The President's Report - October 2007
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