Sport Pilot Magazine

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Robin

 

You asked what else...If you log in to the member portal, and then in that window/tab being the active one in your browser click on this link ( https://www.raa.asn.au/2014/10/motions/ )and look at the first motion. That's the big one that replaces our entire back office and member facing transactional systems and also the public facing website. It will also contain a new module that encompasses our OMS (Occurrence Management System) where we self report things that have/had the potential to hurt anyone, or in fact did hurt/kill someone.

 

It is this total overhaul, imho that will deliver significant savings in terms of staffing efficiencies, member experience, and will enable us to collect the appropriate data to enable detailed reporting both at the time and anytime thereafter (and its the latter one that we don't have today........) to support member/regulator/administrative questions on what we are doing.

 

The CEO is constantly looking at waste in the organisation and trimming where he can. A look at the latest actuals vs budget (same as before the link will only work if your logged into member portal) https://www.raa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/201412-Financial-Reports.pdf will show he is doing a great job at achieving reductions in our cost base. I would mention in reading the report that now that the modernisation program has been approved by the board that the $17k that is discussed a number of times in the report will be moved to CWIP (Capital Works in Progress) improving our P&L for the year by that $17k, as will the $300k (or what is actually spent because the $300k contains some contingency which may not be required) when its spent will directly affect Assets (as a reduction in cash reserves) , but not P&L until GoLive when we will start to depreciate the capital item over its useful life.

 

The board met last year in CBR to define our strategy. However in terms of maturing the output of that day we still haven't yet arrived at a strategy document that can be shared, once we have that then we will know what reserves need to be kept on hand to deal with the strategy aims. Today we don't have that and don't want to degrade our reserves beyond that which the deficit budget imposes on reserves, until we get that document.

 

Andy

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Folks

 

Ive overstated the deficit, I said $500k where as the financials I linked to above says $400k......I should have checked before posting rather than post with a disclaimer that these are off the cuff and you need to check yourself...Anyway, its still a big minus.....just not as bad as I said it was......

 

Andy

 

 

[robinsm]

RobinYou asked what else...If you log in to the member portal, and then in that window/tab being the active one in your browser click on this link ( https://www.raa.asn.au/2014/10/motions/ )and look at the first motion. That's the big one that replaces our entire back office and member facing transactional systems and also the public facing website. It will also contain a new module that encompasses our OMS (Occurrence Management System) where we self report things that have/had the potential to hurt anyone, or in fact did hurt/kill someone.

 

It is this total overhaul, imho that will deliver significant savings in terms of staffing efficiencies, member experience, and will enable us to collect the appropriate data to enable detailed reporting both at the time and anytime thereafter (and its the latter one that we don't have today........) to support member/regulator/administrative questions on what we are doing.

 

The CEO is constantly looking at waste in the organisation and trimming where he can. A look at the latest actuals vs budget (same as before the link will only work if your logged into member portal) https://www.raa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/201412-Financial-Reports.pdf will show he is doing a great job at achieving reductions in our cost base. I would mention in reading the report that now that the modernisation program has been approved by the board that the $17k that is discussed a number of times in the report will be moved to CWIP (Capital Works in Progress) improving our P&L for the year by that $17k, as will the $300k (or what is actually spent because the $300k contains some contingency which may not be required) when its spent will directly affect Assets (as a reduction in cash reserves) , but not P&L until GoLive when we will start to depreciate the capital item over its useful life.

 

The board met last year in CBR to define our strategy. However in terms of maturing the output of that day we still haven't yet arrived at a strategy document that can be shared, once we have that then we will know what reserves need to be kept on hand to deal with the strategy aims. Today we don't have that and don't want to degrade our reserves beyond that which the deficit budget imposes on reserves, until we get that document.

 

Andy

The motions on the website go up to 1/10/14 only and contain 2 motions only. One confirming the CEO position and the other about the RPL>. No note as to whether they were won or lost and nothing to do with reorganisation. Where are the motions you refer to?

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

The motions on the website go up to 1/10/14 only and contain 2 motions only. One confirming the CEO position and the other about the RPL>. No note as to whether they were won or lost and nothing to do with reorganisation. Where are the motions you refer to?

Maybe a cache issue on your machine......When I click on the link I see the first motion as:-

 

Motion:

 

That the Board approves the investment of up to $300,000 from capital reserves for the purpose of updating Recreational Aviation Australia’s ICT systems. The Board also authorises the CEO to commence project development and enter into contracts with Cre8ive and Hallnet to deliver the project and to appoint a project steering committee to be chaired by the CEO and consisting of the CEO, Andy Saywell (representing the Board) and such other persons as the CEO may determine.

 

Moved : Tony King

 

Seconded : Mick Monck

 

11 votes recorded in favour. Nil votes against. Nil abstentions.

 

Mike Apps – supported the proposal during discussion but did not vote.

 

Rod Birrell – did not participate in the discussion and did not vote.

 

 

[rhysmcc]

https://www.raa.asn.au/2014/10/motions-from-19th-of-october-board-meeting/ will lead you the link to download the motions from the board meeting in Oct 2014. I believe it's these that Andy is referring too (Edit: Or not)

 

The website is a mess, with information placed all over and no easy way to find. I for one am glad the board and CEO have decided to revamp it as part of the modernisation project. You'll also see in those motions that Subscription for the Magazine was approved from April 2015.

 

Edit: Andy I must admit I don't remember seeing that motion you have quoted before. Was this passed in Oct 2014 as the date suggests or has the webpage been edited incorrectly?

 

 

[geoffreywh]

Quote"...Your paper copy however can only be in one place at a time."..... So it's not all negatives, there are positives that need to be considered as well in my opinion."................... There's a job waiting for you with a politician as a Spin Doctor" We lose the mag. Have to take our desktops in to the Lav for a bit of a browse. Get a price rise by stealth and are told ......................." You are so much better off now ".............. Smacks of that pommiebastard prime minister who told us "You have never been had so good"

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Actually I notice that the March magazine electronically has been sent out to quite a few people to test out now. Those that are discussing if its good or bad might want to test it and see how it works for you......The march mag online can be seen here:-

 

http://issuu.com/sportpilotmagazine/docs/sport_pilot_march_2015/1

 

See what you think.......Don't forget to scoll down the page at some stage well below our magazine and look at the plethora of other flying magazines that are available to you now, today, free of charge....Did you know about them?

 

Andy

 

P.S As others have said, its not optimised for online consumption but rather is the online of the PDF that gets sent to the magazine printer.....Bear that in mind

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Quote"...Your paper copy however can only be in one place at a time."..... So it's not all negatives, there are positives that need to be considered as well in my opinion."................... There's a job waiting for you with a politician as a Spin Doctor" We lose the mag. Have to take our desktops in to the Lav for a bit of a browse. Get a price rise by stealth and are told ......................." You are so much better off now ".............. Smacks of that pommiebastard prime minister who told us "You have never been had so good"

Geoff

 

So it is what it is...if you want it some other way tell me what other way I can make it that addresses the underlying financial issue?

 

I don't believe I'm spinning it.....I'm not hiding anything I'm simply saying that on balance its not all bad......that's not at all the same as "its all good!" Read what I actually said, not what you want me to have said...... In what way is it by stealth? Did my post attempt to hide the rise???? I don't think so!

 

I'm feeling a bit like the messenger here that is well on the way to suffering trauma by shooting!

 

Andy

 

 

[robinsm]

Dont worry about the naysayers Andy, I was only asking the questions, not pointing anything lethal at you. Your replies have been helpful.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Quote"...Your paper copy however can only be in one place at a time."..... So it's not all negatives, there are positives that need to be considered as well in my opinion."................... There's a job waiting for you with a politician as a Spin Doctor" We lose the mag. Have to take our desktops in to the Lav for a bit of a browse. Get a price rise by stealth and are told ......................." You are so much better off now ".............. Smacks of that pommiebastard prime minister who told us "You have never been had so good"

buy a 7" android tablet, you can read one handed

 

 

[dazza 38]

Magazines are dead, they have been on the way out for the last 15 years.

Yeah that is why I always buy Australian Flying and Aviator magazine as soon as it hits the Newsagents.

 

 

[rhysmcc]

I get the Australian Flying on the Apple Newsstand and have no issues reading it on the iPad. Although there are some bad examples of digital magazines out there.

 

 

[Guest john]

Andy, You've got the message from the rank & file, now tell the Board & the CEO about the comments on this topic & let them decide what they are going to do .

 

If the internet magazine is going to be the future of RAA , if this is only emailed to members , how are the young people who are the future of aviation & are non members going to be able to access the emailed copy?

 

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to answer this question, a blind man could giver you the answer.

 

Let the RAA go ahead as predicted by them, & they do so at their own peril. There are a lot members who pay associate membership only for the hard copy of the magazine, & if RAA are going to drastically increase the price of the hard copy, then blind freddy can see that RAA will lose these associate members, & of course this will result in a downturn in RAA finances.

 

 

[Blueadventures]

Andy, You've got the message from the rank & file, now tell the Board & the CEO about the comments on this topic & let them decide what they are going to do .If the internet magazine is going to be the future of RAA , if this is only emailed to members , how are the young people who are the future of aviation & are non members going to be able to access the emailed copy?

 

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to answer this question, a blind man could giver you the answer.

 

Let the RAA go ahead as predicted by them, & they do so at their own peril. There are a lot members who pay associate membership only for the hard copy of the magazine, & if RAA are going to drastically increase the price of the hard copy, then blind freddy can see that RAA will lose these associate members, & of course this will result in a downturn in RAA finances.

Would six issues a year be a way forward, a good paper mag getting the messages out and have that available in news agents etc.

Cheers

 

Mike

 

 

[turboplanner]

Very interesting that the people who are arguing to retain the magazine are reading the posts and putting up their arguments here, on line, ADSL or not, but not in the magazine they're arguing for.

 

Sort of decides the issue doesn't it.

 

 

[Birdseye]

Very interesting that the people who are arguing to retain the magazine are reading the posts and putting up their arguments here, on line, ADSL or not, but not in the magazine they're arguing for.Sort of decides the issue doesn't it.

Probably the lead time is a factor, magazine arrived today and any letter on the topic will probably be a month or so from appearing . From my observation the issue is as much about how its been handled, not just the proposed outcome.

 

 

[SDQDI]

Very interesting that the people who are arguing to retain the magazine are reading the posts and putting up their arguments here, on line, ADSL or not, but not in the magazine they're arguing for.Sort of decides the issue doesn't it.

In letters to the editor in our last mag there was at least one letter venting frustration turbs, so no it doesn't decide the issue:wink: And I would be surprised if there isn't a couple next edition.

As far as irony goes I did get a chuckle in the fact that those that still want a hard copy have to go online to organise it........... Ok in all seriousness I have no doubt if there are those with no Internet that they will be able to talk to the office to sort that, I just had a chuckle was all.

 

I do think that the way that it has been handled could have been done an awful lot better. For starters it has seemed like a long winded way of saying or fees are going up and personally I would have rather been told that

 

"We have to increase our annual fees by 50$ to cover rising budgetary problems, we understand that this will not be taken well and have organised for a digital version of our magazine to be made available and for those that are happy to receive just the digital copy (thus saving us money) they will have no increase to their fees."

 

I am sure that that would have gone down a lot better with the majority of people rather than the way it has come to light. That is of course only my opinion and I don't really mind, I am after all just in it for the flying:thumb up:

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

At the end of the day the board are your instrument, if we have got it so wrong in your opinion then it is essential that you formally tell us we have it wrong. Write, or email, to the CEO and or President and let them know your thoughts. I choose to participate here when most board members choose otherwise. Trying to convince me, is not the same as trying to convince the whole board.

 

I know you have your views here, but reality is that a letter or email signed with your real name and member number is likely to have greater effect on the board determination than posting on this forum alone where only 1 or maybe 2 of the board might see it.

 

I absolutely hear its not popular among some of you, what I cant determine is if its equally not popular among the majority, or minority of members. Be vocal by all means but write as I have said, Michael and Michael are the only ones that get to see everyone who is prepared to comment's view

 

Andy

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Have any of you guys been into a newsagent lately? I visit my local once or twice a year but they are no longer orientated around specialty publications anymore. Go and have a visit sometime

 

 

[Stoney]

buy a 7" android tablet, you can read one handed

Sounds like you know FT. Why do you need your other hand free?

 

 

[Stoney]

Andy@Coffs

 

I know you have your heart in the right place, and I appreciate your input to us members on this forum. (Why can't we have the same timely info from RAAus)

 

It does seem a bit like shooting the messenger, but per your post #34, it seems the wrong way round to tell the members what you are going to do, and then ask them for their opinions.

 

I seem to recall another organisation doing that last December, which was also not very popular.

 

I have very expensive and very slow satellite internet. I pay nearly 150 times more for internet than my daughter who lives 50km away in the suburbs with mobile reception.

 

As you said in your post, it's all about choice.

 

I choose not to pay to download advertising in the digital magazine.

 

I choose not to pay extra to download the magazine that I thought my membership fee was paying for.

 

If it really is that overused chestnut of "user pays", then my membership fees should be halved, because between paying for ASIC cards and satellite internet, I can only afford to fly half as much.

 

Then throw in the $50 rebate for not receiving the magazine at all and I should be getting paid by RAAus to be a member.

 

I may be cynical, but I remember when "Service Stations" went from full service, where a friendly face would fill your tank and check your oil and clean your windscreen, to self service.

 

We were told that the price of fuel would come down because there was less labour cost. Turns out the price went up because we had to pay for the new technology of the self serve "improvements".

 

Andy, I don't mean anything personal, but why oh why do these organisations always overlook their biggest asset, their member base.

 

Do you really think that a dozen people on a board has got the jump on the combined wisdom and varied experience of their 10,000 members?

 

How many suggestions were forwarded regarding the not too historical re-registration debacle? How many were acted upon?

 

For the record, I will forward my thoughts to where they will be officially ignored as usual.

