The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia (AOPA) has six new board members, encompassing some of general aviation's most experienced and passionate identities, including legendary flying instructor and activist Aminta Hennessy OAM, and former CASA and Airservices senior manager Mike Smith.
The new members were announced following the 2017 AOPA Annual General Meeting held at Bankstown last Saturday.The six will join returning members Marc De Stoop, Phillip Reiss, Tony van der Spek, Neill Rear, Spencer Ferrier and Ben Morgan on a 12-person board.
AOPA's new board members are:
Catherine Fitzsimons
Catherine is an aviation professional and flying instructor who owns WardAir Flight Training in Bathurst. She is an experienced CEO and general manager with a domestic and international track record of identifying change opportunities and leading commercial turn-arounds in consumer health/FMCG and nutrition businesses with multi-national companies.
John Glyn
John joined AOPA in the mid 1980s and has been a member since. Currently he has an interest in a Cirrus SR20 which is based at Tamworth Airport, NSW. As well as being an aircraft owner he has been a lawyer for 30 years, specialising in aviation law, acting for many aircraft owners, pilots and engineers in legal matters involving the aviation industry.
Aminta Hennessy, OAM
Aminta is a veteran of the aviation industry and was awarded an OAM in 2005 for services to aviation as a pilot and as an instructor through the establishment of the Australian Association of Flight Instructors. A principal of Clamback and Hennessy at Bankstown, Aminta has been an advocate for general aviation for many years.
Dominic James
Best known for his involvement with the 2009 Pel-Air ditching off Norfolk Island, Dom James is an accomplished pilot with ATPL and CPL(H) licences. Since the accident, he has been a powerful voice for regulatory reform of the aviation industry in Australia and has been credited by some with sparking the 2014 Aviation Safety Regulation Review.
Mike Smith
Mike Smith held senior positions with both Airservices Australia and CASA, most recently as the Deputy Director. He has led numerous complex programs including the introduction of Global Navigation Satellite Systems for en route, non-precision and precision approach use, development and introduction of Safety Management Systems (SMS) and Australian airspace reform. He has 30 years of experience in civil aviation with a substantial knowledge of corporate governance, regulatory processes and safety management systems. He and his wife run a flying school in Sacramento, California.
Phil Yates
Flying instructor Phil Yates says general aviation now is burdened with complicated regulations that pilots struggle to comprehend and expenses which have seen many pilots simply throw their hands in the air and walk away. Further to this, he says commercial pressures have seen the demise of airports and many small flying schools have simply packed it all in and closed shop.
The six replace retiring board members Mark Smith, Allan Bligh OAM, Rob Liddel and Baz Scheffers.
AOPA Executive Director and CEO Ben Morgan believes the new board members will substantially increase the horsepower available to AOPA when negotiating in Canberra.
"It became evident 12 months ago that if we were going to have any success at all in not only revitalising the association, but also empowering our discussions with government, we were going to need to find participants at board level who were highly qualified," he told Australian Flying.
"We needed people who would allow our association to meet with the government at a level that we couldn't just be discounted as a group of private pilots having a whinge."
Morgan believes the experience and skills of the new members will enable them to discussions with CASA on a more level basis, as well as provide a driving force for AOPA programs into the future.
"We're incredibly lucky to have Mike Smith, who has been an AOPA member and huge supporter of general aviation for some time. He's in a position where he's been able to work with the Federal Aviation Administration and various foreign governments around the world, understanding how to reform regulators and make them efficient, so he has a really unique perspective on a multitude of issues that make him an invaluable member."
As well as the advocacy efforts, AOPA has also focused on nuturing the younger generation of pilots and has launched youth programs to achieve that end. The aim prompted the association to entice flying instructors onto the board.
"What AOPA needed was credentials within the flight training environment," Morgan said. "We needed not just pilots on the board who've been trained, but the people who train the pilots; the business owners who understand how the industry works, and we were very fortunate to have three nominations from Catherine Fitzsimons, Aminta Hennessy and Phil Yates.
"Those three people will be essential in developing our youth aviation outreach programs, and in working with Mike [Smith] on flight training industry issues."
Morgan expects the new board to convene very soon to establish a business plan for 2017-18 so the association can identify goals and methods to achieve the goals, in the process assigning particular portfolios to each of the directors. One of the main focuses of the new board will be to put AOPA on solid ground.
"We're taking an incredibly professional approach to re-structuring this organisation," he said, "We have to become a powerful lobby. We have to have our house in order, our business in order, and we need to ensure that not only are we strong cash-flow wise, but also we've got to be administratively strong, and more importantly we'll need strong directors who are highly capable and have the credentials.
"What we're seeing [with the new board] is the start of this transformation."
More information on the new board members is available on the AOPA Australia website.