It’s like Christmas in July for many of Civil Air Patrol’s aviation-minded members, who are filling the skies during what’s typically CAP’s flying season.
“Summertime is always a peak operational period for Civil Air Patrol,” said John W. Desmarais, Sr., CAP’s chief operating officer.
“Cadets are out of school and participating in a variety of events [like our aviation initiatives], and this is also a peak time for disasters and training to support our communities impacted by them.”
In the last four months of this fiscal year ending Sept. 30, Desmarais estimates, “we will fly 40,000 hours or more across our fleet supporting the varied operational activities of CAP.”
To put that into perspective, CAP aircrews have already flown nearly 60,000 hours in the first eight months of fiscal 2025. That number at year’s end will likely surpass the 100,000-hour mark again once the flying season slows down in September, as is typical for CAP.
CAP logged 102,642 flying hours in fiscal 2024.
“Percentages vary from year to year as there are surge events due to disaster and other unscheduled events sometimes, but flying 40% or more of our total hours in the last third of the year is normal,” Desmarais said.
Cadet Programs’ youth activities will account for a big chunk of the summertime flight.
“There have been consistently more than 20 check rides scheduled or in progress over the past few months,” said Kathrine Schmidt, CAP’s senior program manager for cadet aviation. “The most being 22 scheduled at one time. That is the highest number I can remember at one time.
“We will be celebrating a lot of new pilots soon!”
To date, 418 Civil Air Patrol youth have received their private pilot certificates through Cadet Wings, founded in 2019 as part of CAP’s Youth Aviation Initiative created to help address a national pilot shortage. The program relies on financial support from the U.S. Air Force and various entities, including the Ray Foundation and its James C. Ray Flight Training Scholarships.
So far this year, Schmidt said, Cadet Wings has logged more than 4,830 flying hours.
With 14 on-site National Flight Academies scheduled this summer expected to attract about 2,000 cadets, thousands more flying hours are expected.
The Southwest Region Powered Flight Academy in Ada, Oklahoma, hosted 20 cadets June 12-22.
Cadets attending the academy, as well as other National Flight Academies, receive the opportunity to work with aviation professionals, civilian and military, who share their expertise on how to prepare for a career as an aviator.
The goal of every academy, Schmidt said, is to give cadets an opportunity to fly about 10 hours, weather and schedule permitting, and receive instruction from a Federal Aviation Administration-certificated flight instructor. Cadets are given appropriate ground and air instruction and opportunities to practice/perform assigned maneuvers.
For some, there’s also the chance to solo — an important first step in receiving a private pilot certificate.
“If you do the math, 20 cadets times 10 hours of instruction, that’s 200 flying hours right there,” Schmidt said. “And that’s just one flight academy. Multiply that by 14 and you’re talking thousands of hours just for the flight academies.
“And that does not include the hours for ground instruction.”
She added, “CAP cadets spend their summer in the clouds — some will log more time flying than driving cars. Every CAP cadet deserves safe, engaging, and fun opportunities to spread their wings — and we’re proud to make that possible — every flight, every summer.”
CAP orientation flights, offered to all cadets as well as Air Force Junior ROTC and Air Force ROTC cadets, are underway as well. Nearly 4,000 “O-flights” – 3,891 to be exact – where provided from May- July 2024.
Similar numbers are expected this year.
“High-value activities like these not only prepare cadets for training but also keep them engaged, motivated, and connected to Civil Air Patrol’s core mission,” Schmidt said.
“Whether it’s orientation flights, ground schools, national flight academies, or local squadron events, activity engagement is at the heart of Cadet Programs — building skills, confidence, and a lifelong passion for aviation.”
Like the cadets who have more time in the summer for flying, the same is true of CAP’s adult members. More pilot proficiency and emergency services training flights are available this time of the year, and search and rescue efforts are more often ramped up to find missing people also out and about during the summer months.
Since he joined CAP as a cadet in 1987 and worked in its operations directorate for over 26 years, Desmarais has looked forward to CAP’s flying season.
“I’ve now been an employee over 30 years, and the missions have changed significantly over that time as we adapt to our changing world, and I know CAP will continue to do that,” he said.
Training for the evolving missions Desmarais mentioned begins at activities like the National Emergency Services Academy, which CAP hosted June 30-July 6 at Camp Atterbury in Indiana.
Nearly 70 adults and cadets attended the Mission Aircrew School, among the 229 CAP members attending NESA this year. Participants completed 104 flights during the weeklong training, logging nearly 170 hours in 18 CAP aircraft.
Eric Templeton, CAP’s senior program manager for operations training, said the aircrew students successfully completed Specialty Qualifications Training Records forms verifying their training and task completions for CAP’s national curriculum for aerial photography, mission scanner, mission observer, mission pilot, and orthoimagery.
“Our cadet students participated and earned aircrew wings in mission scanner and aerial photography,” Templeton said, adding that the cadet staff team was in charge of the communications room radios and the flight line under the direction of qualified adult members.
Regardless of the mission or the training, Desmarais — the provost and founder of NESA — urged caution in the months ahead, as safety is a top priority for CAP.
“With so many things happening, I’d be remiss if I didn’t emphasize the need to prepare and conduct safe operations,” he said. “We are provided great resources to conduct our missions, and parents entrust Civil Air Patrol with their children, our precious future, and taking the steps to do things safely and effectively is key to our long-term success.
“Thank you to everyone working hard to make sure that CAP is successful at all levels; it is a great team effort, and I look forward to all that the CAP team continues to do.”
