– Steve Hitchen
It's Day One of Ausfly and the weather at Wentworth is spectacular! Sunraysia is really turning it on for visiting pilots. Talk so far from the site is that it looks like the shift to Wentworth has not resulted in an attendance decline. With aircraft continuing to arrive today and the Saturday attendees still to be taken into account, the final figures should be competitive with those from the Narromine shows. Of course, we can't count our chickens too soon; the show has only just begun. I am also hearing that there has been some firey debates at a couple of the seminars. Sometimes that's healthy; sometimes that's destructive. When events like Ausfly bring together a lot of expertise, differences of opinion have to be expected. Provided we can respect others' opinions and act professionally, I say bring on the debate. If we're not prepared to do that, perhaps things are better thrashed out in private. This is not new; Ausfly has always attracted controversy and argument. We just can't let it overshadow the good times the event was designed to generate.
When an Australian can set-up a flying school in the USA and years later have it rated as the best in the country, but can't do the same thing in Australia, then there's something seriously amiss. Mike Smith has been very outspoken about flying school regulations over the years, and now his operation has reached stellar levels, the industry in Australia perhaps needs to take more notice of what he's saying. There's been a lot of reform of Australia's flight training regs over the years, but on some occasions, reform does not equal improvement. The governing regs–CASR Part 61, Part 141 and Part 142–have had their share of brickbats thrown in their direction over the years, and for good reason. Despite industry feedback that cried for relief, the regulatory burden increased with the introduction of these regs. Instead of being released from the chains, more shackles were applied to the industry. It's been 10 years since Part 61, and CASA has walked-back several aspects of the original regulation, but the overburden that is keeping people like Mike Smith from bringing his formula home to Australia remains. CASA would do well to sit down with Mike and have a good look at what they can learn from his operation. Mind you, they would probably learn nothing that the Australian flying training industry hasn't already made crystal clear to them
And in further "Mike Smith" news, another Mike Smith will soon launch himself on an around-Australia adventure to commemorate a flight made 100 years ago. This Mike Smith owns a theatre rather than a flying school and has a keen sense of aviation adventure. He plans to depart Point Cook in SeaBear VH-OMS to duplicate to the stop and time the circumnavigation of Australia as completed by pilots Goble and McIntyre in 1924. The plan is so faithful to the original where possible that Mike is even scheduled to spend 10 days in Carnarvon, WA, to replicate the stopover Goble and McIntyre needed to make to replace the engine in their Fairey II D floatplane. Since the original flight in 1924, many people have circumnavigated the country by air, and there are two other planned commemorative flight happening this year as well, but Mike's faithful flight plan is probably the best homage to Goble and McIntyre there's ever been. It would be even more profound if the aviation communities in the 26 places Mike plans to stop came out to spur-on the man who was the 2016 Australian Geographic Adventurer of the Year.
Congratulations to Maxine Milera on her appointment as CEO of RAAus. Milera has been in RAAus management for nearly 20 years and comes very well experienced and credentialed for the job. To her will fall the implementation and administration of Group G and the push for MOSAIC rules to be adopted in Australia and applied to ASAOs. There's some heavy lifting needed doing right there, and the board of RAAus obviously believes Milera has the right stuff to carry the load. Appointing Milera is a great move, and given her experience and passion, I am surprised she hasn't landed in the seat before now.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch