The aftershocks from the general aviation rally at Tamworth last Friday are still resonating throughout the GA community. Many issues were raised, some of them heatedly; all of them passionately. It was clear from the outset that many within the industry placed a great deal of important on a face-to-face meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Aviation and CASA Chairman; we may never get these people to sit in front of us together ever again (except maybe in the lead-up to the 2019 election). So, did the GA community make the most of the opportunity? Whilst some sectors are pleased with the way speakers "stuck it to" the government, others believe that their opportunities to speak were stifled by one dominating influence. There was finger-pointing, aggressive posturing and pleading. So I have been asking myself, did we want a good one-on-one to go over the issues, or were we just looking for a chance to vent our spleens? What was the aim of the meeting ... was there a specific aim to the meeting? The value in the rally was probably to show support for the issues raised in the TAAAF policy and AOPA's Project Eureka, and you'd have to say we did that. There is a brief overview on the Australian Flying website, and in the next week or so I'll put up some more once I've gone through the 60-odd minutes of tape.
There is a lot to understand in all of this, but most of it is explained best in The Australian Aviation Associations Forum (TAAAF) 2016 policy paper. This document really should be our guiding policy going forward. It's concise, well presented, easy to read, easy to understand and accurate. But, there is a lot in it, and some parts do need a deep understanding of the issues to fathom their importance. I've had a go at analysing the best bits, and would welcome your assessments as well.
Some big personnel moves in Canberra this week. Executive Manager Peter Cromarty has left CASA and Airservices' Greg Hood has taken the top job at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). For Greg, this makes his fourth major aviation body, having started at the RAAF before going to the CAA, then to Airservices after the split, CASA and back to Airservices again. The industry has applauded the move. "Hoody" is seen as someone who has the aviation nous to do a good job. Although the ATSB covers marine and rail transport as well, around 90% of their work is aviation, so it does make sense to have an aviator running the show.
And we've made some changes ourselves this week: Australian Flying has a new website! We've been with the old one for a touch over five years now, so it was time to give it a lick 'o paint. The new site has some capabilites the old one didn't have, and once I've finished my endorsement training on the new content management system we should see some very trick stuff being done. Just you watch.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch