There are some weeks when we scribblers feel like the shiny rolling thing in a pinball machine. This week was definitely one of those; my head still has marks from some of the bumpers. It's all about a meeting in Canberra where AOPA president Marc De Stoop presented a letter outlining Project Eureka to the Department of Infrastructure and Transport. One day later, CASA DAS Mark Skidmore resigned from AOPA. GA commentators have since over-worked the phrase "dummy-spit". OK, let's try to unravel what this is about with the use of a handy bulleted list.
- AOPA's Project Eureka is a different approach, but doesn't contain much different from what we as an industry have been clamouring for for years. It's all logical and necessary.
- Skidmore is not saying why he resigned. Pundits say it's because he's upset that AOPA went directly to the minister or because the letter criticised CASA. Personally, I don't believe that. I think Skidmore resigned because the letter implied he would bury the document in the CASA bureaucracy. That is the sort of thing that Skidmore is trying to change, so AOPA's assertation could be read as showing lack of faith in what he's trying to do.
- Marc De Stoop is actually a supporter of Skidmore and points out that the problem is the safety regulation model that is holding back genuine reform, and has shied away from any direct criticism of Skidmore's agenda or capability.
- The CASA DAS shouldn't be a member of AOPA anyway. AOPA is first and foremost a political lobby organisation whose prime nemesis is CASA. Gotta be a conflict there! To give him credit, when Skidmore first took the job he told me he felt that the head of CASA should be a member of AOPA. I have always felt that was unsustainable, and the DAS clearly understands that now.
- His resignation e-mail should never have been leaked to the public. Poor form. Having said that, it could also have been worded more diplomatically.
Now, lots of loud clapping from me for AOPA's move and Project Eureka. AOPA has not taken the lead in GA for a couple of years and this does show leadership. Standby for a Last Minute Hitch take on Eureka, hopefully next week.
For the record, I also am not a member of AOPA. I was actually a Vic/Tas representative years ago, but had to resign when AOPA put their magazine on the newsagent shelves. That created a clear conflict with Australian Flying and I knew it.
Tecnam has taxied their back-to-the-future P2012 Traveller for the first time. This machine is a twin piston charter aeroplane designed with the intent of replacing the classic twins like the Navajo and C400 series. In that, it is it taking on directly the trend towards single-engine turbo-props (SETPs) in that market that have seemed to be the future of charter for several years now. Charter operators are reportedly pretty excited about this machine. Was the trend towards SETPs simply because there were no other options? With avgas use and availability on the wane in several regions around the world, the Traveller may struggle to get traction, or Tecnam may have to think about a turbine version ... if they have not already done so.
Cessna has taken the interesting step of making angle-of-attack (AoA) indicators standard on all new C172s. The AoA indicator is a valuable piece of equipment that measure the amount of lift available before the wing stalls. It's a better indicator than speed because we pilots never think about the effect of bank angle on stall speed when we're actually in the turn. This device will let us know in a most emphatic way. Curious that the Cessna fit is mounted on the glareshield. Given that most C172s going out nowadays have G1000 glass, I would have thought there was a way to integrate this into the system. Maybe next time.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch