– Steve Hitchen
One of the hottest topics around the GA precincts of Avalon 2009 was the collapse the previous year of the Helicopter Association of Australia (HAA). There was plenty of speculation and opinion whipping around the exhibition about the whys and whats that deprived a growing industry of a collective voice. Four years later a new association rose, and continues to rise. The Australian Helicopter Industry Association (AHIA) is now one of the premier associations in general aviation, as evidenced by the respect they hold in Canberra, the momentum behind their biennial convention at RotorTech and the safety programs they promote. Associations are membership-based, but that doesn't absolve them from the responsibility of creating a product the market wants. That usually means getting the mix right and positioning the organisation at the very top of the expertise tree. AHIA has done a fantastic job of doing just that, and is now an association the helicopter industry, regulators and politicians can rely on. Other associations wondering where they are going could use AHIA as a template on how to get it right.
The Victorian coroner's report into the Lucyvale Jabiru crash has not done any favours to the recreational aviation community. Unfortunately, that's not the coroner's fault; this one is an own-goal. The bombshell in the findings is that key people at RAAus have been referred to the Victorian Department of Prosecutions for potentially providing misleading evidence to the court. That's important to note that the coroner is not talking about criminal charges over the pilot being issued his RPC, just the way RAAus management dealt with giving evidence at the coronial inquiry. However, it would seem the pathway is open for the family to bring a civil case against RAAus, which has generated chatter around the community that a payout could break the organisation. I doubt it; it's because we humans are fallible and make mistakes that we have insurance. If the cover doesn't protect against something like this then what is the point of insurance? For me the worrying thing is the path RAAus management elected to take after realising they were exposed. I was once told that when it comes to a bureaucracy and a choice between a conspiracy and a monumental stuff-up, go for the stuff-up every time. So far, that has held true, and I am prepared to extend that to RAAus as well, but this incident is borderline. That's scary coming from a management team that holds the health of recreational aviation in their own hands. I can't see the membership being impressed by all this, and demands to do better are probably not misplaced.
Australian Flying's owner and publishing company Yaffa Media is 100 years old this year. For any commercial organisation to reach its centenary is a huge effort, and a credit to the Yaffa family, which still owns the business set up in 1925. Remarkably, Australian Flying has been in the Yaffa stable for 56 of those years. They bought the title as a stapled newsletter and developed it into a full-colour glossy magazine, complemented with an online presence. Other magazines such as Aircraft and Aerospace, Aviation Business and Flightpath also briefly flourished, but have since folded their wings as print publications came under pressure from the digital age. We're still here because the Yaffa family never lost faith that Australian Flying was delivering a product that perfectly matched the desires of the customer base. Whilst the last 10 have seen no less than eight aviation titles cease publication in Australia, we've never lost focus on what the GA community wants, and that is primarily a hard-copy print magazine. It hasn't been easy; there have been moments, but the Yaffa family has ridden every peak and trough of troubled waters. Ultimately, knowing how to do that is how you get to be 100 years old.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch