Sport Pilot, has the rot set in ?

[fly_tornado]

The RAA must be overstaffed if the CEO has time to go fishing

 

 

[octave]

I find I read Sports Pilot online about the same amount as I read the hardcopy edition. I also read other magazines that I used to get a hard copy of online. I think IF the readership has shrunk that this will change as the younger generation becomes involved with recreational flying although it must continue to evolve to keep up with the quality of other sources of aviation information.

 

Personally I think an issue is that when magazines go online they try to recreate the paper magazine digitally. The problem is that I don't feel this can compete with more interactive aviation sites. What is a traditional magazine? It basically is a bunch of pages containing adverts, letters to the editor, stories, editorials, pictures and classifieds. There are no shortages of sources of aviation information on the net (such as this forum) but they are often better because instead of pictures I can watch stunning videos, instead of reading an edited transcript of an interview I can watch a video of the interview, I can click on a link to an advert for the latest aircraft on the market. This is what the old style magazine MUST compete with.

 

In terms of the magazine being the means of providing important information such as changes in regs or for calling for nominations for the board etc. I don't think it can, or ever or could have been relied upon in the past.

 

I do think that with large increases in the cost of postage that we must get away from posting bits of paper, it is just too expensive.

 

 

[peterg]

I too only read the online version occasionally - maybe it's the presentation. There are lots of ways to present online content and I don't think RA-Aus has nailed it.With regard to communication, I received the following email today (i.e. a few days prior to the event) addressed to all Victorian members - this is at best sloppy -

 

We're heading to Kyneton and you're invited!

 

RAAus staff will be at Kyneton Airfield this Sunday (17 July 2016) and would like to invite members to join us for a free sausage sizzle lunch and informal member's forum.

 

Lunch will be available from 12.30 to 2.00pm

 

Staff will be in Kyneton developing training videos and an opportunity exists for our members to engage with our Training Coordinator, Hayley, and tech leadership team, Darren and Jared, over the lunch time period.

 

Our CEO, Michael Linke will also be in town as a guest of the GFA and will be presenting to members as part of their AGM on Saturday at Attwood. It's great to see aviation bodies coming together to share the passion.

 

Michael will also be joining Hayley, Darren and Jared at lunch to engage with members on Sunday.

 

So come on down to Kyneton this weekend, catch us in action, have some lunch, and find out what's been happening at RAAus.

A good example of online presentation is John Roake's "Gliding International" -https://http://www.glidinginternational.com/account/issuehttps://www.glidinginternational.com/account/issuehttps://www.glidinginternational.com/account/issue

 

You will need to contact John to get a sample - there are plenty of others - as I said, the online mag idea is fine - RA-Aus hasn't nailed the presentation.

 

 

[kasper]

Well the CEO openly admits or acknowledges (depending on how you feel the slant on words should go) that the printed mag sales are well short of expectations and its not covering its print and send costs so reduction in advertising is only going to make it worse and mean member funds will even more increasingly subsidize those receiving the printed mag.

 

On comms the new ops manual 7,1 was passed by the board over a month ago and still nothing from the actual organization publishing it to the members

 

and the triple header is that the board do appear to have failed to actually follow their own brand new constitution on the whole call for nominations for new board members so on comms you can hardly expect the magazine to be an effective online presentation when it MUST cut costs to produce itself as a printed mag.

 

 

[The Baron]

I don't read the online version but to be fair, the printed version was losing my interest pretty rapidly anyway.I felt it was getting too technical and GAish.

I totally agree with you Downunder i stopped reading it for the same resson

 

 

[billwoodmason]

I don't read the online version but to be fair, the printed version was losing my interest pretty rapidly anyway.I felt it was getting too technical and GAish.

A sign of what is to come - a user pays GA alternative perhaps.

 

 

[Ultralights]

A sign of what is to come - a user pays GA alternative perhaps.

User Pay GA is whats led us to where we are today.

 

 

[facthunter]

You're a poet and don't knowet. Nev

 

 

[The Baron]

GA experimental has no rego fee no licence fee no inspection fee, if you build your own aircraft you can maintain it yourself !

 

 

[facthunter]

When the paperwork equals the Mass of the aircraft, and you fly on a PPL or higher. You can modify, which is virtually impossible on a GA normal registration. Nev

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

I love horses....cant understand how the car made them so unattractive..... I think I'll fit right in with the crowd bemoaning the decline of magazines and print media......

 

Imho There's nothing so ineffective as railing against change...... The issue we are discussing is not an RAAus one its print media everywhere, what makes you think that RAAus can somehow magically buck that trend?

 

Kaspers point that the RAAus experience that sales of print don't come up to expected levels just means that in the future the fixed costs will be shared across a smaller subscriber baseline which will drive the per unit costs up and more will drop out and....round we go again...... In the meantime the entire print industry subscriber baseline is busy shrinking and no matter what RAAus does the fixed costs apply over a smaller number.......I understand that there will be those that don't like that reality but you have to admit that if those that argue its a crazy plan mustn't have that many supporters otherwise wouldn't the sales of subscriptions be up not down.......

