Some current problems facing our board......

[Guest Maj Millard]

The new or current board has made a commitment to be open and prompt in sharing information with the membership. This is an improvement, and how it should have been all along. It is not a one-way street, and the membership will also need to share the responsibilities of decisions made by the board, and this may be tested between now, and the end of the year.

 

Micheal Monck the new president has hit the ground running, and his rapid pro-active style is very impressive to me. Already he has had two face to face meeting with the transport/ aviation minister (Warren Truss) and the minister has been bought up to date with our current financial situation, problems with CASAs ongoing requirements, and the RAAs current situation as a self-regulator of one of the largest bodies of active pilots in this country.

 

As very well outlined by treasurer Jim Tatlock at the recent publicly attended Natfly general meeting, the RAA is facing a potential financial crisis due in big part to the ongoing overbearing requirements of CASA and the SASAO office. These requirements keep getting handed to us without any increase in government funding. This cannot continue, and the President has made a request to goverment for a substantial increase in RAA funding to carry out the governments regulatory work.

 

Additionally, many accidents will go to the Coroners courts this year, and there could be be damages awarded against the RAA from these, which could severely strain our finances. We cannot expect to come out on top in every case. It might sound great to have a mil or two stashed away somewhere, but if a major damaged claim or claims is made against you in a court of law...then that can disappear overnight. And insurance coverage only covers so much.

 

The board and excutive currently are both at a high level. The president and executive team is especially impressive with their demonstrated skills. The Ops team, Tech team, and Katie Jenkins the National Safety coach are all providing skills for the members way above what is expected of them, with Darren being the obvious standout in what he is achieving for us, particularly in working with CASA on tech matters that will effect us well into the future.

 

Unfortunatly towards the end of the year we will be loosing several experienced and talented board members who are either due for re-election, and have chose not to re- run, or members whose terms have expired. We may lose good contributing members such as Rod Birrell, Ed Herring, Mike Smith, Micheal Apps, Paul Middleton plus others. It will be a major challenge to replace them with other suitable canidates, and then bring them up to speed quickly in order to keep our board operating as it needs to at this critical time in our organisations history.

 

If you are in an area that will need canidates, and you feel passionate about your sports future, this will be the time to put your hand up as I have and make a contribution to the organisation.

 

Most involved currently are very optimistic towards the future, and certainly putting in all efforts to see that things work out for the organisation and the membership.

 

The RAA website, the major communication portal with membership has been recently improved and will continue to be improved. Of special note.. all accident and incident reports are now loaded onto the site by Ops for the benefit of all on an educational and informational level. This is a big step foward as I see it, and of great benefit to the membership.

 

We all have some big challenges ahead, and I am hoping the membership will work with, and understand the decisions made by the board as we move ahead to solve them to the best of our ability as they come along......Additionally we all need to especially operate and fly safe at this time, as we do not need more unnecessary avoidable accidents to add to our current problems...

 

Thanks.....Maj........NQ board member

 

 

[facthunter]

Thanks Maj great post. We have to hang in. There is no-one covering what RAAus stands for. The high membership (even though it has lost a few) relative to the others, shows that.. Nev

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

CASA has said there are around 13,000 licensed GA pilots, however it has no idea how many are active with current medicals etc. One estimate is possibly only half or around 6000 or so.

 

The majority of our 10,000 or so, paid up RAA members are active pilots, on a regula basis, so we may well have the largest group of active flyers in the country currently ..............Maj...

 

 

[kgwilson]

Thanks for the update. Rumours from the Temora meeting had morphed into RA-Aus being broke with only enough finance to last 6 months & the office having to be sold etc while the Dec balance sheet showed retained earnings of $2.1 million with $1.2 million of this in fixed deposits.

 

Lobbying politicians with face to face discussions is certainly a good step in the right direction. The current government is seemingly somewhat concerned with the amount of regulation in place at all levels of society so raising RA-Aus' profile cannot help but be beneficial, especially in the light of overbearing requirements from government agencies. The CASA review may find that some of the new requirements are unlikely to improve safety & serve only to overload organisations with more bureaucracy which will require even more administrators to manage.

