Livermore LVK Open House October 2017

By Lt Col Juan Tinnirello and 1st Lt Karin Hollerbach, photos and video by Lt Col Tinnirello 

Our beautiful Cessna 182

On Saturday, October 7, members of the Civil Air Patrol East Bay Cadet Squadron 18, based in Hayward, and Oakland Squadron 188 came together to participate in the Livermore Airport (KLVK) Open House and Air Show.

Squadron 18 and Squadron 188 combined booth

Squadron 188 members at the air show: SM Rainville (L), Maj Luneau (2nd L), 1st Lt Hipp (3rd L),
Capt Stevulak (2nd R) and Lt Col Tinnirello (R)

Opening the event, airport manager David Decoteau welcomed all participants, followed by the presentation of the colors by cadets from Squadron 18.  Ms. Bea Miille sang the National Anthem. City mayor John Marchand welcomed everyone and thanked all the people that had contributed so much to make the event a success.

DJ Davis (L), Lt Col Tinnirello (C), and a member of
the KKIQ team (R)

Squadron 18 Color Guard: C/SSgt Ilyana Crespo (L),
C/SMSgt Varsha Penumatsa (C) and
C/SrA Mylo Crawford (R) 

DJ Mark Davis from KKIQ transmitted live on 101.7 MHZ to radio listeners, announcing participants of the show, as well some of the events as they occurred.  Lt Col Tinnirello, as he has done for several years, had the opportunity to do a one-minute presentation on KKIQ about CAP and what we do.





For the airshow, there was a parachute jump team as well as three aerobatic planes doing fantastic maneuvers all over the morning sky. They repeated their performance once more in the afternoon.

Parachute team member

In between, there were fly-bys, warbirds, experimental and other aircraft. Many aircraft were on display and, as we usually do, we too displayed our Cessna 182 at the event. Hundreds of kids and grownups sat in it and took many selfies to show to their friends and families.

The opportunity to sit in a real CAP aircraft, along with the chance to talk with current members, is always an attraction for members of the public, particularly those that would like to put their aviation interests to good use in community service: We had several people that displayed an interest in joining CAP and we look forward to getting to know them better.

Lt Col Tinnirello taking a selfie

There was also wine tasting, community booths, plenty of food trucks, as well as an EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) “Young Eagles” sign-up.

All the fire, sheriff and police personnel and equipment were there too.

Visitors waiting to sit inside the plane and have their pictures taken by parents/friends. 

On the day before, several members from Squadron 188 scrubbed the aircraft to make it shine:

• Lt Col Tinnirello
• Maj Luneau
• Capt Eichelberger
• Capt Stevulak
• 1st Lt Hollerbach
• SM Rainville

With so many hands to help, we made short work of the grease on the belly of the airplane, as well as the dust and bugs on the fuselage!  Thanks to everyone who helped!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable and fun event, with excellent cooperation from Mother Nature ensuring warm (but not too hot) temperatures and generally fine weather!

Aerobatic participant

Aerobatic participant

All Hands Meeting October 2017

By 1st Lt Karin Hollerbach and Maj Noel Luneau, photos by 2d Lt Alexei Roudnev

The squadron's deputy commander,
1st Lt Devine.

A warm welcome to our newest member, Vivian Wan!

Our squadron activities from the month of September included the following:

Missions

Squadron 188 participated in one real-life mission in September: an ELT/ALNOT @ Bolinas, with Capt Hayes (AOBD+MRO), 1st  Lt Choate (MP), Capt Stevulak (MO), Capt Gast (UDF), 1st Lt Roberts (UDF) and 2nd Lt Roudnev (UDF) participating; Lt Choate and Capt Stevulak earned a Distress Find – congratulations!

1st Lt Choate.

Events

• 9-Sep Support of powered/glider cadet o-flights @ O83, with Maj Fridell, Capt Hayes, 1st Lt Choate, 1st Lt Devine and SM Rainville participating
• 12-Sep "Cold Water Rescue & Hypothermia" talk by Dr Thomas Nuckton @ OAK
• 16-Sep AEX 3D Printing, ADS-B @ KOAK, led by 1st Lt Spears
• 16-17 Sep UCC, led by Maj DeFord
• 19-Sep FAA FAASTeam Seminar: Off-field landings, led by Maj Michelogiannakis, with CAP and non-CAP members alike participating
• 24-Sep Hayward Open House
• 24-Sep Support of glider orientation flights for Sq10 @ Byron, led by Capt Gast

Squadron members relaxing before the meeting start.

30-Sep California Dog Rescue Association (CARDA) requalification @ KOAK: "The event was a nice opportunity to refresh radio procedures and meet, and work with, CAP and CARDA members (both the speaking and non-speaking ones)." 1st Lt Roberts.

CARDA is the largest volunteer search dog organization in America, training, certifying and deploying dog teams to assist law enforcement and other public safety agencies in search and rescue operations. CAP Group 2 members were involved in a re-qualification exercise, working with CARDA dogs and dog handlers. 

The CARDA flying exercise was a great success. We flew six dog handlers with their pooches. Each dog handler had flown the year before, and for some of the dogs this was their first time. 

Each flight was a local approximately 15-20 minute flight, with either both dog and handler in the back, or with the dog in the back and the handler in the front.
CAP used to fly CARDA on a regular basis to and from searches. CARDA volunteers have to find their own transportation to searches, which for some searches could be a 6 - 7 hour drive. Using CAP as a resource would greatly increase their efficiency and improve their readiness. 

According to Capt Gast, “it was much more interesting talking with the handlers about their dogs to get a feeling for personalities, and watching the different dogs get loaded into the back seat.  I also liked that the outcome of this was that the dog handlers went back and are already working their chain of command to get requests to come to us more often.”  

Both the dog handlers and the dogs were very enthusiastic about flying in the CAP plane. Lt Col Coby Sena and Capt James Warmkessel were the pilots. Squadron 188 members that participated included Maj Luneau, Capt Gast, and 1st Lt Roberts.

New ES Ratings

1st Lt Bitz talking about this
year's Wreaths Across America
ceremony and fundraising. 

Congratulations to 1st Lt Hollerbach, who completed her initial F91 and is our newest Mission Pilot!

Professional Development 

Congratulations to the following members:

• 1st Lt Devine completed the Officer Basics Course (OBC)
• SM Chung completed Level 1

Miscellaneous

As a reminder to members who were not present at the meeting: annual squadron membership is due.  Please bring a check to the next meeting or mail it to the squadron at your earliest convenience.  Thank you!

Upcoming Events

• 7 Oct This coming weekend, there will be an Open House at the Livermore Airport, LVK. See SM Rainville for details. 
• 21-22 Oct: A SAREX is being planned at LVK.
• 16 Dec The annual Wreaths Across America will be held at Golden Gate National Cemetery
• 31 Oct any ideas for a 5th Tuesday Halloween party?
• December holiday party – details to be determined

Awards

Congratulations, SM Chung (L)! 

Congratulations to the following members:

• Capt Stevulak, 1st Lt Choate: bronze clasp for Distress Find
• 2d Lt Booth: CD Ribbon
• SM Chung: Membership Ribbon for completion of Level I

2d Lt Baldwin reminding all of us about the importance of regular safety education and constant vigilance. 

Safety Update

2d Lt Baldwin presented this month's safety update.