One pilot and a photographer were killed and the co-pilot injured in the crash of a Civil Air Patrol Cessna 182 in Colorado on Saturday. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issued a statement identifying the deceased as pilot Susan Wolber and photographer Jay Rhoten. The injured co-pilot, Randall Settergen, was airlifted to a hospital.
Sad to hear about the crash.
How is CAP funded? Government? Donations? Participants?
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a volunteer nonprofit with over 60,000 members and more than 500 small planes. Started in 1941 and connected to the Air Force in 1948, CAP helps with search and rescue, aerial reconnaissance, disaster response, youth aviation education programs.
It’s funded by the federal government, state and local support, member fees, donations, and grants.
I’ve never really understood the point of the CAP. Seems like it emphasizes the ‘nerd’ quality of flying without actually flying. [flame on]
CAP Key Points (Read PDF file)
65K+ Volunteers
Consists of a diverse organization of more than
65,000 volunteer youth and adult members in
1,416 squadrons nationwide.
$253M+ Value of Service
Contributed $253,199,495 in volunteer service hours in
2023, which represents a 3.7:1 return on investment for
the year.
60 Lives Saved
Saved 60 lives through Air Force-assigned search and
rescue efforts in 2023, thanks in large part to the assistance of CAP’s National Cell Phone Forensics and Radar Analysis teams.
540+ Powered Aircraft
Operates the largest fleet of single-engine piston aircraft in the world, with 544 aircraft available.
101K+ Flight Hours
Flew 101,584 hours in 2023, conducting Air Forceassigned missions as well as providing critical support for states and communities.
37K+ Orientation Flights
Provided 37,356 orientation flights to CAP cadets,as well as Air Force ROTC and Junior ROTC cadets.
484K+ STEM Impact
Impacted more than 484,319 youth through CAP’s STEM Kit education program.
I have a friend who flew a lot of CAP flights. Search and rescue in and around the Cascade mountains in the Pacific Northwest. Dangerous, important work.
CAP is attached to 1st Air Force. Funding comes from it.
Having flown numerous CAP search and rescue missions – over water in Hawaii and in the canyonlands of Arizona, I can attest that at times missions are dangerous.
CAP members are volunteers who give their time and money, and in this instance, their lives, to make the U.S. safer.
A CAP aircraft was the first in WW II to sink a U-boat.
After 9/11, the only aircraft besides USAF, flying were CAP planes.
This goes back a significant number of decades. Our Marin County CAP Unit had 2 T-34s, awesome airplanes both for search and maintaining currency. This was an era when ELT’s first appeared.
Often the only information available at search initiation was departure point, intended destination, weather .
We did a lot of training in Northern California and a number of searches. In that era the airplanes were available for members with Mission Pilot ratings to fly at something like $12/hr dry.
Magnificent instrument trainer that also allowed practice into full spins under the hood. My sympathy went out to the USAF cadets who learned instrument flying in the rear cockpit which also featured (when the USAF flew them) a cover which precluded ANY light or visibility from the outside.
While light on power the sound from the augmentor tubes was fantastic .
Cadets who participated in Saturday work parties and had parental permission often got a backseat ride including some stick time.
The CAP gets a lot of criticism, based on my experience with this one Sq and era was that we performed a valuable service and had a lot of fun. Great mix of a few WWII vets and some Korean vets.
Sounds like it. My exposure to the CAP is limited, but I was thoroughly unimpressed with it when I was… so I’m glad there is more to the story!
I was a CAP cadet back in the 1950’s, it was instrumental in moving me to join the USAF. The level of funding they received back then was nothing remotely resembling what is being described. We had nothing but some cast-off surplus, primarily a Stinson L-5 taildragger with a bad battery.
The Civil Air Patrol is a wonderful organization and performs a valuable service to US Aviation Industry. It provides a great introduction for young people to aviation by providing Aerospace Education and limited flight training. It also provides search and rescue for lost aircraft.
I am a retired airline pilot spending 35 years flying all over the world and I got my introduction to aviation in the Civil Air Patrol. The organization inspired me to pursue a career in aviation. When I joined the organization it received no money from the government and all funds were donated by members. Whatever the cost today, the money is a great value for every dollar spent and results in many lives saved and countless inspiration to young to pursue aviation careers.
I joined a CAP squadron in the early 90’s primarily for the time building opportunity through either funded missions or discounted personal flying when available (around $25/hour dry if I remember correctly for a 172). Wasn’t too much into the military pomp and circumstance after having been an Air Force dependent for 20 something years, but it was a small price to pay for the benefit derived. Lots of interesting missions conducting drug interdiction, a few SAR’s and a “sunset” patrol on the weekends up and down a portion of the Mississippi river looking for stranded boaters or wayward barges. Fun!
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