Peters Township Man Recognized for His Outstanding Community Service and Work in Aerospace

Captain Alex Ladzinski of Peters Township was awarded Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP) Washington County Squadron 601 Senior Member of the Year at the unit’s annual banquet on Jan.11th at the Washington Elks Lodge.  Capt. Ladzinksi, who has served as the squadron’s Aerospace Education Officer since December 2009, was also awarded a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from Congressman Tim Murphy’s Office for his outstanding work in the community.

Washington Squadron 601 is the county’s local chapter of the Civil Air Patrol, an all-volunteer, civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force that provides emergency services, aerospace education, and youth leadership programs to communities nationwide.  Local unit members include adults and students from all over the Washington County area.

As Aerospace Education Officer for Washington County Squadron 601, Captain Ladzinski works mainly with cadets teaching and instructing in the area of historical and technical topics of Aerospace including current events.  Capt. Ladzinski, who originally became involved with the organization when his son joined several years ago, said he was honored and humbled when he learned he received Senior Member of the Year for his service.

“Just having the opportunity to share my knowledge and experiences with the cadets is already reward in and of itself,” said Capt. Ladzinski.  “I feel privileged to have the opportunity to spend time preparing our cadets for the next generation of aerospace; whatever that will be.”

As a CAP Aerospace Education Officer, Capt. Ladzinski’s mission is to increase understanding and appreciation of aviation and space exploration. The Aerospace Education component of the CAP program strives to communicate knowledge, skills, and attitudes relating to aerospace activities and the total impact of air and space technology upon society.  In addition to giving monthly classes to students, he also takes them on numerous field trips and engages them with projects that demonstrate the various concepts regarding flight.

“Aerospace Education of the American people is one of CAP’s three important missions,” said Capt. Edward Silassy, Commander, Washington Squadron 601.  “We are very fortunate to have someone like Capt. Ladzinski who is both knowledgeable and willing to volunteer his time to teach our local youth the concepts of flight and aerospace technology, as well as their impact on our country’s future.”   

When he is not volunteering his time for Civil Air Patrol, Captain Ladzinski works as a Quality Assurance Supervisor for Air Methods Corporation, and is also an adjunct professor at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics where he presently  teaches a class on Rotorcraft Systems and Maintenance.  Capt. Ladzinski is also FAA Safety Team Representative for the Federal Aviation Administration at the Allegheny County Flight Standards District Office and volunteers his time to the ongoing education of  members in the regional aviation community.  He lives in Peters Township with his wife and two sons.

Washington Squadron 601 holds their weekly meetings on Wednesdays from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the National Guard Armory, 125 Goodridge Rd., Washington, PA.  For more information about Washington Squadron 601, go to   https://sites.google.com/site/pasquadron601/ or on facebook at CAP Washington Composite Squadron 601.  For more information on Civil Air Patrol, visit their website at www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com.

Additional information on Civil Air Patrol:

          CAP, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 57,000 members nationwide.  CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.  Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 26,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 70 years.