Minnesota Wing - Feb 2008

8/9/2019 Minnesota Wing - Feb 2008

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On February 1, it was announced that Lt. Col.John Quilling will become the next WingCommander of Minnesota Wing, Civil Air Pa-trol.

This is the announcement from Col. Sean Fa-gan, North Central Region Commander:

I am pleased to announce that Lt. Col. JohnQuilling has been selected as the next WingCommander for the Minnesota Wing. It was adifficult decision deciding between Lt. Col.Quilling and Lt. Col. Thomas Thies, as bothwere more than qualified. Please congratu-late Lt. Col. Quilling. He will assume commandat the Minnesota Wing Conference in April ofthis year.

Colonel Sean Fagan

CommanderNorth Central Region

Lt. Col. Quilling will accept command at WingConference during the Change of Commandceremony that takes place at the banquet onSaturday evening.

Lt. Col. Quilling joined Civil Air Patrol as a Cadet in 1968 shortly after his 12th birthday. Hhas held many posts in the organization thatinclude squadron Cadet Commander, Squad-ron Commander, Director of Logistics, Directo

of Operations, Chief of Staff for Mission Op-erations and most currently the Chief of Staffof Training and Support as well as North Central Region Director of Operations.

Congratulations Lt. Col. Quilling and “Let’sHave a Great 2008!”

If you have not yet heard, Wing Conferencewill be held at Arrowwood Resort in Alexan-dria, Minnesota from April 11-13. If youwould like to see more about the resort, go towww.arrowwoodresort.com.

Watch announcements in the coming days forinformation on Wing Conference registration.

New Wing Commander Named for Minnesota Wing

Maj. Conrad Peterson

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

St. Cloud

Cadet Earns

Earhart

Award

1

Congress-

woman Hon-

ors Members

2

First New

Format CLC at

So. St. Paul

Airport

3

Cadets Play

Most Expen-

sive Video

Game

4

USAF SAREXevaluation

5

Early Days of

the Space

Program

6

T H E N E W S L E T T E R

O F M I N N E S O T A

W I N G ,

C I V I L A I R P A T R O L W ingTips F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 8

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O FI N T E R E S T :

New Wing

Commander

Named

Letter from the

editor

Awards and

promotions

Calendar

C/1st Lt. Steven Parker, of the

St. Cloud Composite Squadronwas recently awarded the CiviAir Patrol’s Amelia EarhartAward and promoted to therank of Cadet Captain.

C/Capt. Parker, 20, joined CivAir Patrol in November 1999while residing in Oregon. Whethe family moved to ClearwateMinnesota, Cadet Parker joinethe St. Cloud Composite Squad

Cadet Earns Award continued on page 3

St. Cloud Cadet Earns Amelia Earhart AwardCapt. Richard Sprouse

C/Capt.

Parker getshis new

grade pre-

sented by

Maj. Ryan

Brovold (St.

Cloud Com-

mander) and

Capt. Pat

Cruze.



P A G E 2

street patrol, and most impor-tantly, helping people who losttheir business or homes.

The Civil Air Patrol membersreceiving the honors were Maj.Don Sorenson, former AnokaComposite Squadron Com-mander, Andover; Capt. AndyBosshart, Anoka CompositeSquadron Commander, ElkRiver; 2nd Lt. Shelly Supan,Anoka Composite SquadronDeputy Commander, Maple-wood; 2nd Lt. Tim Frame ofRamsey; 2nd Lt. Terry Pittmanof Scandia; 2nd Lt. Jay

Spreitzer of Andover; 2nd Lt.George Supan of White BearLake, C/TSgt. Peter Mayhewof Stacy; C/SSgt. Matt Frameof Ramsey; C/SrA EmilyTholen of Arden Hills; C/A1CHanna Olsen of Elk River; andC/CMSgt. Ben Hartley, NorthHennepin Composite Squadron,of Maple Grove.

Congresswoman Honors Members for Flood Relief2nd Lt. George Supan

Minnesota 4th District Con-gresswoman Betty McCollumrecently honored 12 membersof the Minnesota Wing of the

U.S. Civil Air Patrol (CAP) withthe Flag of the United Statesof America and the CAP Dis-aster Relief Ribbon with “V”device for their valor and ser-vice during the flooding insoutheastern Minnesota.

