President's Reports are usually boring stuff. This may also be boring but hopefully boring with a different slant.

Recently a member of one year duration decided not to renew and commented that the membership of the Australian Piper Society was largely made up of retired people enjoying themselves and that one day he hoped to be in that position. The implication was that retired people are somehow different from non retired people. Perhaps they have nothing better to do with their time. Some of us are retired. Some of us have retired two or three times. Perhaps retired people are not as interesting as non retired people. I don't know. I got to thinking.

My first reaction was "are we doing something wrong?" However, as I was aware that this was the perception of a member who had not participated or communicated with any of the members during his one year of membership, my second reaction was that this was not the organisation I know as the Australian Piper Society. As President and working a lot with the web site, I get to know members. Many I have met, or spoken to and many others I have communicated with by email. I know most members by their first name; I know approximately where most live and what plane they fly. I know the occupation of some members and have a rough idea of the occupation of most others through working on the membership database.

It is because I am personally able to meet people in this manner, that since becoming President it has been my goal to publish the membership booklet to give every member the opportunity to make contact with each other and to get the same pleasure and enjoyment that I get.

It is clear to me that we have a very distinct membership base.

For a start, almost every member has ownership of an aircraft. This means that members are achievers and when I read the comment, I also realised that APS the membership base consists of a wide range of intelligent (even if you do own an aircraft) people from many walks of life and from those who I have met, have strong life experiences, who are interesting and who have a story tell and all have made positive contributions in their lives.

I then reviewed the membership list. My conclusion is that whilst a small organisation, we probably have a much higher percentage level of success, professionalism and achievement among our members than any other any aviation organisation in Australia.

Another result of my deliberations is that the APS probably has the highest percentage of Angel flight missions of any organisation and two of our committee alone have conducted 81 & 48 angel flight missions.

When I looked at the geographical spread of our members, it appears to me that our membership is heavily represented by people from outside the major capital cities except for Melbourne. This may point to many of us feeling somewhat isolated and wanting to have contact with like minded people with an interest in aviation.

In training we have a number of members who have done the PPP on two and even three occasions. Why? Certainly not because they are dumb, for these include highly skilled professionals, some with IFR and/or commercial certificates. I suspect the reason that we have a high attendance is because participants are generally of a high intellectual level and are fully cognisant that training and re-training does to some degree compensate for the lower number of hours that we private pilots fly in relation to professional pilots.

To classify ourselves as social and non-political makes us a more cohesive organisation as we are not plagued by philosophical or ideological differences. Because we are non political, we do not have internal politics which often work to the detriment of other more political organisations. We are able to concentrate on meeting or communicating with a diverse range of interesting people from different backgrounds but with the common interest in flying, and enjoying and learning from that experience.

As members we have people from the following occupations, many in the plural: farmer/grazier/cattle stations owner; vintner & winemaker; solicitor; electrician; accountant; IT manager; builder (including the fourth largest home builder in Queensland); Engineer – consulting, mining and construction; timber milling and processing; optometrist; pharmacist; medical & dental surgeons; GP’s and DAME; engineers and LAME; airline pilot; missionary; flying school owner; flight instructor; aviation fuelling business; share trading; aviation theory publisher; founder of Angel flight who has moved to a different type aircraft; land developer; commercial IT software development & distribution; senior manager in public service; nurse; motor vehicle dealer; road construction and earth moving; major computer manufacturer; finance broker; insurance; former SAS personnel (now retired); bank manager; company director; office equipment distributor; airport manager; aircraft hirer; advertising and more – most own or have owned their own business or hold or have held senior positions in business or public service.

Over the years our membership aircraft has included Pacers, Cherokees, Arrows, Lances Saratogas, Comanches (single & twin), Malibu, Mirage and no doubt some others.

Obviously, you don't own an aircraft if you are a dill (however some would say you need to be a dill to own an aircraft). A large number of our members use their aircraft for business. One very obvious impression from the recent and best attended PPP at Deniliquin was the exceptionally high standard of the 13 aircraft. Obviously well loved and exceptionally well maintained.

For many members, common factors are enjoyment of flying, commitment to Piper aircraft and for many, most importantly the camaraderie. Some are regular attendees at the AGM/Fly in; others are regular attendees at PPP's; others are regular at the annual fly away and others belong for the sense of belonging to an organisation of friendly people of like mind.

With the publication of the long overdue member's booklet, we hope that members will take advantage of the opportunity to make contact with each other.

We won't ever be a big organisation. We won't ever have the pressure of putting out a monthly magazine which is filled with dubious articles just to make up the volume, nor be faced with the pressure of having intensive membership drives to maintain the funds necessary to continue. Hopefully we can slowly grow the organisation by offering likeminded pilots/Piper owners the opportunity to meet and to communicate on aviation issues and to enjoy interaction with like minded people, while providing technical and educational services applicable to our needs.

During the past year we again ran our very popular and successful Pilot Proficiency Programs, with the last being held at Deniliquin in September. This PPP had the most participants of any PPP to date with nine members attending the course and 13 members in attendance. Four wives attended and had a social weekend. This year also saw the start of the second stage of the PPP, and this was held at Forbes.

This year's flyaway was the longest yet undertaken with fourteen aircraft meeting at El Questro with three more joining later for the trip down the west coast of Western Australia.

All of the activities of the Australian Piper Society are now being organised with the partners in mind. So, whether you go to a fly in, a PPP, the annual fly away or the AGM, they are all tailored for social activities for members and their partners.

For the first time, we have produced a booklet with the names and contact details of all members. We hope that this will give members the opportunity to make contact with each other when passing through another member's town or area, when visiting another State, when requiring some advice or assistance or to organise a local fly in.

I would encourage all members to make the extra effort to arrange and/or attend a fly in just for the pleasure of doing it and meeting new friends and associates. It need only be a once a year event arranged to meet at an obscure airstrip or at another member's property for lunch, before flying home.

I, like many others, am looking forward to meeting new people at this year's AGM and those whom I met at previous AGMs, PPPs, fly ins or flyaways.

Hopefully each year we will have new blood on the Committee to take the organisation forward with fresh ideas and renewed energy and let some of us slip slowly into retirement and obscurity.

Tom Courtney
President
15th October 2007