coljones

Os, no matter how you cut it it will still be a beauty contest + what do you do if you get 7 lawyers because everyone thinks that there should be at least one lawyer but the electorate is divided on which one - and they all get up? Democracy - a real bitch at times

Tony, mate, you were doing well. I don't understand why you don't just make it 7 from the first election. I am getting a little weary of the proponents sliding around, saying it should be 7, but maybe 5. If this was your business I couldn't care less but it also belongs to me and the the other 9,999. The proponents still haven't really justified moving from 13 other than the rumours that half the 13 are a waste of space but we then get told that they are all good guys (and ladies). If half the current board are duds then there will be every expectation that half the new board will also be duds. Ian, we don't need a collection of half baked lawyers, beancounters, door to door power scheme salesmen or kleanafone ladies. It is a pity that our elections are governed by the laws of libel and slander otherwise we could really say what we feel about some on the current board, their predecessors and we still won't be able to prosecute the truth into the future. I am still minded of "the rise and rise of Michael Rimmer" Tony, just run an election to fill all positions and be done with it. Hold a meeting in October to clear the accounts of RAA Inc. (if these look crap we will know that current executive and interim board is crap). Hold another meeting in May next year so we know we are heading in the right direction and, yes, by all means have a real AGM in October next year. Future boards and the rank and file will sort out the rest. Cheers Col

You will probably find that the members of the board are obliged to act in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders - the board is not a stakeholder. Whether board members always, sometimes or never act in the interests of stakeholders would be the stuff of many PhD theses. There is much anecdotal evidence to suggest that acting in the interests of ALL the stakeholders is the furthest thing from the minds of directors and there is much engagement of the very best of legal minds to ensure that this lack of interest cannot be sued at law. RAA is not required to pay tax so is of little interest to ATO except in regard to GST and of no interest to ASIC. Our board's behavior would at all times rank well behind a whole conga line of dodgy companies, charities and trusts.

RAA has never been good at warning of anything. The rollout of the last ops manual was never circulated to the rank and file before being approved. There was a concerted campaign on this site and in emails to board members, which were largely ignored, to get a copy for comment, to no avail. I am not sure if the latest article on the Tech Manual is a revelation of what has been done, a teaser about what might happen or just wishful thinking. I understand that another ops manual is in the chute. Commentators here regularly give CASA shit about their behaviours but Part 61 fx was widely circulated in various draft forms before adoption and and there are regular calls for comments on proposals eg 45 mins fuel. From RAA - absolutely nothing!! Wake up Board we are in the 21st century and people are expecting and demanding open government.

Andy, now that you are not burdened by the board you might like to watch "The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer". Some might question my viewing habits but it was a movie staring Peter Cook (and I am sure Dudley Moore) with Ronny Corbet thrown in (as one does). A bitter comedic view of democracy and how it can be used to grind down a gullible electorate. Throw decision making out to 10,000 members - not a real good idea as it will descend to the 100 activists and quite a few of those are in hiding along with their own secret agendas. Don is unable, or unwilling, due to libel laws I am sure, to really tell us who the no hopers on the board are and there is nothing in the new arrangements that will raise the veil. It will, again, be a beauty contest except for a max of 7 (as the board might grant) rather than 13.

Without declaring my hand. The "intensity of the push for the yes vote" is to counteract the inertia of a largely uninterested membership in the the goings on of the board and management. There is no doubt in my mind that, while this debate has turned many off, many are listening and taking notice of what is being said - a good thing!! This heightened awareness might lead to a greater interest in RAA, what it does and who puts up their hand for election - and maybe VOTE. The difficulty with democracy is that the electors are largely informed by b%!^%^!@llsh&!@(t. Actually working out who the best candidates are is a real difficulty. Being a corporate beancounter, HR/IR person or a lawyer (aviation, corporate or criminal) is not a realistic indicators of future performance and I am not sure we have been well served by CFIs either.

