Team 508 Volunteers Enhance Yuma
Aeromodelers Air Show
On Saturday,
February 23, 2019 the Yuma Aeromodelers held their annual air show at Contreras
Field located just west of the Yuma Foothills off highway 95. Club organizers
once again asked CAP Squadron 508 to provide the color guard and assist in
coordinating visitor parking. We gladly agreed to help as a contribution to our
local community. The air show engaged squadron members in two of the three
pillars of the CAP mission, cadet activities/volunteerism and aerospace
education. This was the second year of Team 508’s participation. Ten cadets and
4 senior members joined in the fun.
The day started
with an early muster at the CAP hangar. Everyone pitched into loading the van.
Then it was just a short ride out to Contreras air field. We were treated to
watching the landing approaches of a slew of powered ultralights as we neared
our destination. We parked near the participant’s entrance and quickly had the
van unloaded and our table, banner, and treats set up.
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| Com officer Scotty Haskell prepares radios at CAP table |
Next up was the
mandatory safety brief. The briefing was provided by cadet safety officer Busby
in efficient fashion with little addition contribution needed by the senior
members.
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| Safety Brief, safety vest |
Cadets wore high visibility fluorescent yellow vests to enhance their
visibility to drivers. Cadet leadership then organized pairs of cadets to
supervise a smoothly operating effort to direct in-coming vehicles to the designated
parking areas. Small, squadron-provided hand-held radios worked great in
facilitating communications between groups of cadets and event organizers. Our
coms officer made sure there were plenty of fresh batteries when power ran low.
Overall, an estimated 1,000 cars,
trucks, ATVs, and motorcycles parked with no reported incidents or damage even
though things had the potential to get a little “wild west” in the desert
parking areas.
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| Cadets direct traffic to parking |
Our cadet
color guard presided over the opening ceremony. Their precision could only have
resulted from hours of drill.
Their performance made us all proud. Technicians
encountered a delay in getting the PA system working to play the Star Spangled
Banner, then the anthem ran twice. The Canadian national anthem was also presented
in a nod to our many Canadian winter visitors. Across the air field a colorful
line of American flags streamed out against the craggy, brown foothills
backdrop.
Air show
performance were very impressive. Aircraft ranged from miniature jets that
sounded like the real thing to high performance aerobatics to classic aircraft
models.
Watching two pilots bounce their airplanes off the ground on their
tails made it hard for us to believe our eyes. A very realistic guided
parachute landed with aplomb. Finally, a pair of powered box kites performed a
miniature aviation ballet.
The large crowd watched with undivided attention.
Through the
efforts of our fine cadre of cadets when the show was over visitors made it out
of the parking areas without ado. A
great day was had by all.
