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FLIGHT LOGPell City SquadronAlabama Wing  – Civil Air Patrol 

March 2010

CALENDAR

Mar 4th Cadet meeting 1800-2030

5th

Cadet Trip to Planetarium @JSU 1645

11th Cadet meeting 1800-2030

Officers Meeting 1830-203013th Commanders Call MXF 0900

18th Cadet meeting 1800-2030

18th

-21st Thunder Over the Valley Columbus

GA.( Air-show)

23rd Officer Meeting @ BHM Museum of 

Flight 1900-2100 (AOPA safety Sem)

25th Cadet meeting 1800-2030

26th-28th WESS

25th

-28th Maxwell AFB Air-show

Commanders Corner:

“The Only Constant, is Change”, I have heard

this saying for a great many years. What does this

mean to us? Let us take a moment to examine a fewof the changes that have affected our Squadron.

We have an excellent aircraft.

We have an excellent large capacity van.

We have increased our communicationscapability.

We have increased the number of Officers

and Cadets in our ranks.We have increased our professionaldevelopment.

We have increased the number of Aircrewand Ground Team members.

We have convenient meeting areas withadequate capacity for our members.

We have an Operations Room at our hangerat the airport.

We have a new Wing Commander.

We have a new Wing Vice Commander.

We have a new Squadron Commander.

We have a new Squadron DeputyCommander for Seniors.

We have a new Cadet Commander.

These changes mentioned have taken place becauseof the hard work of many people. We have seen

many members move through the positions of authority in our organization. We have watched as

each one brought their strengths, experience and

energy and used it to help our organization. We arestronger because their efforts have made many

positive changes that make us more effective in our

missions.

Join me in thanking Captain Christopher Iddins forhis tireless work as our Squadron Commander. Let

us also take the time to thank all of our pastSquadron Commanders. Join me in welcoming ColLisa Robinson as our new Wing Commander, and

Lt. Col. Brad Lynn as our new Wing Vice-

Commander.

I want to ask each of you for your continued support

as I assume the task of Squadron Commander for

the Pell City Composite Squadron. I know that withyour support we will continue to be successful.

Captain James T GosnellSquadron Commander, 118

 _________________________________________

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First Lieutenant Ron Harlan

Safety Corner: This past weekend, the Pell City Squadron participated

in a state-wide training SAREX designed to test the

ALWG’s ability to conduct the exercise from a remotelocation and requiring the squadrons to operate in and

out of their own home base. 118 was assigned a photo-

reconnaissance mission involving one site just NW of 

Cheaha Mountain and one south of Alexander City. Theday was clear but windy and gusty. The wind, at our

flight altitude, varied from 16 to 20 knots from the NW.

When obtaining the photos of the Cheaha site, the

photographer, peering through a telephoto lens, and the

observer, looking down to record the photo shots, bothbecame very queasy. Although the FAA definition of 

this turbulence would have probably been light to

moderate, it was bumpy, to say the least. Had our

assigned target area been on the downwind side of the

mountain, we could not have carried it out at a low

altitude due to the strong down drafts from the wind

current rushing over the ridge. With March coming on us

with its historically strong, gusty winds, I think it will be

useful to review some of our Mountain Flying notes

from a previous safety meeting:

Technically, Alabama does not have any terrain over

3,000’ MSL. However, many of our flight areasapproach that elevation and we could be charged with

conducting searches in the neighboring states of TN and

GA that do have high terrain. The following pointers are

from AOPA’s Interactive Mountain Flying course thatyou can access from the AOPA web site,

www.aopa.com. 

Mountain flying poses a higher risk level due to a

number of factors:

-   Density altitude. While we need to be aware of DA

considerations in our flat land flying, operating

around high elevations when DA is a factor

increases the risk because you are already operating

at higher altitude. Climb rates are lower, terrain can

rise much faster than the climb capability of the

aircraft, and you may be more susceptible to the

classic stall/spin situation with no room for

recovery. 

-   Night flying. Flying at night in mountainous areas

should really be considered an IFR situation even if 

conducted VFR. You are more likely to lose the

horizon as a reference and terrain avoidance

becomes more difficult after dark. If you are not

prepared to fly IFR, it is best to limit your

mountainous flight operations to daylight only.

-  Weather. The increased risk of flying in adverse

weather nearly goes off the chart when you are in

mountainous areas. We all lament the fate of some

of the pilots that we have searched for around the

local ridges. Use proper techniques and risk 

avoidance to make sure we aren’t the subjects of aSAR.

-   Flight planning. Preplanning in high elevations is

essential to safely conducting operations there. In

low ceiling operations, a lot of thought must be

given to maintaining ground clearance and staying

out of the clouds at the same time. You could use

IFR enroute charts to help avoid high terrain since

their Off Route Obstruction Clearance Altitudes will

give you at least 1,000’ of clearance from anyobstacle in the area.

-  Winds. In flat land flying, strong winds cause us

concern with our ground speed and cross-wind

landings. Around ridges and mountains, even the

relatively low ones in our area, strong winds canproduce downdrafts on the leeward side that

overcome the aircraft’s max climb rate. 

N261CA has a terrain mapping feature on its MFD. It is

not approved for terrain avoidance but it can be useful

for keeping you aware of nearby terrain elevations.

Practice good crew resource management and makeeveryone on board aware of the risks inherent in high

terrain operations and equally responsible for ground

and obstacle avoidance! 