Civil Air Patrol members fromAnoka and North Hennepincomposite squadrons werepresented with the honors dur-ing a ceremony held Decem-

ber 17 at CongresswomanMcCollum’s office in St. Paul,MN.

Congresswoman McCollumcalled from Washington, DCto say “Thank You” for theservice rendered by each hon-oree during the flood.McCollum’s staff in Minnesotapresented the group with aflag that was flown over theU.S. Capitol in honor of their

efforts during the flooding.Maj. Don Sorenson, formerAnoka Composite SquadronCommander, assistedMcCollum’s staff with the pres-entation of the Civil Air PatrolDisaster Relief Ribbon with the“V” device.

Civil Air Patrol awards aredesigned to recognize hero-ism, service and programachievements. The coveted

Civil Air Patrol Disaster ReliefRibbon with “V” device maybe awarded to any memberwho participates in a Presi-dential declared disaster.

The missions in the flood areaincluded search and rescue,cleanup, traffic control, city

Cadet Hanna Olsen receives a flag that w

flown over the U.S. Capitol from Mr. Joh

Straka, a staff member of Congresswoma

Betty McCollum.

Anoka Squadron flag recipients and staff members of

Congresswoman Betty McCollum.



ron where he’s served in a vari-ety of leadership positions. Acertified EMT, Cadet Parker hasalso completed CAP GroundTeam, Radiological, and MissionObserver training.

The Amelia Earhart Award hon-ors the late Amelia Earhart, avia-tion hero, advocate, and pioneer,who was lost while attempting tobe the first woman to circumnavi-gate the globe.

Only three percent of the 27,000CAP cadets nationwide earn theEarhart Award.

Cadet Parker graduated from

Annandale High School in 2006,and is attending St. Cloud Techni-cal College. He’s the son of Jona-than and Nancy Parker of Clear-

water.

The St. Cloud Composite Squadronmeets Monday evenings. Prospec-tive cadets, ages 12-17, and theirparents are always welcome.

Adults wishing to serve their com-munity are welcome as well.

More information can be found at:

www.mncap.org/stcloud

P A G E 3

classes that introduce the studentsto what support Civil Air Patrol

gets from the US Air Force, how ourequipment supports our missionsand day to day operations andwhat various roles that NationalHeadquarters plays.

At the end of the CLC course stu-dents were asked to fill out a sur-vey on their experience and howbeneficial it was to them. Review ofthe surveys concluded that the newformat was a hit and the studentsgreatly enjoyed their experience

and appreciated the work of theinstructors.

The graduates of the CLC are asfollows: Captains David Coates,Matt Heffron, William Menkevich,Aaron Peterson, Doug Ployhar, RussPortele, Randall Terpstra, DanielWarneke and Shawn Warneke; 1st

Lieutenant Susan Blessman; 2ndLieutenants Tom Hiebert, Marcel

Kobberdahl and Russell Olson;and SM Sidney Newman.

After completion of the courseon Saturday, the students werepresented their certificates in agraduation ceremony.

I would also like to take a mo-ment to thank the instructors whotook the time to teach a class atthe CLC as well. The instructorswere: Mr. Bill Willis, Lt. Col.

John Quilling, Lt. Col. Tom Ket-tell, Lt. Col. Paul Adams, Chap.(Maj.) Bob McLawhorn, Maj.Chet Wilberg, Capt. Tom Luceyand Capt. Al Pabon.

On January 18-19, fourteen mem-bers of the Minnesota Wing braved

the cold as another of the many Arc-tic cold fronts hit the area with nearzero temperatures. These membersbecame the graduates of the firstCorporate Learning Course (CLC)held in Minnesota Wing that wastaught in the new format.

The CLC was held at the terminalbuilding of the South Saint Paul Mu-nicipal Airport (Fleming Field).

Under the old format the students ofthe CLC would listen as wing staffmembers would come in and talkabout what they do and how it af-fects the wing.

