RAAus is getting a new CEO

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The current CEO Matt is moving on. The scary part is it seems like only yesterday he came on board, not three years ago. Fly and fly while you can.

 

 

From the CEO

Dear all,

2023 has been another busy year here at RAAus. We’ve had our 40^th birthday celebrations, promoted RAAus at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon, joined forces with the AMDA Foundation to make ‘Fly’n For Fun’ 2024 at Parkes in April a reality, supported numerous initiatives such as the award winning Touch the Sky series and Loss of Control series, and our staff have been busy attending various locations around the country to meet with members, audit flight training schools, and generally promote recreational aviation. We’ve also been involved in assisting members achieve their dreams, like Hayden McDonald who the week before last completed his solo circumnavigation of Australia to promote inclusion, particularly for neurodiverse people such as himself – so great!

This year we’ve spent a significant amount of effort on finalising the approval for our new Group G that will enable members to operate aircraft up to 760kgs maximum take-off weight. We’re so close now and our final approval from CASA is imminent. Now that we have a high degree of confidence around the requirements for Group G, your RAAus team is now working feverishly to finalise internal processes, and develop training and educational material so members understand the requirements and can easily take advantage of this new privilege.

So what does 2024 look like? I can confidently say that Group G will finally become a reality in early 2024, and with CASA having recently consulted on controlled airspace access for recreational aviators, I’m also confident this won’t be too far off either. RAAus members have eagerly awaited both of these for more than a decade and therefore we’re so excited to make these both a reality.

Also in 2024, our Board has been clear with their direction to diversify our business model to ensure we keep recreational aviation affordable for all. What this means is that we will be seeking other revenue opportunities to enable, in effect, a cross-subsidisation of the aviation side of the house, because that will always be our core function as a company.

From a personal perspective, having seen out my three-year contracted term, I’ve decided to move on from RAAus to a different role within the industry. I’ll be taking some leave over the Christmas break before returning to the office in late January, then finishing up in mid-February.

Leading the RAAus team as CEO has been an incredible privilege. I cannot emphasise enough how hard this team of 20 staff work to make your interactions with us positive, to enable new privileges like Group G, to assist you in being safe aviators, and to support our flight training schools across the country. We take immense pride in all that we do at RAAus, which has grown from humble beginnings into a professional and modern organisation that exists to enable our members to take to the skies.

I also want to thank our Directors who are voted in by members and give up a significant amount of their time to oversight RAAus without any remuneration. I cannot stress enough how important it is that our Board is made up of people that not only have a passion for aviation and members’ interests, but also have the experience to govern a modern business that manages risk, oversees a large remit, and understands the duties of being a Director. We are incredibly fortunate to have people that fit this bill, so congratulations go to our members for electing such a diligent group of Directors.

As a CEO it’s typical to report to the Board through the Chairman, and during my tenure this has been Michael Monck. I can honestly say that Mick’s passion, commitment and tenacious approach for members is unwavering. Although he also has a ‘day job’, he regularly puts in 20-30 hours a week of his own time to make this organisation great. He has been a terrific mentor to me, and as a member of RAAus I am immensely grateful to have someone like him leading our Board.

I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved in the past three years. Whilst coming out of COVID was a challenge with our staff working from home through lockdowns, we continued to provide uninterrupted service to members, managed to implement Part 149, put systems in place to maintain assurance, finally got Group G over the line, and above all, strived to enable our members to operate with as little fuss as possible. Thank you to those many members who have interacted positively, shared war stories, had a laugh with me, and supported the direction of RAAus. Just as importantly, thank you to those members that respectfully shared their grievances or concerns with me to enable us to work towards a solution. I can honestly say I worked as hard as I could to achieve this.

The Board will communicate with the membership their plans for my successor in due course. Whomever this may be, I wish them well and for RAAus, the success it deserves.

Finally, I’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe holiday season. Fly safely and I hope to see you around the traps!

Matt