YWBH - AOPA Guide says contact Sandy MacDonald 02 6746 5555 YWOM - AOPA Guide says contact Northcotte Station 02 6764 2433 http://www.realestate.com.au/property-mixed+farming-nsw-tamworth-7767305

Just a rant!! I used to get the same pathetic rubbish from my teachers who would say "this will make a man of you" as they laid in with 6 of the best assuaging their own inadequacies and failings. ASIC can't/won't protect anyone. The directors and staff are having great difficulty protecting their kids's money boxes from the banks. Bond got banged up but not for his biggest crimes and I suspect that Palmer will be long dead (or living in Bermuda) long before anyone will lay a feather on him.

Interesting. Graham Onis is in the process of building new hangars at The Oaks - watch that space.

At least he signed his name. If you checked out the voting in his last election he had a significant power base. Perhaps there is a strong group inside RAA that we would be supportive of his action and the views of the proponents of Eureka. There are many things that RAA does without testing the membership. The last published one was the new tech manual, which appears to be done and dusted. This follows on from the Ops manual review and call for comments that didn't happen either. Perhaps he resolved himself into a committee of one and forgot to call from comments from the rank and file and the board.

AOPA is a voluntary organisation, one has to make a positive decision and pay to join. RAA is like compulsory unionism, if you want to fly small planes you are compelled to join. The amount of interest in the doings of RAA can probably be measured by the nominations received and the votes cast in recent elections. The last time there was an election in NSW there were no more than about 300 votes. On that basis there are probably only about 1000 activist members in RAA. AOPA has 2500 members who choose to join without conscription. That says to me that AOPA is probably much more representative of pilots than RAA. I agree, it would have been much better to have had a broad consensus across the industry and formal signatures on the submission.

So you are just sayin that all these mobs are all b*st#rds? Maybe I should trade in my electrician's licence and become an comms-electro-tech LAME.

mine was from +61408538621 aka mobile 0408 538 621. possibly from an SMS service who do bulk SMSs on behalf of clients. In this case it would be RAA itself. The message is usually brief to save money. I get crap all the time from my local club.

There is a call for nominations to the AOPA Board out there now - an opportunity for someone to make their mark on AOPA. There was once a person on both the AOPA Board and RAA Board - it was the RAA Board that kicked up a stink and forced the Board member off the RAA Board. A grubby little affair. I think the relationships are much better these days but you would have to ask the RAA Exec how that actually pans out in real time.

"they were not interested in RAA or LSA aircraft" can you provide an authoritative source for this?

Cessna SIDS is costing a bomb - but I can't engage in a debate about actual need. In the face of its own stupidity CASA will probably ban Rotax engines to remove any pressure to lift the constraint on Jabiru and therefore look very, very silly.

We all know that spoilers and airdams make an Hyundai Excel go like the clappers and handle an F1 racer.

what are you saying? where is the other thread?

It seems what you want is an executive summary. The issue of a PDF is neither here nor there in terms of readability. Do you want an unformatted text file or in some obscure format that is unreadable on most browsers or computers. A PDF ticks all my boxes.

The project Eureka Report can be found at http://www.aopa.com.au/

Sometimes it is a bit like a marathon - you grab every bottle of water and every snack as you go past that drink stop. I would grab the RPL and then snatch every other endo on the way. You can then be well assured that when you get the runs up to do the PPL Flight Test you will be well and truly prepared. If you are getting 90% in the Bob Tait exams maybe it is time to get that exam out of the way as well so you can concentrate on flying, your flight test and your PPL KDRs. A well prepared student always impresses a testing officer. Best of wishes.

As passing thought. Under Corporations law we can have well supervised companies like Queensland Nickel and Dick Smith or we could register as a trade union and get mugged by every right wing politician, their running dogs and the shock jocks and have expensive enquiries under the workplace relations act. If you want supervision and procedural fairness I am not sure I would get it under the Corporations Act. Just a thought.