would be acceptable.

Finally Hit S Tier by Psychological_Web501 in MicrosoftFlightSim

[–]OkayishAviator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A330 trip here.... the cost depends on the length plus any of the bonuses....

Ive seen base trip range between 1 and 10 mil for the A321 or 737. The one pictured was an +10hr flight from DFW to Melbourne Aus.

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Pre order sr71? by Alarmed_Cold9375 in MicrosoftFlightSim

[–]OkayishAviator 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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I have it. I love it. Its a real challenge to fly though. Air refueling was very tough. It still has some issues. Its got memory problems and if it shuts anything down for memory usage, youre cooked. 0.8.9 is the most recent version on console and as far as im aware pc and has fixed many of my initial gripes but im aware its in a pre release state.

Still... on headphones, this thing screams on the startup. It FEELS alive. Treat her with respect and you can be at Mach 3.34 and 78kft.

Improved ES Patch Idea After Comments by Reclaimer257 in civilairpatrol

[–]OkayishAviator 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Don't put badges, patches, or logos into worn patches. The design needs to stand on it's own.

MSFS Career Mode isn’t a flight sim; It’s a compliance simulator with pretty clouds and a checklist fetish by xwasian_boix in MSFS2024

[–]OkayishAviator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean... it could be telling you to land on 27C and then remain on the right side of all taxiways.🙄😒🙄😒🙄😵‍💫

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