Just because almost everything is on lock down right now, doesn’t mean that essential training doesn’t continue. For the South Dakota CAP wing, that meant trying a distributed Search and Rescue EXercise (SAREX) across the state. Why train those skills right now? For one, visual searching, especially from the air, is a very perishable skill. We need to practice. For another, spring is finally showing up in force here in the state. Nice weather, coupled with lots of people with cabin fever from nowhere to go, is a pretty solid recipe for someone going out and getting lost. And when they do get lost, dollars to donuts they won’t get lost in a nice grassy field, on a calm sunny day, while dressed in International Orange.
On the downside, I still haven’t conquered my newfound airsickness issues. At least I managed to keep breakfast down on the morning flight. Lunch wasn’t so fortunate.
On the plus side, I finished my qualifications for Mission Observer, and am now completely righteous to fly right-front seat. Which, honestly, has been my goal for the past fourteen months. Now I just need to get serious about getting my student pilot ticket legal again so I can work on moving over to the left seat.