November 01, 2010

From the President

AOPA has long held the view that there needs to be more cooperation among the general aviation organisations that represent our industry. In my President’s Report in Pilot Extra last month I included a letter I had sent out to these industry groups, I consider it is worth re-printing that letter in this months column.

We at AOPA have a view that all industry groups that represent general aviation need to work together, which is why we are hosting the forum. I am pleased that the eleven major GA industry organisations have accepted our invitation to attend this forum. The forum will be conducted over two days as a series of workshops. On completion we will collate the collective ideas and produce a white paper, a road map that can be presented to the federal government and the regulatory bodies as a way forward to revitalise our industry.

I am sure many will say this has all been tried before and failed, however I believe the current political climate presents an opportunity to try a fresh approach. We at AOPA are the hosts and facilitators, the participants are the ones who will produce the ideas at the end of the day and collectively we hope to be able to sign off on a white paper that will revitalise GA.

Ken Cannane (AMROBA) and I have been working to develop the agenda and he has been a driving force behind this forum. He has produced a number of papers that will be presented to participants. We have had a number of meetings over the last few months planning and developing the program and I feel confident of a productive outcome.

Your directors continue their busy schedules. Vice President Andrew Andersen has been extremely busy on the ASTRA committee with nine trips to Canberra this year and writing and submitting an eighteen page paper for “The Australian Strategic Air Traffic Management Group Surveillance Technology Working Group” (STWG) on issues for fitment of ADS-B in general aviation aircraft. This has been a major undertaking and Andrew is putting in a maximum effort to protect the interests of GA.

AOPA also depends on the voluntary assistance of members such as David Peterson, who has done so much on behalf of AOPA, developing our web site and just recently he made a special trip to Canberra, at his own expense, for a three hour meeting of the performance based navigation group of ASTRA. The membership of AOPA benefits considerably form the voluntary efforts of all of its directors and supporters like David – without their efforts AOPA could not function.

Peter Rejto has achieved considerable success on airport issues and continues to work with local action groups in this area. Allan Bligh recently attended the Airservices Pricing Consultative Committee. Allan is AOPA’s representative on that committee and he also represents the RFACA. All of AOPA’s directors are involved in various committees and their efforts often go unnoticed, but the voluntary time and effort they put in, both in person and via telephone and email, enables AOPA to function and for our voice to be heard.

On a happy note, I have now got my aviation medical back and renewed my Command Instrument Rating, now I have just got to find the time and the excuse to go flying.

I will be attending the US AOPA Summit in Long Beach California on 11-13 November at the invitation of US AOPA President Craig Fuller and IAOPA Secretary General John Sheehan. This is a great opportunity to meet with these gentlemen along with other international AOPA Presidents. I feel confident this exchange of ideas will be of benefit to GA. My wife will be accompanying me and a week in New York will enable her to take advantage of the strength of the Australian dollar. I expect to come back wiser and considerably poorer.

Safe flying.

Phillip Reiss
AOPA President