 

Common sense seems to have disappeared along the way. As an example, at our SES meetings on a Tuesday evening we now have to complete a Safety Management Sheet risk assessment for say, sitting around a table attending a presentation on how to repair a leak in a roof. The cotton wool brigade has gone mad for fear of litigation & that if someone cuts their finger the experts will descend on the place & all the knives will now have to be kept in a locked safe with 2 separate combinations. There is now almost no such thing as personal responsibility.

 

We have to get back to some common sense.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

As far as the office needing to be sold, well that is clearly false..............the board has recognise the need and advantages of getting out of Canberra, and we have been looking for a suitable alternate base which would supply an 'all under one roof ' type approach which would include a training centre, and hangar facilities, and be at an airfield that would be easily accessible to all members, by both adequet public transport services and owners flying in in their own aircraft.

 

This could also be where the Natfly events may be held. A List of suitable sites has been compiled and looked at but is ongoing, with nothing put foward as yet as being the ideal site.

 

Whilst I was cooling my heals in Narromine recently I took the opportunity to visit the SAAA headquarters there, and spent some time talking the whole concept over with their President, who was very friendly and accommodating. They are now fully headquartered a Narromine airport so have already done what we are looking at doing. They appear to have benefitted greatly from their move, and there very visible addition to Narromine airports already impressive facilities has added well to that facility.....One thing I have noticed as a board member is that there are many many rumours out there amoungst members..and most of them are totally incorrect or out of date ! .......If you want the real current story just contact your local board member, or check what the latest is on the RAA forum before going off with incorrect info that does nobody any good......Maj......

 

 

[turboplanner]

As an example, at our SES meetings on a Tuesday evening we now have to complete a Safety Management Sheet risk assessment for say, sitting around a table attending a presentation on how to repair a leak in a roof.

Your meaning is a bit ambiguous; if it's for sitting round a table having a discussion that would be an academic gone nuts.

 

If it's for how to repair a leak in a roof - that has claimed many lives, including the former National Parts Manager for Holden just a few weeks into his retirement, and a couple of other people I know, all who have slipped and come off head first getting broken necks. Following that is probably hundreds per year getting broken necks, or falling through a rotten roof, so I'd certainly back an assessment of the conditions and the people who would be going up for that one, and the equipment they would need.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

...Common sense seems to have disappeared along the way. As an example, at our SES meetings on a Tuesday evening we now have to complete a Safety Management Sheet risk assessment for say, sitting around a table attending a presentation on how to repair a leak in a roof. The cotton wool brigade has gone mad for fear of litigation & that if someone cuts their finger the experts will descend on the place & all the knives will now have to be kept in a locked safe with 2 separate combinations. There is now almost no such thing as personal responsibility.We have to get back to some common sense.

So true, KG. You might see some changes if a few law-makers were in urgent need of your services, but had to wait while you complied with all their safety requirements.

 

That's not likely to happen, though. The influential end of town usually has better-built homes. Most of our roof jobs have been cheap, run-down rentals.

 

 

[turboplanner]

One thing I have noticed as a board member is that there are many many roumers out there amoungst members..and most of them are totally incorrect or out of date ! .......If you want the real story just contact your local board member......Maj......

I've got some good news for you; there will ALWAYS be plenty of rumours in ALL Associations, most of them wrong, so my advice is to always take note of the subject matter in case something genuine is building out there, but get ahead of the false ones by continually releasing correct information. This is already happening and the board members have been getting very good support and credit for doing that. There are plenty of genuine issues for members to debate, and if the correct information is out there, then teir debates will be very useful to you because you can judge the mood. You'll particularly note one fo the things I've been saying for four years and that is that you can release the worst news possible, and still get nearly 100% support if the members believe they are getting the facts, and that has also happened recently, in direct contrast to member responses to the secrecy in the past.

