Invisible aviation sector

[Old Koreelah]

I have several times been amazed by the utter ignorance of our sector in the general public.

 

Last week I dropped in to Taree Airport in the hope of having a quick look at a Morgan plane and even speaking to the man himself. I asked directions of a uniformed airport employee (who looked like he'd worked there for years). He said he'd never heard of Gary Morgan or Morgan Aeroworks. Dazed, and fearing I had the wrong town, I wandered off a hundred metres to one of the few hangars and there, under a huge sign, found the hallowed aeroplane factory. The fact that Morgans seem to be the main traffic at Taree seems to have gone un-noticed by my knowledgable guide.

 

Gary and Tim gave happily gave me lots of their precious time and proudly showed off features of their craft. Tim took me for a test flight which left me amazed at the performance and stability of their creation. A credit to our aviation sector.

 

A couple of years back I visited Bundaberg. Asking for directions at a servo 1km from the airport, I could not find anyone who had even heard of Jabiru!

 

Perhaps a central role of the RAA is to improve public awareness and perception of Rec flying.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Don't blame the RAA, part of a stable democracy is an apathetic majority

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

...Perhaps a central role of the RAA is to improve public awareness and perception of Rec flying.

I'd have to agree in part....

 

The RAA as an office and staff is a small organisation with a precious budget and we'd like that spent on things that directly benefit members. Marketing recreational aviation as a hobby and raising public awareness is something more effectively done by every individual member. After all, how much would it cost to peform marketing activities in every town; Heaps, however every member knows friends and meets acquaintances. S/he can raise the profile of recreational aviation by talking about it and telling positive stories to friends and acquaintances.

 

For those who show a keener interest, why not take them for a flight? One flight, that I hadn't planned, was enough to get me hooked:oh yeah: Prior to that, I'd never heard of recreational aviation or the term "GA", but knew that you could get a PPL for a bunch of money and that aircraft were simply unaffordable!

 

That was less than two years ago and now I own the aircraft pictured in my avatar and often fly more than once a week. I've taken about seven friends for local flights in that time and they have all come away from the experience with a better understanding of recreational aviation and and enjoyable memory they can share with others. One may even pursue lessons.

 

As for marketing of aviation products, be they aircraft or parts or services, that is the responsibility of the individual businesses. Let's face it, the general public's eyes will just glaze over and the effort and/or cost is wasted.

 

Separate to this thread, I have now been inspired to blog the story of how I came to recreational aviation and link it from here, as it is instructive as to how one poor experience given by a pilot who was not following the rules put me off for many years. So, there's good marketing and bad marketing!

 

 

[pete8862]

I had the same thing happen in Kilcoy, Iwent to two shops asked three people & no one new of an airfeild in Kilcoy, they all said "do you mean Watts Bridge"

 

Pete

 

 

[Guernsey]

Old Koreelah, although Gary Morgan has his name ' Morgan Aeroworks' on his hangar, it is somewhat tucked around the corner so I wonder if you would have had a better response if you had asked directions to the hangar

 

that has Sierra, Cheetah, Cougar or Twister aircraft in it?

 

The airport employee would have probably seen these names displayed on the aircraft as they passed, but not spotted the smaller print Morgan Aeroworks, if he happened to be a keen aircraft spotter and listened in to the

 

local airband, once again he would have heard Cheetah downwind or Sierra taxying but no mention of Morgan. As I have mention elswhere in this forum I will always refer to our aircraft ( including radio calls ) as a Morgan Sierra. It is the MORGAN that we have to promote not just the aircraft name. Alan.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Good comments; I'm not suggesting RAA spend money on promotion, just facilitate better public knowledge when possible. A larger sign "Morgan Aeroworks" was the first thing I saw from a distance as I approached the hangar...

 

 

[fly_tornado]

You would hope that the RAA does take the promotion of flying to younger generation a bit more seriously, with Australia's population aging and the pool of inactive GA pilots shrinking the longer term prospects for the RAA aren't that great.

 

 

[shags_j]

You don't need to spend money to make the public aware. I am involved in wargaming, recently visited Canberra for a big tourney. It made it on to the news for channel nine and abc. My club in brisbane has just recently had a full colour article on what we do.

 

Natfly for example or other large events could be sent to the PR departments of papers and television studios. Hell try and get Grant Denyer out. You never know what might happen (NB. I hate sunrise, just I know how effective having them report on you is).

 

 

[Guest burbles1]

One thing RAA doesn't have is effective media campaigns. Even releasing to the press a general statement of what rec flying is would help a lot to improve public perception. I've never seen NatFly advertised in the press.

 

 

[shags_j]

There has to be someone around here with journalism degree. I only have half a one from ten years ago.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

You only need to look @ the RAA website to realise that the RAA isn't interested

 

 

[shags_j]

Question is "Should they be?" Maybe they shouldn't worry about this yet. Maybe there are far bigger priorities. Then again maybe they should for any number of reasons.

 

I personally don't know the answer. I know it would be better to have than not to have. Also if it is put off because there are bigger priorities, then I know from experience with organisations that that means it will never be done. There are always going to be bigger priorities.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Property developers are circling around airfields waiting for enough pilots to retire so they can build units. No airfields near urban areas will kill aviation pretty quickly.

 

 

[Powerin]

Hell try and get Grant Denyer out. You never know what might happen (NB. I hate sunrise, just I know how effective having them report on you is).

That's an excellent idea actually. Sunrise (I hate them too) and Today are always on the lookout for interesting places to do the weather from. A number of years ago we got Today to come to our local Agricultural field days for a morning of weather crosses. Maybe Carol Richards or even Temora Council might be interested in approaching the networks to do a weather cross to Natfly? You could have someone quickly show off their aircraft and explain how easy it is to get an RAAus certificate. I reckon it'd be pretty impressive to get a field full of aircraft on TV and you would get Australia wide coverage.

 

 

[shags_j]

...so long as showing off doesn't result in bad publicity...

Not that can of worms again.