Stay Safe! Ronald Harlan,Safety Officer/Squadron 118

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Cadets Page

Cadet: Paul Bedford receives his Curry Award

February has been a busy month for everyone in

the cadet program! We all started with the AlabamaWing Conference on Feb 5th and 6th.Senior

members attended breakout sessions on Aerospace

and Cadet Programs. We heard some really goodplans for the cadets coming in the future and we

hope that everything discussed will come to

fruition.

On Thursday February 11th

, three of our cadets

Nathan Bedford, Michael Norwood and Christian

Norwood went for Syllabus 7 Orientation Rides

Many thanks to our pilot, Roy Smith.February 13

thbrought us SNOW along with the

ALWG Color Guard Competition in Clanton, Al.Congratulations to the Bessemer squadron for their

win and great job to the other squadrons that

participated.In our squadron Al-118 we have had a cadet staff 

application and interview process ongoing all

month. The Change of Command ceremony will be

Feb 25th

, 2010 at the Community Center. We havesome very talented cadets in our squadron as

evidenced by the resume process and then theinterview process.

Not only in the squadron do our cadets succeed.Friday, Feb 19th brought the Technology Fair to

JSU in which C/CMSgt Brian Scott brought home 3

gold medals, one in Individual ComputerProgramming, one in Team Computer

Programming, and one in Internet Technology. Also

C/CMSgt Jerrod Finlay brought home the gold for

Video Production. These cadets had to be at JSU at7:00 am Friday morning, stay almost all day and

then both attended WESS for the weekend. Cadet

Finlay was asked about the reaction of his parents to

his winning a gold medal and his reply was he

really didn’t know because he had not had time to

go home after leaving the competition; he had tocatch his ride to WESS.

During the month of January we had NINE pass

tests for promotions. There were four that passedAchievement 1-the Curry award; Paul Bedford,

Allaina Howard, Michael Norwood and Christian

Norwood promoted to Cadet Airman. Daniel Smith

completed Achievement 5 to receive his rank of C/MSgt. Three cadets passed Achievement 7 and

promoted to C/CMSgt; Jerrod Finlay, Wes Morris,

and Brian Scott.

Nathaniel Bedford achieved the Wright Bros

award, which is the first milestone award. This

means he has passed the first three achievementsplus taken a comprehensive exam in leadership and

a physical training test.

Thanks to everybody involved with making ourCadet Program a success. Each one embodies allaspects of the Cadet Oath which is;

The Cadet Oath

“I pledge that I will serve faithfully in the Civil

Air Patrol Cadet Program and that I will attend

meetings regularly, participate actively in unit

activities, obey my officers, wear my uniform

properly, and advance my education and

training rapidly to prepare myself to be of 

service to my community, state, and nation.” 

Capt Cindy Bennett

AL-118 DCC

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Communications Tip 

Net Professionalism:

This list of guidelines is intended to aid all Alabamacommunicators, and make it possible to pass moretraffic quickly and efficiently while adding

professionalism

1. When checking in without traffic say: "This is

Golden Rod __ over”

2. When checking in with traffic say: “This isGolden Rod __ (list traffic and station it is for)

over.”

3. Have a pad by your radio and make a list, before

the net, of stations to whom you wish to pass traffic.

To prevent redundancy and to insure that yourmessage is complete, have traffic written.

4. Stay by your radio when traffic is listed for you

or your squadron, and be ready to promptly acceptthe traffic.

5. Advise Net Control if you need to close early

when you check in. YOU ARE EXPECTED TOREMAIN ON FREQUENCY UNTIL THE END

OF ROLL CALL AND TRAFFIC AND

ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR ALL STATIONSNAVE BEEN PASSED.

6. Do not list traffic for stations within locallandline or with whom you are in reliable VHF/FM

contact.

7. If frequency conditions are bad, pass traffic only

if you have a sufficiently good signal. Otherwise,

hold for a later net.

8. It may help to turn down other radios and TV

during the net.

9. Stations accepting traffic are obligated to pass thetraffic by whatever means necessary. If unable to

deliver the traffic, the originator should be promptly

advised.

10. Stations participating in the Net are obligated to

pick up all traffic and announcements for their units

and relay to the proper person(s).

11. DO NOT RELAY DURING A NET UNLESS

SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BYTHE NET CONTROL STATION (NCS).

12. When Net is closed with less than one minute of

net time left, do not transmit. There is no excuse forrunning into the following Net's time.

13. All operators are reminded of the required 3

second pause before beginning a transmission. Toavoid unnecessary duals, wait for the other station

to say "over

14. If you are checking in other stations at your

location or on VHF/FM, please check them at the

proper time during the Net.

J.M. Randolph, Major

Communication Officer

AL118

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Captain Bennett’s Aerospace Educator of the year award:

Lt Harlan receives his Safety Officer of the year from

Major Randolph

Captain Iddins accepts the safety squadron of the year

from Major Randolph:

AL-118 Receives awards at

Wing Conference:

During the Wing conference this year Pell

City Composite Squadron AL-118 received

numerous awards. Captain Cindy Bennett

was recognized for her hard work by

receiving the Aerospace Educator of the

year award. Lt Ron Harlan was recognized

for his excellent work as the squadron safety

officer by receiving the safety officer of the

year award. And the squadron wasrecognized as the safety squadron of the

year. I want to thanks everyone who helped

make these awards possible. It takes a joint

effort to make these awards a reality.

Captain: Chris Iddins

AL-118 Stan/Eval