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Greetings!
June 2009 Safety Newsletter
Pennsylvania Wing - Civil Air Patrol
Lt Col Barry Metz
Phone 610-429-9984
Director of Safety
PA Wing Safety Policy Letter S-6-1 - The Wing commander and the Director of Safety issued a Wing Policy Letter S-6-1 to re-enforce the National, NE Region and the Pa Wing accident and incident reporting requirements. After reviewing previous form 78s, we decided it was time to review the requirements with all members involved with aircraft, vehicles and all CAP activities. All Group Commanders received a briefing concerning this Policy and were charged with the dissemination to all members in their group. I used the Safety Section of the WMU to track Wing Staff members and found it to be a quick and easy method to record compliance. This does count as a monthly safety meeting if recorded by the each unit. Thanks to all the members who have complied so quickly with this policy.
Summer Safety - It is that time of the year when the weather gets good and all the outside activities begin in Pa Wing. Of course with all this activity, accidents increase. Please review "101 Days of Summer Safety" at http://www.slideshare.net/AtlantaSafetyCouncil/101-days-of-summer-safety-brief. This power-point is an excellent method of reminding your members about Summer Safety. Hazards include bug bites, more drivers on the road, drinking, inattentive driving, sunburn, dehydration, thunderstorms and many other hazards. There are many sources of information about summer activities, review them with your unit.
Severe Weather Radios - One recommendation from Safety this month is the purchase of a Weather Alert Radio. These radios are off until the NWS sends out an alert tone. This tone activates the radios siren or tone alerting system and allows you to hear the warning or watch information for your specific area. What makes this radio better than other weather radios is that it is quiet until a specific tone for your area is generated. For a permanent or semi-permanent location, an AC model with battery backup is best. For mobile use, a handheld unit is good, but batteries may die and you need to update the NWS tone alert for your changing location. Either way, it is an important piece of equipment that may help save your life. Remember for permanent locations, an AC model WITH battery backup is the best bet. Another point is to make sure the tones for your area can be programmed into your radio. This is one of those cases where you get what you pay for, so chose wisely.
More Safety People - Lt Col DeEtte Riley has joined the Safety Department as Assistant Director of Safety - Ground. Her responsibility is to promote Safety with our personnel involved in Ground Activities such as Hawk Mt and all Encampments. She joins Major Jeff Buchman who is Assistant Director of Safety - Aircraft. And of course all members of Pa Wing are Safety Officers.
Safety Information Files - Every unit should have a Safety Information File available for unit members to read. Flying Magazine and AOPA Pilot Magazine have excellent articles available each month for pilots and various insurance companies have a wealth of information available on request.
Operation CAPSafe - Operation CAPSafe is now on-line. Go to e-services and click on CAP Safety Suggestions on the left-hand menu. This should make entries easier for your Safety Suggestions as well as giving the Safety Team tracking capabilities for Operation CAPSafe entries.
I would also like to remind everyone that all prior CAP National Safety Programs, including the Safety Pledge, were terminated in December 2005.
Safety Courses - The Basic and Senior Safety Courses have now been on line for several months and many of our members (not just safety officers and commanders) have taken the course. These courses are very informative and do not take a long time to take. The course is well written and has been tested for over a year in several wings with excellent results. After successful completion of the test you will be able to print a certificate and your records will automatically be updated to show the course.
ORM On-line Course - Another new course is the ORM on-line course. This course covers the ORM theories and also includes a test and a certificate. At this time the course is an optional course for members, but many wings are already requiring all members take the course. At this time Unit commanders and Unit Safety officers should take the course, but I'm recommending that all members consider taking this course. It is an on-line course and should take less than 30 minutes. Be SAFE!
Lt Col Barry Metz
Director of Safety
CAP PA Wing
email - bmetzcap@comcast.net
Maj. Jeffery Buchman
Assistant Director of Safety
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eSAFETY is soon to have another publication going out to address the needs of aircrews. ePILOT will be of interest to aircrew members and will be sent out to listed pilots. But anyone can request to be added to the mailing list. Start date should be in May. The Sentinel- The National CAP Safety Newsletter can be downloaded from http://members.gocivilairpatrol.com/safety/ |
A Safer Pilot
A host of Web resources to make you a safer pilot Dedicated to making general aviation flying easier and safer, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation offers a number of safety education resources free of charge to all pilots. Here are some helpful Web links: Learn more in less time with interactive online courses; test your knowledge with instantly scored quizzes; search the accident database; check the schedule for safety seminars coming to your area; and print publications from the library. After you've had a chance to review these popular resources, show your support for the foundation by donating. For those unit safety officers looking for alternate means for pilots who miss their monthly safety meetings, try these from AOPA ASF. http://www.aopa.org/asf/ |
