This “corner” is meant for all flight crew members. Part of this is in the form of a Forum to provide a place for the exchange of ideas,  concerns, suggestions, etc. Thus input is invited from pilots, regardless of  CAP “rating”, observers and scanners. It should be kept in mind that this means professional and technical issues only. This is not the place for personal items, which must be handled privately.  Many thanks to Lt Col Hans van den Biggelaar for optimizing this forum page for our use.

As Hans pointed out, another reason for having this method of interchange is the fact that there are frequent changes in the regulations and procedures. Also there are many more different activities, such as tow and glider operations. Besides we now have a more diverse fleet such as C-172s, C-182s (including the Glass Cockpit C-182), U206, C-172RG, Maule MT7 and a glider. Although our Wing doesn’t own them all, our crews have access to them and fly them. The crews now also have to contend with a greater variety of electronics, even within the same type of aircraft. Therefore this forum would provide a convenient place for suggestions of how to efficiently use that equipment and letting us all know of problems that are discovered and possible work-arounds. This isn’t just limited to the navigation gear, but includes as well the audio panels and com radios. Unfortunately there is practically no standardization of equipment any more.

Aside from the issues directly related to flying, navigating and communicating, we have photo missions, which add a whole new set of procedures and equipment to the mix. There certainly have been problems in this area and this would be the place where the experts can help those not familiar with that equipment or tell us about some neat tricks they have come up with.

During a training or actual mission the pilot has his/her hands full with just flying the plane, so the observer is often relied upon to handle the non-ATC-related communications and is required to be able to set up the GPS as well as to input enroute changes to flight plans etc. It’s therefore that I mentioned in the beginning that this Forum is for flight crew members, not just pilots. Scanners may feel that they are not concerned with all of this, however, scanner is the entry step to observer.

I am always interested in suggestions and/or recommendations for improving this forum.  Please feel free to send them to my e-mail address listed below.

Capt Don Davidson Jr, NHWG/DOV