In the Spotlight: Senior Master Sgt. Rob Dimel, Civil Air Patrol, Texas Wing Command

In the Spotlight: Senior Master Sgt. Rob Dimel, Civil Air Patrol, Texas Wing Command

Longtime pilot spearheaded first vertical aviation–focused cadet program.

By Christine Knauer

In June, the Texas Wing Command of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), a US Air Force civilian auxiliary, held its first-ever Rotary Education School (RES). During the weeklong summer special activity, 20 cadets took ground-school classes taught by FAA CFIs, worked the controls of a Bell 505 simulator, and toured Bell’s maintenance training hangar at the Bell flight facility in Fort Worth. They also had the opportunity to talk with various aviation professionals and enjoy a helicopter flight over downtown Fort Worth.

POWER UP spoke with Texas Wing Command Senior Master Sgt. Rob Dimel, who served as both RES director and an instructor. An active air ambulance pilot, CFI, and retired law enforcement officer, Dimel drew on his 17 years of flying experience to create an engaging and unforgettable learning adventure for the cadets.

POWER UP: How did the Rotary Education School come to be?

Dimel: As part of their capstone project, a group of cadets presented the idea of a cadet special activity and training event focused on helicopters. The cadets pointed out that they learn a lot about rockets, airplanes, balloons, and spaceflight, but never about vertical aviation.

I want to emphasize that it’s the cadets who are craving this input. They’re asking to see what options are out there in vertical aviation. RES filled a need that we didn’t know existed.
It took us a solid year to put the curriculum together. I wrote it, for the most part, and the cadet staff helped coordinate everything.

Cadets had to be at least 16 years old and, at minimum, a staff sergeant to participate in the RES. Having progressed through the ranks up to at least what we consider a noncommissioned officer grade shows they have some maturity.

Civil Air Patrol cadets pose in front of a Bell 407 on the flight line at Helicopter Institute in Fort Worth. (Staff Sgt. Deyton Talley Photo)

What challenges did you face in organizing the RES?

CAP offers cadet special activities on a variety of topics, including fixed-wing aircraft and gliders. Nothing has ever been done with rotary wing simply because CAP doesn’t have helicopters. They’re expensive and complex to operate, and not enough people can fly them. We thought, “We can find a way around this. We don’t have to own the aircraft, and we can do a lot in the classroom.”

While the cadets had a really good concept, we needed to be realistic. We started by asking ourselves, what’s our goal? The goal wasn’t to get cadets ready for an FAA written test. We simply can’t do that in five days, but we can teach them about helicopter aerodynamics and the principles of helicopter flight and introduce them to the industry.

In addition to ground school, what did the cadets cover in the classroom?

We discussed helicopter missions, from law enforcement and EMS to pipeline patrol and utility. A sensor operator discussed the science behind thermal imaging, which is often used in pipeline patrols. A paramedic taught a block on aeromedical issues as they relate to pilot performance. Two CAP members who work for Bell taught lessons related to maintenance and engineering.

A US Marine Corps Cobra pilot at Camp Pendleton in California joined by Zoom. She talked about her pathway through college, Officer Candidate School, and flight school. It showed the cadets that they have a route to become a pilot other than the military service academies.

Did every cadet get to fly a helicopter?

We tried to get every cadet a 30-minute hands-on discovery flight, but it was just too costly. We were trying to keep it budget-friendly for parents. So we made the program competitive, with the top five academically achieving cadets earning the right to take a discovery flight in which they got to manipulate the controls of a Robinson R44.

The other 15 cadets flew for about 30 minutes in a Bell 407 in groups of four or five at a time.

About 90% of the cadets had never been in a helicopter before. They just couldn’t stop smiling. The Jeff Pino Foundation was clutch for us to make that happen.

Cadet Lt. Col. Arial Quick, one of the cadets who proposed the Rotary Education School, salutes during morning formation at RES. (Staff Sgt. Deyton Talley Photo)

How did VAI and the Jeff Pino Foundation get involved?

Last year, at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, a couple of cadets asked Greg Brown [VAI’s director of education and training services], if VAI would be able to provide some guidance. That led Greg to join our planning meetings via Zoom. When he learned we needed financial support, Greg put us in touch with the Jeff Pino Foundation. They were amazing.

We needed outside support to be able to pull this off. We had little to no budget, and having the foundation come in and fund the Bell 407 flights and partner with the Helicopter Institute in Fort Worth to provide us with a lower rate for the R44 discovery flights was fantastic.

What other experiences did the cadets enjoy?

On the third day, we went to Bell Flight, where each cadet had a chance to fly the 505 sim. They also spent a fair amount of time in Bell’s maintenance hangar talking with the aircraft maintainers and looking at the training aircraft, which have the inner workings exposed.

That was really satisfying for me. So much of the stuff we’d been teaching in the classroom, such as how the control systems work, was on display in Bell’s training device called the Iron Maiden. It shows all the control systems and the cyclic and collective in a cutaway view. When you pull on the cyclic, you can see how it activates the pushrods and moves the swash plate. I think it helped everything click for the cadets.

Bell treated us amazingly well. They provided a whole lot more than we expected. It was really gratifying how they embraced us and how they thought through ways to help the cadets.

Cadet 2nd Lt. Bryce Ward gives a thumbs-up before the flight over Fort Worth in a Bell 407. (Staff Sgt. Deyton Talley Photo)

Will you offer RES next summer, and if so, will there be any changes?

Yes, we’ll offer it again, but it really needs to be five full days. The cadets arrived on Sunday afternoon, then went straight into the classroom that evening after dinner. We held a group study time in the evenings so they could review their Rotorcraft Flying Handbook, do their assignments, and ask questions. The program ended early on Friday, which served more as an administrative day.

There’s so much more we can cover. So Friday probably needs to be a full day, with our admin processing happening on Saturday.

Still, we’re throwing a lot of academics at the students. We could add a fun yet educational activity like a trip to an air museum.

Will you expand it to other CAP locations?

For it to become a national cadet special activity, we have to run it successfully and show some growth in the program over a couple of years. Unfortunately, that will be challenging. Given the logistics, I don’t know that we’ll be able to have more than 20 cadets.

Assuming Bell would have us back, just getting all the cadets through the sims takes a lot of time. We want to be mindful of Bell’s hospitality. Maybe we can split the group, with half going to Bell and the other half visiting another facility.

I think we can show growth in other ways. We had cadets from Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. We can expand our reach to cadets from other wings.

How can RES be a model in workforce development?

That’s the big key, right? Everyone is experiencing shortages of pilots and maintainers. Where do future helicopter professionals come from? In the airline industry, they’re starting their own training academies, but there’s nothing like that in the helicopter industry. We’re relying on either the military or law enforcement to recruit and train.

We want to catch cadets when they’re thinking about their future. We want to inform them that there are many opportunities and viable career paths in vertical aviation.

It’s great to know there are folks in the industry like VAI, the Jeff Pino Foundation, Helicopter Institute, and Bell who are willing to step up and help inspire the next generation.

Christine Knauer is a journalist specializing in aviation. She holds a master’s degree in aviation safety.