Civil Air Patrol Cadets Get Glider Training

WOODBINE — If you were in the area of the airport here and looked to the sky last week, you could have seen the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in action.
Two CAP groups, the Cape May County Composite Squadron and the Falcon Squadron of Long Island, N.Y., participated in cadet glider training from Aug. 13 – 17.
In this training, around 20 young men and women ages 12 – 21 from across the region were taken up with an instructor in one
of two gliders to practice becoming a pilot. Senior members of CAP also participated.
The gliders, a Switzer 2-33 and a Blanik LET L-23, are both former Air Force training gliders.
“I was up in both gliders,” Cadet Tristan Kooker told the Herald. “It was a lot of fun.”
Kooker, 15, is going into his junior year at Ocean City High School and has been in CAP for three years.
In addition to several free pilot-training sessions, the cadet program includes aviation and aerospace education, emergency medical training as well as moral leadership education.
Kooker agreed with the observation that CAP’s cadet program was like the “flying boy scouts.”
“Some cadets like the emergency training and some like the flying,” Kooker said. “I like both.”
“After seeing how much he enjoyed the program, I decided to join too,” said Sandra Kooker, Tristan’s mother and the squadron’s public affairs officer. “It’s a great organization for both cadets and senior members.”
CAP was formed in 1941 by citizens concerned about the defense of America’s coastline during World War II. The group is an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force and now has three primary missions – aerospace education, emergency services and cadet programs.
The patrol is a leader in aerospace education providing curriculum development, classroom materials, teacher training and annual conferences.
CAP emergency services conduct 95 percent of inland search and rescue missions saving an average of 100 lives a year. CAP pilots also perform disaster relief, blood and body tissue transportation, damage-assessment and assists federal agencies in the war on drugs.
The cadet program, with 23,000 members, offers training as well as college scholarship and military incentives.
With 15 cadets and 25 seniors, the local squadron is always looking for new members. They meet on Thursdays on the second floor of the terminal building at the Cape May County Airport in Erma. For more information, call 609-889-1400.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com