By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
Local flight cadets demonstrated their flying skills Sunday morning over Val Verde County.
The Del Rio Civil Air Patrol (CAP) program hosted a training event for a unit of cadets who spent weeks in aerospace education training. The cadets flew in a Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Cessna 172 aircraft over Del Rio landmarks and underwent safety routines on operating the aircraft.
The event gave cadets exposure to enhance their navigation skills by teaching them how to identify landmarks from the air and by familiarizing themselves with an aircraft. Lt. Brett Davis, commander of the Del Rio CAP, was in charge of putting the event together, and he expressed his pride and excitement in providing this opportunity for the cadets.
“This (event) is a significant milestone for the (CAP) program and for the cadets. I am extremely excited to put this together for them to experience,” Davis said.
“With this event, it encourages cadets to want to participate more, bring in more recruits and make this program grow.”
As mentioned on the official website for CAP U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, the program is a
“congressional chartered, federally funded, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and serves as the civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.” The corporation was founded on Dec. 1, 1941, and operates in all 50 states, Puerto Rico (including the U.S. Virgin Islands) and the District of Columbia with the goal of providing aerospace and leadership programs to its surrounding communities.
Sunday’s training took place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with each flight lasting 40 minutes. Lt. Ajeeth Rajan brought the Cessna aircraft from Austin, Texas. Davis said Rajan gave the cadets safety briefings before taking flight.
The first group of cadets who arrived at the airport included Cadet/Tech. Sgt. Hunter Davis, Cadet/Airman Emelyn Davis, Cadet/Airman Pedro Palafox and Cadet/Airman Daniel Abreu, and the second group of cadets included Cadet/Senior Master Sgt Coltyn Ellison, Cadet/Airman Tristan Morales, Cadet/Airman Ben Caldwell and Cadet/Airman Harrison Stell.
Senior members were also invited to the event, including Capt. Blake Murray, Steven Dunford and Lt. Col. Steve Moynihan, who helped with orientation flights in 2016. Dunford said the event is exciting for people who love aircraft, and Moynihan said the Del Rio orientation flights are important because they give cadets a place to practice instead of traveling to another city.
Emelyn and Abreu were the first two cadets to take their flight orientation. Emelyn said her flight was “wonderfully fun,” and Abreu said it was a good learning experience for him. Carmen Abreu, mother of Daniel, said her son has been into aviation since kindergarten, adding how it was “cool” to see him be part of the Sunday flight training.
For more information on CAP, people can go on its official website .
