H.R. 1178 passes in the House

I was pleased when I logged onto CAPTalk today to see that a similar bill to the Civil Air Patrol Homeland Security Support Act from 2007 (remember that?) had passed in the House. Not willing to simply go on it, as this is big news, I went over to thomas.gov and sure enough, the bill was passed. The bill is designed to "direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on the use of Civil Air Patrol personnel and resources to support homeland security missions, and for other purposes." In fact, that is its actual tile.

I will plan on writing some more in-depth analysis of it at some later date (but before the end of this month). Hopefully I can put that brand new Political Science Degree to good use.


Edit: As I sit here, I have to wonder if the current state of the nation's finances played any factor in the passage of this bill. (That being said, any negative or unsubstantiated comments towards Congress or the Administration will be deleted.)

Competing with UAS: Civil Air Patrol’s Advantages, Disadvantages, and How to Overcome Them

I know it's been a while since I've posted...well...anything. This is related to my school and personal exploits. I graduate only a short time from now, and that means the job search is on full time. Once June comes, and my life takes a somewhat more-normal track, I'll be back into the swing of things full time. For now, enjoy a piece I wrote in response to a discussion we had at our last squadron meeting.

One of my projects these days is looking at the politics of the creation of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Program Office (UAPO). I am doing this as part of my duties as a student, and for personal interest in the idea. Naturally, I stay current with the evolving UAS world and their proliferation into the national airspace system. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine have started a UAS program along both the southern and northern border, and NOAA is also spinning up a UAS program of their own that should be operational within the next few years.

I am a contender that both manned and unmanned assets can coexist together, peacefully. But as the proliferation of UAS, as well as their capabilities, increase, there is discussion at the local level of organizations such as CAP losing their advantages of cost-effectiveness to the growing UAS market. Fortunately for CAP, the FAA is dragging its feet on creating a comprehensive UAS policy for operations in the national airspace. However, my research for the aforementioned project indicates that a comprehensive policy is on the horizon; and it may not be good for the Civil Air Patrol.

Firstly, it should be noted that right now UAS are “sexy”. They’re the new kid in town and therefore are the most interesting. Everyone wants one, and everyone wants to use them regardless of how well they will perform the mission. However, they have another capability that Civil Air Patrol currently lacks: they can provide real-time video of any target to the home base and loiter for hours (or days) on end. This is a capability that manned vehicles simply cannot match. Granted, manned aircraft can provide real-time video, but they can’t loiter for more than just a couple of hours before risking crew fatigue. The larger airframes can accomplish this as they can rotate out the crews, however the fuel costs skyrocket with the larger airframes. Some UAS are comparable to these aircraft in terms of operating cost, but most are cheaper. Smaller, cheaper manned airframes, can rotate assignments, but that means having at least 2 aircraft, and crews for both. This also means the costs have the potential to increase beyond what the customer wants.

However, these are the only major advantages of unmanned aircraft that CAP cannot compete with. The remaining disadvantages are correctable, and lie in two major areas: technology and dedication. Technology-wise, CAP is very much behind the curve. SDIS was cool a few years ago, but technology is constantly changing, and now the system is antiquated and over-priced for comparable systems with better capabilities. Most UAS, and even many manned platforms have this capability, as well as the ability to transmit video real-time back to headquarters. However, there are solutions to this. UAS payloads can be adapted for our own aircraft. The company I worked for during the summer manufactures an overhead imagery pod that is less than 15 pounds, and has the same capabilities as the larger FLIR systems. It is also cheaper, and easier to operate than a FLIR pod. It doesn’t take one with an over-active imagination to imagine how to integrate this pod into a C-172 airframe, and modification of our existing airframes with this technology should be easy. Training is also simple: within only a few hours an aircrew and ground receiver can be trained on how to use the technology effectively. The major factor that would stand in our way is having the FAA go along with this modification. Technically, this would turn our aircraft into experimental airframes under the FARs. Getting a waiver for this, or finding another method of certification to meet such a large fleet would need to be negotiated between the FAA and the Civil Air Patrol before any program such as this could take place.

Dedication should not be construed as a lack of individual dedication, but rather the ability for members to leave work to perform missions as needed. As volunteers, all members that are not cadets work full-time jobs to pay the bills and enable them to perform their duties within the Civil Air Patrol. However, our potential missions may take place during times when most need to be at work to support the family. One could use personal days to accomplish missions, however this cuts down on the family time and vacations that the individual rightly deserves. A way to ensure that members can take off from work, without using personal days or suffer repercussions from ‘the boss’ needs to be found so as to increase our ability to perform missions as needed.

Civil Air Patrol does have one major advantage that UAS do not currently have: experience. As stated above, UAS are the new kid in town, and a lot of what is going on with them is a learning curve. Our methods are tried-and-true with decades of tradition and experience behind them. Our experience comes in two areas: mission skills and use of legacy airframes. Civil Air Patrol aircrews come from all walks of life. My squadron alone boasts 3 airline captains, 5 retired military, and one aerospace engineer. This varied experience means that one aircrew can have literally tens of thousands of hours, and decades of experience present to accomplish the mission. Additionally, CAP uses legacy airframes, indeed two of the most successful in the history of aviation, to accomplish its missions. UAS have only been viable options for around a decade, and are constantly being improved and updated. Predator, Shadow and Global Hawk certainly come close to being legacy airframes. But there are no UAS airframes with the same proven reliability and safety record as the C-172 and C-182. That alone gives the CAP an advantage.