 

BTW It may appear logical that advertising revenue changes due volumes would have a direct impact on RAAus but if you assume that is the case I can guarantee you'd be 100% wrong....at least in the short term.....

 

Andy

 

 

[Rannoch]

Am I in the minority.

 

I wait for the postie each month for my printed copy. I read them several times and after about a year or so if I visit the doc or dentist etc I leave a few copies on their magazine table.

 

Has to be a lot better reading for a lot of folk than the other weekly gossip trash magazines that always seems to be in abundance at such places..

 

 

[Ayecapt]

Yeah, well that includes me. I have tried reading it online but the format is hopelessly small, especially if I try to read it on my iPad mini.Another sterling success story of doing things based on price rather than the best outcome. I guess that's the world we live in; we don't try to make the best widgets anymore, we only try to make the most profitable widgets.

How right you are !!!

 

 

[dazza 38]

Wow!This must be a new record for thread drift. By post #4 relevance to the original topic was gone.

 

No one that I have spoken to actually reads Sport Pilot sonce it has gone digital. Advertisers won't get any value from their ads unless someone is reading them.

Yup I have not read the electronic version. Well I skipped through the first couple of additions and that was enough for me.

 

 

[Admin]

Imho There's nothing so ineffective as railing against change...... The issue we are discussing is not an RAAus one its print media everywhere, what makes you think that RAAus can somehow magically buck that trend?

Andy, that is the mindset of why the board has failed and continues to fail because of their attitude towards the members of which I am sorry to say you were a part of. It is NOT what the world is doing, it is what the members of our association want irrespective of what is happening anywhere else. The board is a servant of the members and not there to do what they just think themselves. Why cant they understand that?

I wonder if any one of the board members asked that one most important question when they were discussing the mag..."lets ask the members what they want?"...obviously not

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Andy, that is the mindset of why the board has failed and continues to fail because of their attitude of which I am sorry to say you were a part of. It is NOT what the world is doing, it is what the members of our association want irrespective of what is happening anywhere else. The board is there for the members to do what the members want and not what a couple of people on a board think themselves. They keep telling us what they want and not continually asking what the members want, they are servants of ours not our dictators. WHY CANT THEY GET THAT THROUGH THEIR POWER HUNGRY MINDS AND DO THEIR JOB THAT THEY WERE ELECTED TO DO...TO DO FOR US NOT THEM

Because the fact that you might not like the decision does nothing to change the underlying economics. Australia post used to move orders of magnitude greater amounts of mail and magazines. Now it doesn't, the costs reflect that. The printer used to print orders of magnitudes more print material, now it doesn't and the costs reflect that. The paper supplier.....and so on and so on. Now if as you say we simply say no more not another step for RAAus then what price are you prepared to pay? The answer will be different for different parts of the membership but almost certainly there is a point where say 90% won't want it.

 

Now let's look at the shouting part.... Do for us, not them......can you put a bit more meat on those bones for me....what is it that you think the board in whole or individually got out of this decision other than an organisation that because it trimmed its cost base got an extension of life? Kaspers is right in his assertion that because the sales of subscriptions didn't come up to expected amounts that the organisation is not making all the savings it expected, but the reality was that worst case where we arranged a printed mag but didn't sell one copy of it meant that the loss (financially) was only 1/2 that, that it was prior to the changes...... If we sold every copy we expected then the cost was neutral, as I recall and I sure can't be bothered going back and digging out the correspondence at the time.

 

So just in case it isn't clear, this power hungry child abuser murderer and commiter of at least one genocide got exactly zero out of the decision, nada nil zip and nothing. I'm my case because I'm perhaps more open than some to using computers to read I wasn't personally that upset with the decision and in any event I could see that no decision was simply putting off realities, if I wasn't part of deciding then someone els had to do it and do it with a financial base that was likely much more in stress.

 

But given that one can only be a power hungry child abuser murderer and commiter of at least one genocide for so long..... And my stores of vegemite were falling to dangerous levels as a result of extended unemployment I pulled the pin giving up my lucrative board position to focus on keeping the bank at bay......anyway, I'm happy to debate facts, emotions devoid of facts however can only ever be refuted with more emotion which is an exercise in futility.

 

Andy

 

 

[Admin]

But Andy again you are citing reasons for the decision, economics etc but the fact remains that the board made an important decision without consulting the members whom they serve, nor did they even provide thier argument or even put different proposals forward for the members to decide for themselves on what the majority wanted on which the board is to serve...another case of dictatorship. The members have a right to a say which is simply what I am debating and will continue to debate that the board is there for the members first and foremost

 

 

[Spriteah]

Most decisions the board make on behalf of the organisation. There was consultation on the magazine issue but it was a No brainer. The loss of the printed version was dragging members funds out of the bank.

 

Magazine advertising income did not go to RAAus and we couldn't find a cheaper supplier.

 

Circulation has increased under the electronic version and that will likely lead to increased membership into the future.

