A working group is reviewing Civil Air Patrol’s glider program in the wake of Maj. Gen. Regena Aye’s November announcement that the program would be paused for the duration of 2025.
“Our glider fleet will not be viable for the long term without significant investment and a clear plan on how to position our organization to serve the next generation of glider pilots,” Aye wrote then.
The pause is intended to permit a holistic review to determine how the glider program adds value to the organization, how it can be improved, and how CAP may be able to improve glider and pilot safety and accountability in the future.
The working group consists of:
Col. Jason Hess, commander of the Rocky Mountain Region;
Col. Virginia Nelson, outgoing commander of the Pacific Region;
Michael Nunemaker, chief strategy officer;
Mike Valdez, chief logistics management officer; and
Kristina Jones, chief growth officer.
Also contributing as partners from CAP-USAF are :
Chris Hamm, director of safety,
Durk Gerhardt, Southwest Liaison Region reserve operations director, and
Jason Ceminsky, North Central Liaison Region reserve coordinator.
The group’s task is to dig into the details of how the glider program has historically been delivered, gather data and best practices from the field, assess that information, and provide recommendations for the program’s future to CAP leadership.
Since forming the working group in late November, the team, which meets weekly, has drafted an initial charter outlining a scope of work aligned with Aye’s message to the field. The charter emphasizes the need to remain strategic in approach so the working group can provide salient analysis and recommendations with the aim of ensuring the glider program’s overall success as well as for CAP as a national organization.
The group’s work is planned in three phases:
Phase I: Audit
Phase II: Assess
Phase III: Recommend
Phase I: Audit Once the charter was drafted, the team turned its attention to collecting data from myriad sources from within the organization. These data points include member participation, management costs, and scalability and will enable a full-scale audit of the program as it exists and how it has been run the last several years.
Combing through eServices/Ops Quals, Operational Risk Management, WIMRS, the Safety Information System, and previous fieldwork on the glider program, the team continues its data-collection work.
This work has led to a significant number of datapoints and discoveries, including learning that:
366 CAP members have held a glider pilot qualification at one point. Of those, 154 are “Active.”
CAP has 41 gliders with an average airframe age of 33 years.
CAP has 54 tow planes with an average age of 25 years.
In addition to seeking information from internal sources, the working group will soon expand its data-gathering efforts to include the larger glider community.
Phase II: Assess Once the working group has collected data internally and externally, subgroups will be formed to understand and assess what the data illustrates and how it can inform decision-making.
In the coming months, subgroups will be formed with the task of looking at specific program areas to uncover themes, patterns, and any shortcomings. These findings will form the basis of the working group’s third phase or work: recommending courses of action.
Phase III: Recommend Finally, the core working group will compile courses of action to recommend to Aye.
“We must maintain a strategic mindset in our approach to this work and take the time required to be thoughtful,” Hess said. “While pockets of qualitative success are valuable, quantitative data drives our decision-making.
“Thinking strategically will enable us to create courses of action that ensure sustainability and scalability while also understanding safety needs and inform access opportunities across CAP.”
Courses of action for Aye’s consideration are anticipated by the end of 2025 and will inform the possibilities of how the glider program can be structured into 2026 and beyond.