The recently refitted CLC now intro-duces the students to a mix of team-work/leadership based classes andis more student invloved. There are

Members Become Graduates of CLC in New FormatMaj. Conrad Peterson

St. Cloud Cadet Earns Earhart Award (continued from front page)

http://www.mncap.org/stcloud

http://www.mncap.org/stcloud



P A G E 4

Cadets Play Most Expensive Video Game Capt. Richard Sprouse

Members of the St. Cloud Composite Squadron ofthe Minnesota Wing, Civil Air Patrol (CAP) playedthe ultimate video game recently when they took

the controls of a Blackhawk Flight Simulator atCamp Ripley, Minnesota’s large National Guardtraining facility.

“We have the most expensive video game in Min-nesota,” said Dennis Dzieweczynski, BlackhawkFlight Simulator site manager. “It 100% representsthe functions of a Blackhawk helicopter, and pro-vides the cadets with the same, challenging scenar-ios experienced by the actual Army NationalGuard pilots that train on it.”

“It just ‘wowed us,’ it’s certainly not your average

ride at the Mall of America,” said C/MSgt. Chris-tian Schuller, one of 21 cadets to pilot the Black-hawk. “It was just an amazing experience becausewe’re used to fixed-wing aircraft so to actually flythe Blackhawk was really, really neat.“

The $15 million helicopter simulator, in operationsince last May, sits on a platform of hydraulic liftsthat can duplicate the thrust, yoke, roll and othermovements of an aircraft. Anything from a thun-derstorm to tanks to a medevac to running low onfuel during a mission can be programmed into the

simulator.

The CAP cadets are not the only ones flying thesimulator. National Guard pilots from Iowa, Michi-gan, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakotaregularly visit the post to train there.

“It’s a terrific tool that brings realism to virtualtraining,” said Dzieweczynski. “We were glad toshare it with the cadets.”

The pilots see the cockpit display screens and otherflight instruments of the Blackhawk. They have to

perform each step in the simulator much as theywould in an actual aircraft --- maneuvering theaircraft, dealing with in-flight emergencies, keep-ing station with other aircraft, using radios, aimingand firing weapons.

Using the simulator also saves time and money.Chief Warrant Officer Three (CW3) James

Figliuzzi, Blackhawk simulator operator/instructor,estimates a 15-1 savings ratio when comparing thesimulator to actual flight costs.

“The virtual Blackhawk simulation is so realistic it isas close to actually flying a helicopter as you canget,” Mr. Figliuzzi said. “By simulating a Blackhawkflight, we are saving the National Guard and tax-payers the costs of fuel and engine maintenance,and if you ‘crash’ you can do it all over againsince there’s no risk to the helicopter or crew.”

Mr. Figliuzzi and Chief Warrant Officer Two(CW2) Steve Schiffli spent considerable time en-suring each of the cadets had a positive experi-ence, as well as plenty of time on the simulator. It

was the first time either man had been aroundCAP cadets.

“You have a great group of young people, re-spectful, curious. We look forward to flying withCAP again!”

Top photo: Blackhawk helicopter flight simulator. Bot-

tom photo: C/Amn Joshua Morey prepares to test his

skills inside the simulator.



First Time Event a Success for Minnesota WingCapt. Richard Sprouse

P A G E 5

The Minnesota Wing successfullypassed its first ever winter search andrescue evaluation conducted by the USAir Force. The event was held Satur-day, January 26, at the Lake ElmoAirport, located about 12 miles eastof downtown St. Paul.

Maj. Jeff Peterson, North Central Liai-son Region (NCLR) Director of Opera-tions, led the Air Force evaluationteam and praised the 77 senior offi-cers and 42 cadets who participatedin the event.

“You’re all volunteers giving up yourweekend, despite the cold, to serveyour country. I applaud you,” Maj.Peterson said.

Every two years the Air Force evalu-ates the skills of CAP Wings across thecountry. The last one in Minnesota washeld in the summer of 2006. Thisyear’s evaluation had special chal-lenges since it was the first time Min-nesota has been evaluated during thewinter; a time of the year when coldtests the limits of both man and ma-

chine.

“The effect cold has on equipmentand people made this a unique andchallenging experience, but we trainyear round since the call for our ser-vices can come at any time,” said

Capt. Tony Rossini, CAP IncidentCommander.

