CONR deputy commander flies with CAP

BGen Alain Pelletier, Continental U.S. Aerospace Defense Region Deputy Commander, listens as Florida Wing Civil Air Patrol Lt. Col. Larry Fernald briefs a point about the CAP mission they are going to fly from Tyndall Air Force Base. Pelletier flew an orientation flight May 2 with Fernald to familiarize himself about the CAP missions in the region that include fire watch in the Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., area and search and rescue upon request. (USAF Photo released by Mary McHale)

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CONR deputy commander flies with CAP

BGen Alain Pelletier, Continental U.S. Aerospace Defense Region Deputy Commander, straps himself into a Florida Wing Civil Air Patrol Cessna 172, prior to a CAP mission-orientation flight May 2. Pelletier flew the mission with Florida Wing CAP Lt. Col. Larry Fernald to familiarize himself about the CAP missions in the region that include fire watch in the Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., area and search and rescue upon request. (USAF Photo released by Mary McHale)

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CONR deputy commander flies with CAP

Florida Civil Air Patrol Wing Lt. Col. Larry Fernald, briefs BGen Alain Pelletier, Continental U.S. Aerospace Defense Region Deputy Commander, about the Cessna 127’s instrument panel prior to a CAP mission orientation flight May 2. Pelletier flew the mission with Fernald to familiarize himself about the CAP missions in the region that include fire watch in the Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., area and search and rescue upon request. (USAF Photo released by Mary McHale)

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CONR deputy commander flies with CAP

Published May 5, 2016
By Mary McHale
CONR-1 AF (AFNORTH) PA

TYNDALL AFB, Fla. --

As the deputy commander of the Continental U.S. Aerospace Defense Region climbed into the cockpit of the Civil Air Patrol Cessna 172 recently, he saw a few things changed since his last flight in this type aircraft as a Canadian Air Cadet almost 33 years ago.

BGen Alain Pelletier, CONR Deputy Commander, got the opportunity to see those changes when he flew an orientation flight from base operations here May 2 along with Florida Civil Air Patrol Wing Lt. Col. Larry Fernald. The CAP flight was planned to help orient the general to Civil Air Patrol operations in the region such as Eglin fire watch and search and rescue operations.

“Seeing the evolution from dials to the glass cockpit and the global positioning equipment was all quite interesting and offered great situational awareness capabilities,” Pelletier said.

During the pre-flight brief, Fernald, a retired U.S. Air Force veteran pilot of the B-52 Stratofortress, F-111 Aardvark, B-1 Lancer, and OV-10 Bronco, explained the mission details to include the fire-watch route, areas to avoid and drew diagrams to depict different search and rescue aerial flight patterns.

Lt. Col. Archer Yates, 1st Air Force CAP liaison, described Fernald as one of the Florida Wing’s most experienced instructor pilots.

“For me, one of the real highlights was to fly with someone who had such a breadth of aviation knowledge and flying experience,” Pelletier said. “The ease with which CAP executes this mission is incredible as their flawless integration with the military controllers was evident as we went from one control zone to another during the flight.”

Overall, he said he was extremely pleased with the experience.

“There’s no better way to understand the CAP mission than seeing it first hand, not to mention there’s no better way to start your week than going flying!” he said.