 

 

[kgwilson]

Your meaning is a bit ambiguous; if it's for sitting round a table having a discussion that would be an academic gone nuts.If it's for how to repair a leak in a roof - that has claimed many lives, including the former National Parts Manager for Holden just a few weeks into his retirement, and a couple of other people I know, all who have slipped and come off head first getting broken necks. Following that is probably hundreds per year getting broken necks, or falling through a rotten roof, so I'd certainly back an assessment of the conditions and the people who would be going up for that one, and the equipment they would need.

Assessing risk and completing documentation is not a problem if we were actually requested to perform a task including training. The doctrine has been handed down that it must be carried out even for just sitting around a table. I live in hope that the governments policies will weed out some of the academics who have nothing better to do that come up with this sort of rubbish.

 

 

[turboplanner]

In that case I have total sympathy for you and hope so too. the sort of stupidity which gets people's backs up and ends up with genuine risk situations not being assessed.

 

 

[DWF]

The new or current board has made a commitment to be open and prompt in sharing information with the membership. This is an improvement, and how it should have been all along. It is not a one-way street, and the membership will also need to share the responsibilities of decisions made by the board, and this may be tested between now, and the end of the year.Micheal Monck the new president has hit the ground running, and his rapid pro-active style is very impressive to me. Already he has had two face to face meeting with the transport/ aviation minister (Warren Truss) and the minister has been bought up to date with our current financial situation, problems with CASAs ongoing requirements, and the RAAs current situation as a self-regulator of one of the largest bodies of active pilots in this country.

 

....................................

I was at Natfly this year and attended the General Meeting and the forums presented by the GM, Ops and Tech (plus others).

 

Those members of the Staff and Board that I spoke with impressed me with their optimism, enthusiasm and professionalism and I look forward to good things in the not too distant future. The improvement in communication and transparency is also gratifying.

 

 

 

However, it seems to me that the title of this thread is true and that there are still "Some current problems facing our board......" and staff.

 

The staff and Board still seem to be mostly preoccupied with running around fighting 'bushfires'. I have not seen much (if any) evidence of sorting out RAA's structural and governance problems and/or planning for the future. Indeed, I was somewhat taken aback at the GM's forum when he replied to a question along the lines of "What are the plans for the future of RAAus?" with the words "THERE IS NOT PLAN".

 

 

 

It was good to see the report on the resolutions passed at the last Board meeting at Temora but these all seemed to be housekeeping matters (which should have only taken about 30mins to deal with) with nothing of substance in the way of forward planning reported. What were they doing the rest of the time? Perhaps matters of this sort were discussed but not reported as there were not resolutions made in that respect. I would like to think so - a list of topics discussed (but not resolved) would also be enlightening.

 

I suspect MM, at least, has some thoughts in this direction. It would be informative if concerned members were given some inkling of the Boards thoughts and actions regarding the planning of our future.

 

 

 

I will get on my hobby horse here and say that the Board needs to prepare, produce and present (to the members) a STRATEGIC PLAN. i.e. Where to from here?

 

Is there even a Business plan for the next 12 months?

 

 

 

DWF

 

 

[Keith Page]

Tread with super caution here.

 

This is regarding the report on Mark Clayton’s convened Q&A session.

 

Here are some thoughts which need some special thinking. RAAus as we know it will have to change and there will have to be a great deal of membership input to what the modern RAAus will be.

 

Results of the straw poles.

 

In favour of merging with SAAA? Overwhelming support.

 

In favour of moving out of Canberra? Overwhelming support.

 

In favour of merging magazines with AOPA and SAAA. Overwhelming support.

 

In favour of free electronic SportPilot with extra cost if you want the printed version. Overwhelming support.

 

I do not want to sound negative here. I wish to stress:- proceed with caution on these issues. They all look viable ideas however first of all give them some thought, then, think again.

 

We need a members pole and members off their but before any decision can be made. RAAus is not run for a few office staff and a board. In a nut shell, without members there will be no existence of RAAus hence member must be active and give the board some sensible direction.

 

I am of the view it is the board which gives policy, goals, aspirations and direction not the GM. The GM duty is to give direction to office staff, in way of training and mentoring plus implementation of the boards decisions. If a staff member calls for help, the GM will be there to help. I see in another thread the GM says he is too busy to flick his eyes over this forum. I cannot see why he is bothering with these changes thoughts, hand them to the board where they belong. As I read things here, I have to ask who is steering this ship.

 

Merging with SAAA. I am thinking with this merger - how will the conflicting views of both organizations be addressed and we do need a unanimous member’s vote before this merger can happen.

 

Moving out of Canberra. This goes without saying as nearly all members will see the benefit of the move however "where" to will be debated for ever. I see here is one issue with the move, which will have to be treated with caution – is that a board member can high jack the move - just to enhance their bureaucratic empire (e.g. In my back yard stuff). Be careful as to what can be lobbied here. I will put one stipulation on the selected town. The town will have to be next to an airport so all will know why RAAus is in existence. So aviation can be heard.

 

Merging Magazines. This will take some work because of the individual and unique interests of the organizations involved. If SAAA and RAAus merge there will be some hope. I can hear a great roar happening here and it is not from the circus.

 

Electronic Sport Pilot Magazine. No……. How will it be stocked at a news agent? Those without computers how will they get the magazine? Will we get a reduction in membership as part of our membership goes to the magazine?

 

Regards

 

Keith Page.

 

 

[David Isaac]

What happened to Ross Millard's response to DWF stating that DWF's question were good questions? Ross's response was up in this thread this morning and now it is gone?

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

Keith,

 

The GM is the servant of the Board and the Association, and as such assists the Board as well as staff. The new Board and Executive are looking at these issues and, no doubt, the GM has been tasked to gather this information. That's his job. If he asks for a straw poll (meaning "an unofficial ballot conducted as a test of opinion") then he is doing his job. It is not a vote. It won't force a change; but it does show that the issues are worth pursuing further because members who are sufficiently motivated to attend the Association's National event and go to the meeting are overwhelmingly in favour. The Board can then pursue this further, knowing they are not wasting their time.

 

 

 

The magazine is one of the major costs - the same team who do the RAA magazine also do the AOPA magazine. Putting the two together would save a lot of duplication, work and money. The AOPA magazine has sections for the Warbirds and Helicopters; I'm not really into these, but I accept that others are and maybe some of the RAA readers may have to accept that some articles in a joint publication may not interest them either.

 

 

 

You already pay for the magazine now, getting a discount to only get the electronic copy would suit me. My husband and I are members of both AOPA & RAA and we get 4 magazines. Getting only one paper copy for him to read and letting me read on-line would save lots of paper. The printed copy can still go to newsagents, but you could also allow a subscription to the on-line service for non-members. How often do you read a comment on this month's magazine followed by a chorus of "I still haven't got mine ..." On-line is available to all at the same time. AOPA produces an on-line, members only, publication between issues that addresses things the general public wouldn't be much interested in. Less gloss, more info, more timely.

 

 

 

The GM never said ("in another thread") that he was too busy - if you read it again someone else said they thought he might be too busy to read through the mountain of posts on this site. The feeling from those who have had contact with our GM is that he is incredibly hard working, pro-active and dedicated to RAA. I sense that we have one of the best Boards and Staff that we have had in recent times.

 

 

 

WE steer this ship, through our elected Board, who are all volunteers with other jobs, families, hobbies & pursuits; so they employ capable people to take some of the work off their shoulders - as it should be. Attend the meetings and help steer the ship. Don't take a hatchet to the hull.

 

 

 

As for SAAA - I find them very helpful, well organised etc, but I have not been a member long. I am aware some of the early AUF members have an axe of some sort to grind with them, but I am not sure what the issues were. The Boards of both are co-operating to stage a very successful AusFly at Narromine last year and this. Perhaps it is time to for members to forgive and forget?

 

Sue

 

 

[turboplanner]

If someone has gagged Ross, or once again complained about him, let's hear about it please?

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Turbs, I decided alone to remove my previous post as inappropriate .........DFWs question was a good one, and yes the board does have a strategic plan for the future and this subject was given quality discussion time at the Natfly board meeting.......all agree that it would be a good move to get the headquarters out of Canberra at some stage, and work is being put into finding a Suitable alternative site similar to the base SAAA has established at Narromine Airport. Nothing decided yet but a long list of possible sites is being considered.

 

As far as spot fires, yes there are some currently, mostly related to complying to further SASAO and CASA regulatory requirements. President Michael Monck and others have met twice with Warren Truss the dep Prime minister and minister for transport, to ouline our concerns, and additionally we have requested substantial additional funding from the government to carry out our continuing regulatory functions. There is also a meeting scheduled with Dr Aleck of CASA.

 

An organisation as large as RAA will I believe always have a spot fire or two to tackle most of the time......................Maj....

 

 

[David Isaac]

Ross, from memory it was a good reply. What did you consider inappropriate?

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

No Turbs I did delete it, and it wasn't difficult . I think anyone can delete their own postings.....I also deleted the whole post on the fuel injection option fitted to the Bristell aircraft that I observed at Natfly, as I was given totally incorrect info on that at Natfly..........Maj....

 

 

[turboplanner]

OK just deleted my question but it has to be within a very short time.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

OK just deleted my question but it has to be within a very short time.

Yes I believe there is a time limit.........

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Ross, from memory it was a good reply. What did you consider inappropriate?

Sorry David, just reread it and decided to give it more though thats all............Maj....

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Sue, In the pre AUF days many 95-10 ers wanted to go the SAAA way. The AUF was presented as an alternate and took three years of convincing everyone it was the way to go. (1983/86). The only people i have met that were paranoid of a SAAA takeover were Eugene who had a little rant to me at the 2008 Airventure and several other board /exec members around that time. Personally i have been pro SAAA right from 1982 and still am.

 

Ozzie

 

 

[rhysmcc]

Would make sense given the current attention to maintenance training, together with a push to bring the RPC inline with the RPL, would see a new merged operation highly successful one would think

 

 

[dodo]

I am verry ipresed by Majors report, and also b the comments by Flying Visla and Keith.

 

All good comments, but on the SAA question, I would suggest that the cultural differences between SAA and RA might make a combined organisation less than the sum of the two might suggest.

 

RA has a lot of members, but RA is about getting a certificate and flying, but SAA is about builders, who probably have individually on average have greater knowledge and experience and commitment than the average RA member.

 

I would want a lot of confidence that the combined organisation would serve it's members well.

 

I'm not against it, just thinking fairly critically about the suggestion.

 

As for moving out of Canberra, I am all for it, BUT.... where to? Agree totally with Keith on that one!

 

dodo

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

I have nominated for the upcoming board elections for the NSW positions. Those that have been here for a while will know that I have been critical of past RAAus board members and so its only fair that I offer an alternate. I was prepared to nominate last time but rather than do so I chose to get behind Michael Monk and work towards his election for the one spot that there was last year. I personally believe that today RAAus is a better organisation than it was 18 months ago, but the improvements still leave a vast area remaining for additional improvements.

 

I thought the provision of resolutions and outcomes from the Temora board meeting was fantastic, showing who proposed, who seconded who abstained and result. However if we can do that for those resolutions why not all the other day to day resolutions within the board forum, which is visible only to those that are on the board? There will obviously some for various reasons that cant be reported on, but as long as the categories and determination of which resolutions are not reported on are agreed in advance by category then I can see no reason to not have that extra openness. If on reflection the legal advisors to RAAus say we should not, then lets discuss and advise members of that determination....

 

So, as other has said "put up...or shut up!" so I've put up which to me allows me to continue discussing the organisation we are all part of.

 

Andy