FlyingVizsla

From time to time RAA ask for volunteers to put into a skills register.  I don't know what sort of response they get.  I have done some volunteer work for them, however, I am doing it at my own pace.  They may not have the luxury of waiting for ages, or waiting for someone to visit Canberra. 

I am sure there are Board members who consult people they know have better knowledge of things.  This might be happening behind the scenes without us knowing.  It's a hard question to answer - if RAA get outside help (from members or professionals etc) and they don't pay, or pay less than market value (eg free labour "parts" only) are these provided by "volunteers"?  If so, then Yes, they are using Volunteers. 

But remember - you get what you pay for.  Often Volunteers are not required to stand by their product, there's no compulsion to complete.

What do you mean all pushed off and only 1 item left????????

 

This is what I see and it is correct and is not really different from what you see:

 

[ATTACH]41034[/ATTACH]

 

I think Turbo is referring to Forum Posts - lost in the myriad of spurious content from - tutorials, map pins, vids etc...  He's a candidate for Option 2, but more likely wants What's New - Forum Posts only.  I understand where he is coming from. 

I did the survey too.  I thought the idea was either 1.keep the magazine but subscribers have to pay the true cost, or 2. stop printing & posting the magazine and put the money into other ways of keeping us informed and amused.

The RAA have listened to people complaining their fees are going up and this is one way of remedying it.  At least they are asking before calling tenders for someone to produce a glossy magazine for a year or two.  If the cost does go up to the true production cost then I predict a number of the 15% of members who subscribe will reneg leaving the few to pay a higher subscription. 

As for sending it to doctors' surgeries - it was in newsagents for sale, and that didn't give any stellar increase in membership, only cost more than it was worth, and was scrapped.  The arrangement (which was commercial-in-confidence) was, AFAIK, the Editor chased advertising and kept the proceeds to offset his price to produce, print & post a magazine.  With only 1,500 readers, advertising revenue wouldn't be too flash.  It might be hard to find someone willing to take it on at a reasonable cost.  When the same guy did both AOPA & RAA there may have been savings.  But AOPA has ditched it's print magazine and gone to an on-line hodge-podge of unrelated articles that you have to click through to.

What is this ISBN number, ?

 

Spacie - it is a very useful number.  For the book that Ian and I both have "Fire in the Sky : The Australian Flying Corps in the First World War" by Michael Molkentin the ISBN is 978 1 74237 072 9 This tells you it is that book and it is a paperback (the hardback has a slightly different number).

I am helping out on a charity Book Fest.  Things are so much easier now we just scan the ISBN, all the details are added to the database and we can chuck it into the right box to make spreading them out for sale on the day way easier than previous years.  All the gardening books in one place, the non-fiction, fiction, biographies etc.  It is also useful for those looking for specific books - just ask, we look it up and can tell if we had it and if it is still for sale and where you can find it on the tables.

Another good read in the same vein - "The High Life of Oswald Watt:  Australia's First Military Pilot" by Chris Clark, Big Sky Publishing, Newport NSW Australia 2016 ISBN 9781925275797.  He learned to fly in 1911, when WWI broke out, he went to France and flew with the French (thus being the first Australian to fly in a military role) and 18 months later got a transfer to the Australian Flying Corp.  I've got another one and a half chapters to go.

I've got it...a whole new Aviation DVDs and Books section that gives the details of the movie/book etc and some custom fields where users can add reviews, who has a copy to lend out, who has the copy now etc...i will look into it

 

Can we include e-books, on-line videos; a rating system (5 stars? planes?) a category (or two, three ...) eg WWI / WWI planes / Australian Pilots / Egypt / England.  Fiction / non-fiction.  A picture of the cover if possible.

I was given a book the other day for Fathers Day from my daughter:

 

Fire In The Sky - The Australian Flying Corps in the First World War by Michael Molkentin

 

Has anyone read it?

 

Yes!  A good read with plenty of research, and pictures.  I have passed it around and it has just come past me again.  I have friends who raid my shelves for good reads.  I'm organised now, I have a pile of books for each with "this might interest .. Bill, Pete etc" to avoid dragging everything out or offering things they've already read.  I must say we got a lot of good books from Ian's shop Clear Prop (Pilot Shop on the side menu)

.. be ultra cute and endearing, so as to end up in countless YouToob Vids.  Gold, absolute Gold for the CASA Misdemeanour Investigators.  For there, in the background was evidence of multiple breaches of ... 

.. been fitted with Chinese built Jabiloo engines. 

A deep rumble pervades the air, a slow, deep reverberation of a sleeping bear, slowly awakening.  "Spratly .. Australian soil! .. Jabiloo!!!" yelled the CASA bureaucracy, clearly conflicted by the thought of an Australian engine being allowed to fly unrestricted in Orstralia.  "Didn't we ban ....  

While RAA are not exactly Microsoft ... they do award tenders for services such as auditing, the magazine, fly-in venue etc.  The magazine is worth >$100k's + advertising - possibly a quarter of a million.

If the election rules and process are clear and transparent then why does a member seeking election find it unclear and the responses he was given unsatisfactory?

 

I think you are referring to Kirk Sutton, who was asked to change one word in his election statement.  Only Kirk can tell you what that word was and why he agreed.  Because they are published in a magazine, the editor and organisation must be careful with what they allow.  Kirk has, in the past, been pedantic about the letter of the law, which has put him at odds with the Board, the RAA legal advice and Spencer Ferrier who assisted with the wording of the Constitution.  Lawyers disagree about the intent of legislation, that is why we have the courts; to rule on the interpretation and set a precedent, on which further interpretation relies.

My concern with this election, as with others in the past, is that too few members even bother.  "I just want to fly ..." We need to engage these members to get them to take an interest in their organisation.

I Like it; a good balance of words and pics.  Are the entries chosen, or are they random?  Just concerned that some trolling might unfortunately end up featured on the home page. 

The election procedure is in the Constitution.  In this one, we have 6 candidates for three positions.  There is no preferential voting (1,2,3 ..), you mark the three you wish to represent you.  The votes are opened and counted independently and the results are published.

No Board will be in complete agreement on everything.  The biggest problem identified by the Report was dysfunction, where some members are not contributing or being uncivil.  It's an unpaid job, but Board members MUST be willing to take an interest, contribute to discussion and decisions and do so in a way that is acceptable to others.  Once a Board decision is made, a Board member must abide by it.  It happens all over the country, a Council decides one thing, then an individual Councillor can't direct the staff to do something else, regardless of his feelings on the matter.  Similarly, if the members are overwhelmingly telling the Board member what they want, he shouldn't be peddling his own minority opinion, he should represent the members.

There are Minutes of meetings to see what transpired.  Members are entitled to attend, and I have.  The AGM is live streamed and you can pick it up later to view at your leisure.  Board members can, and do, talk with members.  There are some things that are confidential and should remain that way; to do otherwise would give a competitive advantage or injure a reputation.  This is why people with experience on Boards, Councils etc already know their obligations in this regard.  That was also highlighted, that RAA should be providing training for Board members on their legal obligations.  It is no longer a Club, it's a Company.

I am hoping we will hear more from the other Candidates.  I want to make my vote count.

In the past I have found it frustrating that I had no idea of how our elected representatives were performing, and if it was worth re-electing them.  The election statements, naturally, would say "Hey, I'm a great guy" but are they really worth my vote?  Fortunately RAAus paid for independent consultants to do a review of the Board performance (Sept 2018) and published this.

From the 24 page report (plus attachments)

As noted at the outset of this report, an overriding theme of the board evaluation was that the board is currently factionalised.  Other themes relevant to board dynamics included that:

• the level of contribution to the board’s work is not equally spread with some directors seemingly having no real engagement in the board’s work other than being physically present at board meetings

• some directors are not asking questions in a constructive way, and

• it is queried whether all directors are acting in the best interests of RAAus (Page 16)

 .. struggle to engage several members as they do not respond to emails, return phone calls and so forth. Alan Middleton often criticises the engagement of board members but fails to return calls and takes an aggressive tone in email (on one occasion I called him 4 times in relation to some out of session matters with no reply). Rod Birrell and Eugene Reid are similar.

Alan is not up for re-election but appears to be diametrically opposed to the Board.  With only 7 on the Board RAAus cannot afford to have 3 who are not fully contributing.

Kirk Sutton has been a "thorn in the side" querying the finer points of the Constitution at RAAus meetings and on this forum.  You can see his previous by searching here.  My feeling is that he will engage with the Board, not just ignore or have a hissy fit and take his bat & ball away.  He has his own thread, where you can ask questions of him.

I have sent an invitation to Alex and Tapan to join this forum and contribute their thoughts.

I am not endorsing any candidate.  Please VOTE!

Our flying club has been advised by our brokers that Swiss Re (our current insurers) will be pulling out of the market, but they assure us "nothing to worry about".  AIG and Allianz have already withdrawn from underwriting aviation in the Australian market.  The Club uses Aviation Insurance Australia and have been happy with them (but have not made a claim, only payments....)

There are less & less players in the industry.  Less choice, less competition, usually equals lesser value to consumers.

Give us a screen shot @FlyingVizsla

 

Here it is in lilac; it might be autumn orange or sea green tonight ....

I have been changing the colour with the Color Picker, so it is presently a pastel lilac .... some people just have to fiddle with things......

The last thing I'd do is pay CASA to read their propaganda.  If anyone finds it's actually useful and doesn't simply parrot CASA's opinion of itself, then I'll call the editor myself and apologize.  

 

Those of us who have been around for years grew up reading the "Crash Comic".  In the 1980's & 1990's our students (and old hands) would read the true stories of "what went wrong" and many a fruitful discussion was had about how to avoid the same mistake.  On-line hasn't been as successful as you have to access each article in a disjointed manner (a bit like AOPA's offering) and not as a digital magazine.

