This year's Annual General Meeting marks the end of the first five years since the formation of the Australian Piper Society

In those years there has been a lot of effort by a large number of people, both from within the general committee and from the general membership.

The initial enthusiasm for the founding of the Society soon translated into the work required to develop the Aims & Objectives, the Charter for the Society, establishing programs and activities and further developing these into professional programs of high quality.

The Society does not engage in lobbying or involve itself in issues outside of safety, pilot proficiency and promotion of goodwill.

Our programs include the Pilot Proficiency Stage I, the first of which was held at Deniliquin and attended by 6 members. This program is directed toward increasing pilot's knowledge and competency in the use of their own aircraft or aircraft which they regularly fly. It is not a test and there are no passes or failures. The knowledge which can be gained from attending this program is such that we have members who have attended it two and three times. It is interesting to note that one of the regular attendees has many hours in command and has a Command Instrument Rating. Stage II was developed and was run for the first time during the past year. This covers Piper Systems, Abnormal Situations, Weight & Balance, Weather to fly or not, Performance Graphs and Emergencies. It also includes a GPS component and Controlled Airspace.

Every year since formation we have held a major fly away. Last year we were able to have members who were unable to attend for the whole trip, join for a weekend or for a few days. This option was very popular and gave the opportunity for more members to be involved. The annual fly away has been formulated so successfully that it is developing a reputation as being the most professionally run and the most interesting event of its type. The 2009 Fly Away will be covering the Gulf, the Cape and the north east Coast in North Queensland, which in broad terms is the only area we have yet to visit.

Day and weekend Fly Ins have not been a regular or well attended feature of our event calendar and maybe members have just too much private or personal demands and don't have the time to fit fly ins into their busy schedule. On the other hand, the fly in to Evans Head a couple of years ago attracted 39 aircraft over the weekend. Next year we will see if we are able to emulate that highly successful event.

Membership initially peaked in the months immediately following formation of the Society and over the next couple of years fell by about 10%, where it has remained at a consistent number. Each year we have members who sell their Piper to buy another make or terminate their flying activities. Some have left to work overseas. Interestingly, we have members who own Jabiru, Cessna and Cirrus aircraft.

Many of our members are active volunteers for Angel Flight, giving their time and contributing to the cost of flying medically or financially disadvantaged members of the community to medical appointments or for compassionate reasons. At least two of our members have performed over 50 missions and onother has over 100 missions.

As the Treasurer will advise, our finances are in good shape. This year we have produced APS name badges. Some of these have been distributed and other will go out in the mail in the next few weeks.

Since the formation of the Society in 2003, there have been many persons both on the committee and from the general membership who have contributed to building the organisation, running events and fostering cameraderie between iindividual members. Thanks to those people and a special thanks to those who continue to be members, and I am sure that, as in the past, future committees will continue to seek and value your opinions, suggestions and advice.

This year about half of the committee are not seeking re-election. Some of us feel that it is time to move on, due to pressure of work or just to devote more time to our other interests. New committee members can bring new ideas and a fresh enthusiasm. I thank all members for their support. I have really enjoyed my time on the committee and have made many new friends and acquaintances. I look forward to the continued growth and success of the APS and hopefully I will get to meet with more members in the coming years.

PS - Since writing the above, most of us who decided not to stand for re-election are back again, but with renewed enthusiasm and determined to make this not only our last year on the committee but also our best year..... Come and enjoy it with us.

Tom Courtney
President
15th October 2008