These two factors are perhaps CAP’s greatest advantage in competing with UAS in the national airspace system. When combined with a new professional image, new technologies, and a better ability to rely on personnel, CAP can remain competitive in the market for airborne systems. If the CAP can accomplish these three items, while keeping costs low, it will mean that CAP has a future, and keep the organization from going the way of so many other good and patriotic organizations in the past.

Just D.O. It!

I'm not happy with the way the art turned out this time around. I'm still learning on this whole Cartooning thing...please be patient. This is the first in a four-part arc that I am excited about, and I hope you all enjoy. Bonus points though to whoever gets my William Shatner reference in this one!

As I write this, I return from the reception for the Senior Members at the Maryland Wing Conference. If you are attending, please find me and say hi. I would love to hear what you all think so far. As always, I am looking forward to many of the classes tomorrow, and the Military ball of course.

I will write a report for this year, much as I did last year, when all is said and done.

CAP-ers

I would like to introduce you all to a new, somewhat-regular feature on 'What's a Flight Officer'. "CAP-ers" is a new, online web comic that will poke some fun at the culture within CAP. Since the end of "Swivel Chair Patrol", and thus the end of "Auger In", CAP has no real method of self-parody like the Air Force does. Above you can see Roy Gage, a ground team leader, putting Flight Officer Nick Fletcher a Mission Pilot in his place.

Fletcher is certainly a parody of myself, with all the worst attributes of me during my first two years amplified to mega proportions. There are some differences, however. Fletcher is a certified Mission Pilot with Instrument and Complex ratings. I have neither of those qualifications. Basically, Fletcher is a hot-shot, and has some skills to back it up, but not all. He's full-time in college studying aviation management.

Roy Gage on the other hand is a composite character of many people I know, both in and out of Civil Air Patrol. Unlike Fletcher, he is a hot shot, with the skills and experience to prove it. But he doesn't show it off like Fletcher does.

EDIT: This comic is meant to poke a little fun at us aircrew, while re-enforcing the idea that both air and ground operate as a team.

A torch in the Gulf.

In old Europe, torches were lit to tell knights and soldiers that their king needed them for some great campaign. These soldiers promptly left their homes to do their bid for king and country.

Gustav's presence in the gulf is bringing back all sorts of memories of Katrina 3 years ago, and I know I'm not the only one. But those memories extend only to the storm itself. The preparations bear no resemblance to the responses three years ago. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal spoke to Fox news yesterday, and he seemed very much on top of this potential tragedy.

For Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas wings in particular, please stay safe. If needed, give me a call. But hopefully this results in nothing more than a damage assessment mission.

Put me in the game, Coach!

This 500 year flood has me sitting by the phone awaiting the call. The guys at work were saying this could become another Katrina, if only in the square mileage of damage. The silver lining is that most people are evacuating this time around. That's very, very good news.

As an SDIS operator, I am ready to go to work, and use my skills to help the recovery effort. But even if I don't go, I have little doubt that CAP is/will be involved someway, somehow. This is the kind of stuff we train for, and Iowa Wing is among the best in the nation. Stay safe, and good luck for those operators that do go.

Semper Vigilans

ARCHER, revisited

The ARCHER system has been a bit of a big deal in the Civil Air Patrol world for at least as long as I've been a member. Well, last week Gen. Courter released the findings of the ARCHER review summit.

The summit attendees analyzed the missions CAP has performed and determined that ARCHER is most useful in assisting with aircraft SAR missions and it is also good for documenting the extent of tree/plant diseases, looking for man-made objects in the water, and for assisting with the secondary effects of situations like oil spills on the surface of the water. ARCHER is also good for
detecting hematite soil and other “disturbed earth” that has been dug up and placed on the surface (e.g., it could aid in tunnel detection) or “disturbed earth” caused by tire tracks of vehicles operating on unpaved surfaces. This and the ARCHER change detection feature could be especially helpful along the U.S. border or around military base perimeters. Finally, the group determined that
ARCHER is great for providing hyperspectral data for universities and research agencies such as the Air Force Research Laboratory. One point to highlight is ARCHER is very good at automatically geo-referencing imagery with a high degree of accuracy. While we have had many positive opportunities, it is important to note that after extensive testing for counterdrug missions, the experts have concluded that ARCHER in its present configuration will not be effective (without an
unacceptable false alarm rate) at detecting specific plants. However, the Air Force is studying a proposal on how to upgrade the ARCHER system so that it can effectively conduct these missions in the future.

I agree with all the points except the first. ARCHER had a lot of potential in search and rescue, but my understanding is that it failed to perform well in all it's actual exercises. I was on a mission two years ago where ARCHER was deployed, flew right over the guy and failed to pick him up. Of course, the reason was the canopy of the trees blocked the view. Not the fault of the equipment, but the lesson is to take into account the terrain when using high-tech gear.

However, it's the Steve Fossett thing that puts it over the top for me. Granted, the Nevada desert is huge, but one would think it picked up something.

Of course, I'm not an ARCHER operator. One of you can prove me wrong.
Thanks River Aux for bringing this to my attention via CAPTalk

Update! "Zigg" has posted some interesting information about the ARCHER system. Look for it in the comments. He makes me eat my words. I was wrong. Sorry.