Civil Air Patrol


The Civil Air Patrol is a great opportunity for Cadets enrolled in the ROTC program. It offers leadership training as well as ground school and avaition instruction. You even have the opportunity to fly, actually control the plane, on four separate occasions throughout your ROTC career. This is a terrific segway into the Air Force pilot careers and provides an excellent jump start for cadets looking to earn a pilot slot.

Education

CAP maintains both internal and external aerospace education programs. CAP members, both adults and cadets, follow a rigorous program to learn about aviation and aerospace principles. CAP also reaches out to the general public through a special program for teachers at all grade levels. Through this program, CAP provides free classroom materials and lesson plans for aerospace education and each year sponsors the premier national conference in this field.

Operations

While CAP has long been associated with search and rescue missions, its work also includes disaster relief and communications, as well as counterdrug and homeland security missions.

Search and rescue remains an important service provided by CAP members, however. CAP still flies 90 percent of all federal inland SAR missions, as directed by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) at Tyndall AFB, Fla. CAP also supports the Joint Rescue Coordination Centers in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico

On average, each year CAP members fly more than 100,000 hours in operational missions and save about 75 lives. CAP provides air and ground support for disaster relief, flying officials to remote locations, transporting blood or live tissue to critical care sites and performing aerial damage assessment.

CAP has one of the largest unified communications networks in the country, available 24/7.

CAP’s missions succeed through a seamless interplay of technology and teamwork. With new developments like satellite imagery and internet-based reporting, CAP is emerging as the resource of choice to support our nation’s strategy for homeland security.