The low cloud ceiling and possibilityof aircraft icing prevented anyflights, but 25 ground teammissions ranging for searchand rescue to photo recon-naissance were conducted intemperatures around zeroand windchills of -20 F.

Although the scenarios were

not real, Capt. Rossini said theMinnesota Wing takes theseevaluations seriously.

"Whether it’s flying or groundteam operations, experienceis everything, and safety iseverything. Right now the benefit ofthis evaluation is that the Air Force

and the Minnesota Wing has a betteridea of what we are doing right,what we are doing wrong and whatchanges in training are necessary tobetter serve our communities, stateand nation," said Capt. Rossini.

Maj. Peterson summed it up best,“Minnesota has a very competentwing.”

Letter from the EditorMaj. Conrad Peterson

Normally this time of the year Iwould say that things are going tostart picking up and we will be busyin the Wing since spring is coming.

That is the way it used to be! Nowwe have activities that go yearround to keep everyone busy andreduce the risk of “Cabin Fever.”

The Winter Survival Weekend wasanother successful event and thisyear had 6-8 inches of snow versusbrown grass. There was the firstever USAF SAREX eval. Encampmentbegan it’s coming months of plan-ning and activities with the StaffSelection Exercise.

To look forward to the next issue:

-Encampment Staff Named

-Starry Night for cadets at SCSU

-Missing aircraft in Southern, MN

-And much more!

Thank you for reading, see you atWing Conference and don’t forget tolook for the Gremlin in this issue!

I am going to change hats here for amoment and as the Director of Aero-space Education I would like to con-gratulate Capt. Kim Ketterhagen on

receiving the Gen. Chuck YeagerAerospace Award. Capt. Ketterha-gen is the MN Wing Homeland Se-curity Officer.

A KSTP-TV videographer joins a Cadet lead

ground team during the recent USAF SAREX

evaluation held at Lake Elmo, MN.

Capt. Kim Ketterhagen receives his Yeager

Award from Maj. Peterson at the January staff

meeting



P A G E 6

Early Days of the Space Program Submitted by Lt. Col. Richard Vosika

Joe Kittinger is not a householdaviation name like NeilArmstrong or Chuck Yeager. Butwhat he did for the U. S.

space program is comparable.

On Aug. 16, 1960, as researchfor the then-fledgling U. S.space program, Air Force Capt.Joseph Kittinger rode a heliumballoon to the edge of space,102,800 feet above the earth, afeat in itself. Then, wearing just athin pressure suit and breathingsupplemental oxygen, he leanedover the cramped confines of hisgondola and jumped--into the

110-degree-below-zero, near-vacuum of space. Within secondshis body accelerated to 714mphin the thin air, breaking the soundbarrier. After free-falling formore than four and a half minutes,slowed finally by friction from theheavier air below, he felt hisparachute open at 14,000 feet,and he coasted gently down tothe New Mexico desert floor.

Kittinger's feat showed scientists

that astronauts could survive theharshness of space with just apressure suit and that man couldeject from aircraft at extreme alti-tudes and survive. Upon Kittinger'sreturn to base, a congratulatorytelegram was waiting from theMercury Seven astronauts--including Alan Shepard and JohnGlenn.

More than four decades later Kit-tinger's two world records--the

highest parachute jump, and theonly man to break the sound bar-rier without a craft and live--stillstand. We decided to visit theretired Colonel and AviationHall of Famer, now 75, at his

home in Altamonte Springs,Florida, to recall his historic jump.

Joe Kittinger: “We got up at 2 a. m.

to start filling the helium balloon Atsea level, it was 35 to 40 feet wideand 200 feet high; at altitude, due tothe low air pressure, it expanded to25 stories in width, and still was 20stories high! At 4 a. m. I beganbreathing pure oxygen for two hours.That's how long it takes to remove allthe nitrogen from your blood so youdon't get the bends going so high sofast. Then it was a lengthy dress pro-cedure layering warm clothing undermy pressure suit. They kept me in air-

conditioning until it was time to launchbecause we were in the desert and Iwasn't supposed to sweat. If I did, myclothes would freeze on the way up.”

How was your ascent?

