Today's Weather 
Light snow and -2°C
Light snow and -2°C
Parry Sound’s Royal Canadian Air Cadets 295 MacPherson Squadron personnel are shown above posing with the Schweitzer 2-33 glider.
PARRY SOUND – On the weekend of April 28 and 29, the members of 295 MacPherson Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Cadets went to the Northern Ontario Gliding Centre in Canadian Forces Base North Bay to take the second part of their yearly familiarization with flying.
The glider fleet is provided by the Air Cadet League of Canada. This fleet of Schweitzer 2-23 gliders is purchased and made available to the Gliding Centres. They are maintained with the funds that are generated by the sale of Air Cadet Lottery tickets.
Saturday dawned clear and warm which bode well for not only the trip to North Bay but also for the gliding to take place later. The cadets boarded the bus at the Legion and headed out. When they arrived in North Bay they were taken directly to the air head.
The Gliding Centre staff were engaged in their own training and qualification flights. The cadet pilots are all graduates of the Cadet Flying Scholarship - Glider program.
They earn their wings in the program and then get their passenger-carrying certification at the Gliding Centres. They then fly the other cadets during their familiarization flying trips.
On arrival, the squadron was briefed on flight safety required to be on an active airfield. In addition to the gliding operations, North Bay airport also had private and commercial flight operations in progress.
Gliding operations took place between these other operations. The glider would be positioned in the centre of the runway. It would be attached to the tow plane, a Scout aircraft. The tow plane would tow the glider to about 3,000 feet. The glider pilot would release the tow rope and then fly as long as possible. He would circle back and land beside the runway.
The cadets were also briefed on how to push the gliders so they could act as ground crew.
The ground crew would push the glider back onto the runway and position it for the next flight. They were divided into groups of four under a Non-Commissioned Officer for this task.
The squadron was also assigned flight positions. When the cadet going up was taken out to the glider, he was briefed on what to do in the glider. During the flight some cadets were permitted to handle the controls.
Gliding went on for both Saturday and Sunday. Each cadet got two flights in the glider and some got flights in the tow plane.
Gliding operations were stopped at noon on Sunday because the wind came up and exceeded the operational limits. After lunch the squadron boarded the bus and returned to Parry Sound.
This training takes place twice per year, spring and fall. It is an integral part of the training of air cadets.
The next major event for the Squadron is its annual Ceremonial Review to be held in June. The squadron will parade at 2 p.m. in the Bobby Orr Community Centre to showcase the training that they have completed during the year. Everyone is invited.
Training for the 2006-2007 training year starts at 7 p.m. on September 5 at William Beatty School.
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