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Harford cadet earns private pilot certificate

Halstead poses for camera
Cadet Technical Sgt. Thaddeus Halstead of the Harford Composite Squadron earned his private pilots certificate. (Photo credit: 1st Lt. Erica Rostkowski, CAP)

Graduate of CAP's National Flight Academy

By 1st Lt Erica Rostkowski, CAP
Deputy Commander for Cadets, Harford Composite Squadron

4/26/2009–Bel Air, MD–A Civil Air Patrol Maryland Wing cadet recently earned his private pilot certificate. Cadet Technical Sgt. Thaddeus Halstead, a member of the Harford Composite Squadron, passed his checkride with FAA Designated Pilot Examiner Annabelle Ferra. He has been flying since he was 14 and soloed at CAP’s National Flight Academy in Nebraska. 

By attaining his private pilot certificate, Halstead is one step closer towards his goal of becoming a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. However, Halstead’s taste for flight does not stop with powered aircraft. He soloed a glider in 2007 and plans on finishing his glider rating in the near future. 

Halstead, 18, is a senior at C. Milton Wright High School in Bel Air and a member of the varsity basketball team. He plans to attend Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in the fall and has been accepted into the Air Force ROTC program. Halstead is currently pursuing training to finish his CAP Form 5 checkride to fly CAP aircraft. When complete, he will be part of a small group of cadets to earn their CAP Pilot wings.

The Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U. S. Air Force, was founded on Dec. 1, 1941, less than a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the U. S. into World War II. CAP is a nonprofit organization with more than 56,000 members nationwide. The organization’s members perform 95 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, and were credited by the AFRCC with saving 90 lives in fiscal year 2008. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies.

Members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 25,000 young people currently participating in the CAP Cadet Program. CAP’s cadet programs provide young men and women with a safe and motivating environment in which to grow and explore opportunities in the military and aviation industries. CAP has been performing mission for American for more than 63 years. There are approximately 1,400 members of CAP in Maryland. Last fiscal year wing members flew 42 search and rescue missions and were credited with 31 finds. For more information, visit www.mdcap.org.

Maryland Wing Public Affairs also offers an e-mail alert system for news releases. When news breaks, a subscriber receives an automatic e-mail with a summary of the news release and a link back to the story on the MDWG web site. Signing up for e-mail news alerts is easy. Just go to: http://mdcap.org/?fuseaction=newsalert.form and fill in your e-mail address.

For more information about the Harford Composite Squadron, contact 1st Lt. Tim Rostkowski, squadron commander, at tbrostkowski@comcast.net