 

Be the glass half full. Get out flying.

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

The constitution then, and now correctly imho realises that day to day decisions are the remit of the board, how would you change the constitution so that decisions of import are dealt with by a full (5% of the membership??? On average) vote. Again as I recall this decision was a circa $500k +\-decision. RAAus has at least 4 of those each year, do each need to be voted on?

 

I don't intend to discuss consultation, imho there was room for improvement and discussions after a decision can only optimistically be called consultation...... But I was part of the then board and that opportunity for improvement was for me to grasp as well as others.

 

Just so you know there were aspects of the implementation that really upset me as a board member and I was vocal about within the board but overall it was the right decision and I don't intend to sideline coach now.

 

Andy

 

 

[adshedsyd]

Well many years ago the MAG was a erburden of regulations source of info and considered option.

 

Most pilots know the industry fairly well and are bored with the average flight article. Secondly aviation is certainly dying because of the over the top rego and servicing costs. My plane is 7 years old and worth a quarter new cost.

 

I guess u can say the skies are owned by the military and commercial flying not any room for recording flying

 

 

[DGL Fox]

I have no problem with the current way the magazine works, I can see that the huge loss in the production costs of the magazine were not sustainable and something needed to be done to rein in the expenses and hence we have what we now, as I said I have no issues with the digital and print version, I love seeing my magazine every month and it sits on my coffee table for weeks and every time I sit down for a coffee I have another look through it until I have had enough and it goes down to the flying school coffee table.

 

The issues that I have is strictly from an advertisers point of view and the value for money that I would get if I advertised, pulling it out of newsagents was IMO the worst thing they could have done it reduces the people that will see my ad which reduces the possible amount of leads that I would derive from my ad, my business as such is not directly related to aviation so I need not only people like us to buy and look at my ad but other people from all walks of life, farmers, panelbeaters, etc etc and now IMO I don't get that with it only being sent to members and not being presented at the newsagents, so, as I said before, I would love to support our magazine but I need to balance how much I spend for the business or leads that I get from this advertising, so I am still assessing the deal...

 

David

 

 

[Admin]

The constitution then, and now correctly imho realises that day to day decisions are the remit of the board, how would you change the constitution so that decisions of import are dealt with by a full (5% of the membership??? On average) vote. Again as I recall this decision was a circa $500k +\-decision. RAAus has at least 4 of those each year, do each need to be voted on?

Andy, think outside the box and not fall on the constituition as the only tool the board has as this I personally feel is being very narrow in thinking. You as a member of this site could easily have consulted a portion of the membership to give you some direction in representing the members thoughts much better by you simply having placed a poll on this site as just one example...we know more members come here more frequently than anywhere else, some even daily, and this would give some degree of opinion and better member representation than to just make decisions on your own thoughts as a board member. Please believe me there is nothing personal in what I say mate, it is the entity itself and its processes as a whole that I refer to

 

 

[Admin]

Hell, you just need to ask the question in a poll, put the facts on the table, provide various alternatives but ask the question of the members. You dont even need to contribute to the discussion, just ask the question and be seen as doing your due diligence, sit back and read the posts and serve the members. Heck just one member may post a solution that no one has thought of and then suddenly many members agree with that solution and then you have a better option that you hadnt thought of and what many members want...that is serving the membership, communicating and giving the membership a say in their association

 

 

[kasper]

My argument is economic

 

1. the removal of the printed mag reduced cost of production of the mag significantly ... and yet our membership remained unreduced ... effectively a MASSIVE membership increase

 

2. the printed mag is STILL not covering its print and distribution costs so MEMBERSHIP fees are STILL being used to subsidize the magazine print and distribution we are not even getting

 

3. the kick a member while they are down the board then put membership fees up AGAIN

 

Economics ... we are getting far less and paying far more ... sounds just like GA really.

 

 

[cscotthendry]

My argument is economic1. the removal of the printed mag reduced cost of production of the mag significantly ... and yet our membership remained unreduced ... effectively a MASSIVE membership increase

2. the printed mag is STILL not covering its print and distribution costs so MEMBERSHIP fees are STILL being used to subsidize the magazine print and distribution we are not even getting

 

3. the kick a member while they are down the board then put membership fees up AGAIN

 

Economics ... we are getting far less and paying far more ... sounds just like GA really.

Kasper:

It is the modern reality and it isn't unique to our organisation and magazine. Every day we get less for more and we see the overpaid execs at the top getting fatter and fatter paychecks.

 

Hmmm, is there a connection there?

 

Wasn't "Trickle-down economics" supposed to be the magic pudding, the tide that "lifted all boats"???

 

Andy:

 

Your logic makes no sense at all; When consumption goes down, put the price up! Yep that will encourage more people to buy the item! Is there another way? Yep, there are plenty, starting with finding out what the consumers want, then maybe putting the production UP instead of down so that you get economies of scale ... and there are many others. These are not NEW innovations, but it seems they are beyond a lot of business people these days who seem obsessed with costs and profits rather than product quality.