“It took an hour and a half to get toaltitude. It was cold. At 40,000 feet,the glove on my right hand hadn'tinflated. I knew that if I radioed mydoctor, he would abort the flight. Ifthat happened, I knew I might neverget another chance because therewere lots of people who didn't wantthis test to happen. I took a calcu-lated risk, that I might lose use of myright hand. It quickly swelled up, andI did lose use for the duration of theflight. But the rest of the pressure suitworked. When I reached 102,800feet, maximum altitude, I wasn't quiteover the target. So I drifted for 11minutes. The winds were out of the

east.”

What's it look like from so high up?

“You can see about 400 miles in

every direction. The formula is 1.25x the sq. root of the altitude in thou-sands of feet. (The square root of102,000 ft is 319 X 1.25 = 399

miles) The most fascinating thing isthat it's just black overhead--thetransition from normal blue to blackis very stark. You can't see stars be-cause there's a lot of glare from thesun, so your pupils are too small. Iwas struck with the beauty of it. But Iwas also struck by how hostile it is:more than 100 degrees below zero,no air. If my protection suit failed, Iwould be dead in a few seconds.Blood actually boils above 62,000feet.”

“I went through my 46-step checklist,disconnected from the balloon'spower supply and lost all communi-cation with the ground. I was totallyunder power from the kit on myback. When everything was done, Istood up, turned around to the door,took one final look out and said asilent prayer: "Lord, take care of menow." Then I just jumped over theside.”

What were you thinking as you

took that step?

“It's the beginning of a test. I hadgone through simulations manytimes--more than 100. I rolled overand looked up, and there was theballoon just roaring into space. Irealized that the balloon wasn'troaring into space; I was goingdown at a fantastic rate! At about

90,000 feet, I reached 714mph.The altimeter on my wrist was un-winding very rapidly. But there wasno sense of speed.”

Story continued on page 7



Awards and PromotionsOfficer Promotions

Second Lieutenant

Garrison Lloyd, Southeast MNRuben Tahir, North Hennepin

Scott Zimmerman, 130th

First Lieutenant

Jonathan Johnson, Red WingShelly Supan, Anoka

Captain

Blane Pierson, St. CloudGail Wallace, Duluth

Major

Rep. John Berns, MN State LegislativeRep. Terry Morrow, MN State Legislative

Lieutenant Colonel

Joel Dale, St. Cloud

Cadet Awards

Amelia Earhart

Joshua Woodard, Crow Wing

Wright Brothers

Paul Estes, ValleyDavis Peterson, Red Wing

away in a few days, and I re-gained full use of my hand.”

What about attempts to breakyour record?

“We did it for air crews andastronauts--for the learning,not to set a record. They willbe going up as skydivers.Somebody will beat it some-day. Records are made to bebusted. And I'll be elated. ButI'll also be concerned thatthey're properly trained. Ifthey're not, they're taking a

heck of a risk.”

“Where you determinespeed is visual--if you seesomething go flashing by.But nothing flashes by 20

miles up--there are no sign-posts there, and you areway above any clouds.When the chute opened, therest of the jump was anticli-mactic because everythinghad worked perfectly. Ilanded 12 or 13 minuteslater, and there was mycrew waiting. We wereelated.”

How about your right

hand?

“It hurt--there was quite abit of swelling and theblood pressure in my armwas high. But that went

Early Days of the Space Program(Continued from page 6)

P A G E 7



Schedule of Events

February 23, 2008: Volunteer

Appreciation Dinner at Man-kato Airport. Contact: Capt.

Nash Pherson

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29

FEBRUARY 2008

The views expressed, either written or implied, are not necessarilythose of the U.S. Air Force, Civil Air Patrol or Minnesota Wing.

Submissions should be sent to the above email address.

Wing Commander: Colonel Stephen G. Miller WingTips Editor: Major Conrad W. Peterson

WingTips is a publication of

Minnesota Wing, Civil Air Patrol

U.S. Air Force Auxiliary

6275 Crossman Lane

Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076www.mncap.org [email protected]

The Newsletter of Minnesota Wing,

Civil Air Patrol

Calendar

Minnesota Wing - Feb 2008

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