The true life stories dried up (or only ancient ones reported) when CASA started "investigating" authors for breaches.  That was a sad time.  The mag became more about industry news.  That era passed, it picked up, but was killed off by going to on-line articles.  It would have cost many thousands to print and post to every pilot.  They must have looked at the RAAus experience and decided that a paid subscription would get it to those who would read it (rather than bin it) and also subsidise the cost.  You can read the on-line version here https://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/

It might change your mind....

Flight Safety Australia magazine back in print – subscribe today

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Subscribe now to the new quarterly print edition of Flight Safety Australia at the CASA Online Store.

• $39.95 for four issues a year (delivered within Australia).
   
  
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Each issue is 64 pages packed with feature articles and news, historical crash analysis, accident reports, close calls, quizzes and a new, high-impact ‘Crash Comic’.

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The 6 candidates for the 3 positions have been announced (sitting members in bold):

Trevor Bange

Eugene Reid

Barry Windle

Kirk Sutton

Alex van der End

Tapan Dave

Election statements are on the RAA website, log in as a member first.  Voting opens today and closes 27th Sept.

Best wishes to all 6.  Kirk already has a presence on the Forum.  Does anyone know Alex & Tapan, or comment on the others' views on issues such as governance, weight increase, support for rag & tube, CTA, member engagement etc, etc.

IF you can change the Weight restriction, WHY not that undesired "wing load" rule.

 

This is set by Legislation - CAO 95-10 https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2017C01129

Unfortunately this isn't something RAA can change, the best Kirk can promise is to add his voice to the RAA Board requesting that CASA and our legislators amend 95-10, and the public lobby the Minister to that end.  CASA is moving away from Exemptions.  The Weight increase is coming from CASA, RAA have no legislative power to change it, only to accept or reject CASA's offer.  CASA offered an increase to 750kg back in 1994, but the Board of the day said "we're too busy just now."

Let's see what Part 149 brings. 

Kirk may be able to discuss this with more professional knowledge.  It is refreshing to have a candidate on the Forum.

The Organisations are supposed to be not for profit which means making it affordable for everyone

 

Let me clarify this - RAAus is a Not-For-Profit, which doesn't mean "cheap".  It means their "profits" don't go to shareholders / members / Directors / owners. 

There's nothing to stop you owning, building or flying a cheap aircraft with RAAus, but people don't want them - our experience of trying to sell 95-10's under $5k is that no one wants them, even if they are registered and flying.    Reasons?  People don't want to put the time into maintaining them, pilots are too heavy for the MTOW, don't trust a 2 stroke, want 2 seats etc, etc. 

I welcome any ideas to reverse that trend.

A weight increase that brings the lower end of GA into RAAus will bring some older Cessna, Piper 2 seaters that are way cheaper than a Jab.  The alternative is relying on imported factory built, or kits.  Unfortunately we now live in a society that wants everything NOW and not willing to design, build, maintain.

Kasper - thanks for taking the time to engage with the Forum.  Best wishes for the election.

Please, Please bring back NES!  But perhaps we should start anew?  The old NES was longer than a TurboPainer treatise on Public Liability and just marginally shorter than FlyCyclone's ignore list!  There's new Jabs to bash, Savs to batter, Part 61 to 149 to lampoon and new users to pick on. 

Manual quizzed the NES - "How To Fly?"  "Fry?" replied the Bex Special search engine. "To fry first take ...

The next poster finishes the sentence and starts a new one ...  You get the idea? 

Love the colour picker (the brush on the side menu).  I have already experimented with toning down the bold blue to a pastel shade which makes the site easier on my eyes, and also gives me an option to change to the colour to suit the seasons.  Thanking you Ian & Ahmed

The Pulsar is slippery and not recommended for a novice.  In Mr FV's opinion, it's rudder is too small.  We have been working on one for a friend who needs to sell it as he can no longer fly.  His Pulsar is good looking, goes like the clappers, has one of the best Rotax 912's (in Mr FV's opinion) that he has seen, but needs an experienced pair of hands (and feet!  It's a tail dragger).  Presently working on the wing tank where fuel was allowed to dry out - been out of service for years.  It is a challenge for an old guy to get in/out of it, canopy a bit low for some tall guys, very little baggage space, but looks the goods.  Based in Qld.  I had it listed here years ago in the Classifieds, but can't find it now.

I liked Ahmed's Zenforo.

I prefer the lighter themes; Ortem, Elegant.  I would like to avoid black backgrounds, bold, busy themes & semi transparent.  I want to easily read the forum message.  On forum posts, I prefer to see the OP, rather than just the last poster, and some indication that I contributed to the discussion (so I can follow-up).  I like the idea of the user changing the colour - or is that set by the Site?

Late to this thread, but Eugene is not standing down - he's required to stand again for his position as it has been 3 years since he was elected. 

 

Unsure about the others.

 

Under the Constitution Eugene is required to stand down.  He is allowed to re-nominate and, if he gets enough votes, can serve on the Board for another 3 years.

Does anybody know when the current chair (who  seems to have had a directive hand in the organisation's current direction),  is due for a spell?  

 

Alan

 

Michael Monke was elected, with a large majority, in 2017, for a 3 year term.