 

 

[Guest john]

At the end of the day the board are your instrument, if we have got it so wrong in your opinion then it is essential that you formally tell us we have it wrong. Write, or email, to the CEO and or President and let them know your thoughts. I choose to participate here when most board members choose otherwise. Trying to convince me, is not the same as trying to convince the whole board.I know you have your views here, but reality is that a letter or email signed with your real name and member number is likely to have greater effect on the board determination than posting on this forum alone where only 1 or maybe 2 of the board might see it.

 

I absolutely hear its not popular among some of you, what I cant determine is if its equally not popular among the majority, or minority of members. Be vocal by all means but write as I have said, Michael and Michael are the only ones that get to see everyone who is prepared to comment's view

 

Andy

Usually whenever someone sends their written opinion to an Organisation, the Committee, Management or staff have a habit of 'ROUND FILING' the writers letter, or in other words, rolling it up like a tennis ball & throwing it into the bin. That is the main reason why us little people would rather express their individual opinions via this forum so that :

1. Other forum members can see whats going on.

 

2.Forum Members who are RAA Committee Members can obtain a fair idea from the rank & file members, about the subject & can then impart that valuable information to the Board when attending Committee meetings.

 

3

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Gents

 

Just in case some of you are thinking this is a surprise, I would draw your attention to a thread I started October the 26th last year, specifically http://recreationalflying.com/threads/board-meeting-motions.126016/#post-454664 where the emagazine concept was introduced and reported on to the membership.

 

The bit of that post of relevance to this debate is:-

 

Sport Pilot Magazine

 

Sport Pilot accounts for some 14% of our overall expenditure. After

 

considering a detailed plan from the CEO. All members will have access to a

 

free digital copy of Sport Pilot under this proposal, however in attempting to

 

reduce the deficit the Board felt it prudent to introduce a subscription model of

 

printed copies of Sport Pilot. Between October 2014 and April 2015 RA-Aus

 

will undertake a detailed communication plan with all members to determine a

 

fair and equitable way to distribute Sport Pilot.

 

Motion:

 

1. RA-Aus take control of printing and distribution (CEO to negotiate

 

contract).

 

2. RA-Aus introduce a free digital magazine to member’s from 1 April 2015.

 

3. RA-Aus introduce a paid subscription model for members from 1 April

 

2015. The cost of subscription be closely tied to the cost of production, but

 

with view to ensuring costs, both hard and soft, are covered and determined

 

by the CEO.

 

4. Sport Pilot be removed from newsstands and converted to a member’s only

 

resource.

 

5. The CEO do all things necessary to renegotiate the contract in the most

 

favourable terms to RA-Aus.

 

6. The CEO do all things necessary to deliver recommendations 1, 2, 3 in the

 

most favourable terms to RA-Aus and its membership.

 

Moved: Mark Christie

 

Seconded: Tony King

 

Abstained: Ed Herring

 

Carried 12 in favour, none against, one abstention.

 

As you can see there was intent back then to ensure that the debate on the how, to ensure fair and equitable was had. So please if you want this to be fair and equitable then have your say.

 

I can guarantee that no individual post will be ignored and that the board will continue to do what is best for the entire membership. If your individual ideas don't get implemented because the board, and / or CEO believes that your views are not in the best interests of the entire membership then that doesn't mean it was ignored or binned, just considered and found, on balance, to not represent the best for the entire membership. Earlier in this thread (I think) I was told to get rid of CASA funding, and then a bit later to get more CASA funding......so worst case I'm going to have 2 people that conceptually think I binned their ideas, or best case only 1.... I was elected, as were all 13 board members, to ultimately overseea the organisation for the best for all members (Not just a specific region in Australia, NSW in my case) , I don't for one moment think we always get it right, nor that we communicate perfectly everytime. I do however believe in my heart that every decision Ive been part of is for the betterment of the organiosation and its members.

 

BlueAdventure suggested that a compromise might be changing from 11 to 6 magazines PA....I understand the rationale behind the suggestion and thank you for the suggestion, however as I understand it there are contractual and financial reasons with the team involved on the non RAAus side of the fence that mean such an approach is probably not possible. Furthermore we don't want to communicate with the membership less, we want to maintain or increase communications. Nonetheless such a suggestion should be sent to be considered by the CEO/board, things that don't seem possible might suddenly be found to be possible if the views expressed suddenly seem to be common views of the membership for example

 

Andy

 

 

[turboplanner]

In letters to the editor in our last mag there was at least one letter venting frustration turbs, so no it doesn't decide the issue:wink:

Well that's democracy for you; we've reached the point where the other 9,999 members don't count.

 

 

[Kununurra]

I think we know where this would head..........I am sure the option to now charge for a printed copy will out weigh the cry out if the membership fees were to go up.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but RAA were having a little trouble making ends meet?

 

I agree with most comments in terms of getting rid of unwanted ads but I am also sure there would be a cost associated with that also.

 

Dammed if we do dammed if we don't.

 

I have no issues with an online version but that is my choice.

 

Cheers