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Cadet passes multi-engine airplane FAA check ride

By SM Steven H. Solomon
Maryland Wing Public Affairs

4/30/2003–Baltimore, MD–Cadet Captain Patrick "Pat" Smith of Monkton, Md., a cadet member of the Glenn L. Martin Composite Squadron in the Maryland Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), has passed his multi-engine check ride with CAP check pilot and FAA designated examiner Bob Gawler. Smith turns 18 in June.

Smith is a 2001 graduate of the Maryland Wing Solo School. That same year he received a wing scholarship toward his private pilot license, which he received last September.

"Having been the instructor who taught Pat to fly at the solo academy and the one who "signed him off" and handed him the airplane keys for his first solo, this has a special meaning for me personally," said Maj. Pete Loewenheim of Hagerstown, Md., the wing's standardization/evaluation officer, who assists wing check pilots in the development and overseeing of squadron pilots. "When he began flying he had not yet learned to drive a car. Now he has reached a skill level to which many seasoned pilots aspire with 160 hours in his log book."

When not flying a Cessna 172, Cessna 172SP, Piper PA-34-200-T, or Piper PA-44-180, Smith is employed on a part-time basis as an aircraft scheduler at Brett Aviation Flight School in Middle River, Md.

"I had always wanted to become a pilot, ever since I was a child. At first, it was because I liked the way airplanes looked, and the noises they made," Smith said, noting that his career goal is to become an airline transport pilot. "After I went for my first airplane ride, this became a love, and after I was able to take the controls and do some real flying, it became an addiction. Ever since that day when I was 10 years old, I knew I would become a pilot."

Smith joined CAP in 1998 and has been a cadet captain since May 2002. He serves as cadet commander of the Glenn L Martin Squadron, which meets at Martin State Airport in Baltimore. His past positions include those of the training operations commander, aerospace education officer, and flight commander. He had also been a member of the Maryland Wing Drill Team since 1999.

As a cadet, Smith received the CAP Middle East Region Drill Competition Written Exam High Score in 2001, his squadron's Cadet Academic Award in 2000, and was named his squadron's Cadet of the Year in 1999. In addition to attending Maryland Wing Solo School, Smith attended Leadership Academy in 2000, an encampment and flight academy in 1999, and continues to receive ongoing search and rescue training. He also participated with the Maryland Wing Drill Team, 1999-2002.

Smith is a member of the Class of 2003 at Hereford High School in Parkton, Md., where he takes gifted and talented and honors classes and has achieved honor roll and faculty merit status. He was class treasurer his freshman, sophomore, and junior years. He is listed in "Who's Who Among American Students, 2001."

Smith is also a trombone player, and is a member of the Hereford High School Symphonic Band, the Hereford High School Pep Band, and the Hereford High Jazz Band. The last three years he performed at the annual Baltimore County Summer Music Festival with Concert at Oregon Ridge, Md. and was the featured trombonist in "Music Man," performed at the Stewartstown, Pa. Summer Music Theater in 2001.

Smith played badminton all four years in high school, track (sprints) during his junior year, and indoor soccer his freshman and sophomore years.

Smith was a Cub Scout in the first through eighth grades.

In addition to CAP, Smith has volunteered with American Red Cross Blood Services since 1999 and with the Ancient Order of Hibernians Irish Festival and St. Patrick's Day Fund Raiser since 1997.

He also volunteered with the Kennedy-Krieger Children's Center Festival of Trees Fund Raising from 1996-2000, was a Camp Invention junior counselor in the summer of l998, was the school store morning clerk before school hours in his eighth-grade year at Hereford Middle School.

In his spare time Smith builds and flies remote-controlled model airplanes and produces video and sound mixing for weddings.