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Ridgefield Academy Learns From Danbury Firefighters, Civil Air Patrol

Ridgefield Academy third-graders were given a rare opportunity at Danbury Airport Thursday morning.

Ridgefield Academy third-graders were granted special access to Danbury Municipal Airport Thursday morning, marking the only time this school year any students will have the experience.

Third grade teachers, Pam Clasby, Beth MacInnes and assistant third-grade teacher, Gail Heaslip, escorted students to the busy airport with a goal of intertwining community efforts into classroom lessons.

“Ridgefield Academy is the first school to come in,” said Captain Jim Viger, Deputy Commander of Cadets. “If we have the time, we’d love for other schools to come in,” he added.

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Viger’s son, Jimmy, was one of Clasby’s students. Clasby claims that Jimmy inspired this year’s trip. With Viger being intensely involved in the Civil Air Patrol he uses his thirty-one years of experience to effectively interact with kids. He works towards the cadets’ success with the leadership of Captain Della Veccia, CAP squadron commander and Colonel Hutchco.

“Mr. Viger has been so nice,” Clasby said. “It’s by chance we had a good day for the kids to visit.”

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Viger gave children an explanation of the purpose of the CAP, which is to be available to the United States Air Force, to find/search/rescue, perform disaster relief, and teach the public the importance of Aerospace education.

As part of training, cadets learn fundamentals of drilling and have encampments to gain field experience. The CEP offers them the option to go through sailplane orientation and/or power-flight orientation. Participation is based upon cadets’ preference.

“They have the option to do either, or both,” retired American Airlines pilot, Johnny Burke explained. Burke can relate to many of the cadets because he began flying when he was nineteen-years-old. Now sixty-three, he sees the learning process through wise eyes, but fresh ones. Burke a fairly new member of the Civil Air Force has been a member for two years.

“Cadets come in every week,” he said. “The Danbury squadron has twenty-five cadets; New Fairfield has twenty-six. There are thirteen squadrons across the state,” he said.  

Two perks of being a cadet in the CAP are that orientation flights are free; the U.S. Air Force pays for these orientations, and they have a very active rocket building program incorporated by the Experimental Aircraft Association. Training is ongoing so that cadets are always prepared for anything that may come their way. Once cadets are fully trained, they can join Ground Search and Rescue.

 A thorough demonstration of the tools used to help cadets do their job was performed by Viger and Connecticut Wing Director of Operations, Lloyd Sturges. Students were intrigued by the goodies in Viger’s 24 and 72 hour-packs. Viger passed around emergency food, light sticks, night vision goggles, signal mirrors, reference books, ground team books and the kids’ favorite, the emergency alert devices used for location.

One of the unique aspects of the CAP is the age range of students permitted into the program. The CAP accepts students ages 12-20 years of age into the program.

  “We keep kids active,” Viger stated.

“What I love about [CAP] is that it is kids empowering students,” Clasby remarked.

Curious students excitedly raised their hands to ask Viger and Sturges questions. One student in the crowd wanted to know if the cadets use guns to protect themselves on their mission.

“We do not carry weapons on missions unless we are in Maine or Alaska,” Viger explained.

Viger explained that the best weapon in the CPA is knowledge of signal and mapping skills. Being able to understand the combination of the two often leads to individuals being rescued. Viger who has been a ground team leader, has mastered the art of signal and mapping combination and enjoys seeing his cadets learn it as well.

“We not only teach cadets how to be leaders, they learn how to fly,” Sturges said. “It really gets them into it. Some go on to be airline pilots.”

The City of Danbury firefighters joined Sturges, Vigar, and the Ridgefield Academy crew for an extra lesson in leadership and civic duty. Based on the opposite side of the airport, the fire department remains a valuable asset to both Danbury Municipal Airport and the CPA.

Lieutenant Ken Appley, Firefighter Paul Perrotti and Firefighter Greg Karotash of Engine 26 spoke with the children about what it takes to become a firefighter.

“We do a lot with the schools,” Perrotti said. “We also have some equipment we come in here and check,” he said of the airport.

The trio stressed the importance of good character when serving as a firefighter.

“We go into people’s houses, so they trust us,” Apply explained.

Nine-year-old Gunner had a particular concern when hearing that firefighters need to report to so many accident scenes on a weekly basis.

“It’s amazing that I learned there’s one accident a day,” Gunner said. “I think drivers should be more careful to make these three firefighters’ jobs easier.”

“If you’re lucky enough to get hired, you go away to a fire academy for fourteen weeks,” Appley told the students.

Once shaded from Thursday’s scorching sun, Karotash suited up in full gear for the students to give them an idea of what kind of equipment firefighters wear to a call.

“When we go out on calls, we lose a pound or two just from sweating,”Appley said. “It’s not usually the fire that gets to us, it’s the heat that does,” he added.

Nine-year-old Haley took home a lesson from the firefighters.

“If there’s a fire, you stay low,” she said.

Appley finished up the presentation by encouraging children to have their parents update their smoke detectors, go outside to a planned meeting place if a fire should occur and cautioned children against going back inside their homes to retrieve a pet. Clasby assigned the children to set a meeting place in case of a fire. The students couldn’t be happier to know they had one homework assignment that evening.

Students had a chance to see airplanes fly in and out of DMA before leaving and walked through a 182G 1000 aircraft, a modern plane with computer panels.

 

 

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