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Citizens Serving Communities...Above and Beyond
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CAP serves America by developing our nation's youth; performing local, state and national missions; and informing our citizens about the importance of aerospace education.
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Civil Air Patrol was founded in December 1941, one week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, by more than 150,000 citizens who were concerned about the defense of America‘s coastline. Under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Forces, CAP pilots flew more than one-half million hours, were credited with sinking two enemy submarines and rescued hundreds of crash survivors during World War II. On July 1, 1946, President Harry Truman established CAP as a federally chartered benevolent civilian corporation, and Congress passed Public Law 557 on May 26, 1948. CAP was charged with three primary missions – aerospace education, cadet programs and emergency services.
With the passage of Public Law 106-398 in October 2000, Congress provided that "The Civil Air Patrol is a volunteer civilian auxiliary of the Air Force when the services of the Civil Air Patrol are used by any department or agency in any branch of the federal government."
THE CORPORATION
• Classified as a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation
• Operates as an all-volunteer civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force when performing services for the federal government
• Includes eight geographic regions consisting of 52 wings (each of the 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia)
• Has about 1,600 units, more than 56,000 members nationwide
• Operates one of the largest fleets of single-engine piston aircraft in the world, with 550 currently in the fleet
• Flies, through volunteer members, approximately 110,000 hours each year
• Maintains fleet of about 900 emergency service vehicles for training and mission support
• Provides support to CAP cadets and senior members through 900 chaplain service personnel
• Supports members with about 100 corporate staff at the CAP National Headquarters at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
EMERGENCY SERVICES
• Conducts approximately 90 percent of inland search and rescue in the U.S., as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and other agencies
• Coordinates Air Force-assigned missions through the CAP National Operations Center at Maxwell AFB, Ala. at a cost of about $130 per flying hour
• Performs aerial reconnaissance for homeland security
• Saves an average of 80 lives per year; 91 in FY 2008
• Provides disaster-relief support to local, state and national organizations
• Transports time-sensitive medical materials, blood products and body tissues
• Provides damage assessment, light transport, communications support and low-altitude route surveys for the U.S. Air Force
• Assists federal agencies in the war on drugs
• Conducts orientation flights for Air Force Junior and Senior ROTC cadets
• Maintains the most extensive VHF and HF communications network in the nation
CADET PROGRAMS
• Includes more than 21,000 members ages 12-20
• Multistep program educates youth in four main program areas: leadership, aerospace, fitness and character development
• Offers orientation flights in powered and glider aircraft, and flight training scholarships
• Provides about 10 percent of each year’s new classes entering U.S. Air Force Academy
• Provides enlistment in Air Force at higher pay grade for cadets who have earned the Gen. Billy Mitchell Award
• Provides activities and competition for cadets at local, state, regional and national levels
• Provides an International Air Cadet Exchange program
• Provides college scholarships in several disciplines
• Provides an opportunity for youth involvement in the community through active role in emergency service missions
• Provides cadets opportunities to test-fly careers in aviation, space and technology through dozens of summer programs
• Challenges youth to be ambassadors of a drug-free lifestyle
AEROSPACE EDUCATION
• Educates the membership and the community on the importance of aerospace
• Provides support for educational conferences and workshops around the country
• Develops, publishes and distributes aerospace education curricula for kindergarten through college classrooms
• Offers grant, award and scholarship opportunities
• Provides classroom materials, teacher training and other educational programs and products, including the opportunity to fly, at no cost to America’s educators
• Serves as aerospace resource center for education through CAP’s Web site
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