A resource ignored

It’s time Australia mobilised its pilots.

Australia has been a nation of volunteers since before we became a nation. Sticking your hand up and saying “I’ll have a go” seems to be intrinsic in what Australians are, and it has held us in very good stead for many years.

Our proudest examples are the volunteer emergency service organisations like the bush fire brigades, state emergency services, surf life-saving clubs, St John Ambulance and the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard (celebrating 50 years this year). These groups defy any insinuation that to be a volunteer is to be an amateur; they are as professional as any full-time service.

If your skill is being a good swimmer, a boatie, a truckie; being able to walk long distances and are very good at survival techniques; if you love the science of fire-fighting or are a deft hand with a bandage, Australia can, and will, use your skills when the chips are down. But if your skill is flying an aeroplane, please stay home and watch it all from your couch.

What a waste we are. Thousands of trained pilots in Australia, many willing to answer the call when it comes ... and we can find nothing for them to do? Some are even able to bring their own aeroplanes to the party if need be.

Mobilised, Australia’s private pilots would be a formidable resource in times of natural disaster and crisis: fire control, flood relief, aerial search and rescue, non-critical medivac and even be an on-call resource for the police. In quieter times, they could be put to work doing routine duties like shark spotting, fire spotting and coastal patrol (especially up north).

My contention does not ignore the brilliant work being done by Angel Flight. In fact, Angel Flight is the evidence that, given a task, Australia’s private pilots will pad up and face the bowling. The pilots wear the cost of the flight with smiles on their faces. They know their skills are helping the community and somebody’s life gets a little bit easier. Similarly, Fun Flight provides an outlet for volunteer pilots. The missions aren’t as critical as Angel Flight, but there is still a lot of smiling all the same.

One thing that becomes obvious out of snooping around a Fun Flight day is that the pilots are hanging out to do more if they can. What is needed to tap into the enthusiasm is organisation and a sense of belonging. We need a Civil Air Patrol.

In a corner of Bankstown Airport there is AusCAP: the Australian Civil Air Patrol. They were formed to be the nucleus of an organisation that would eventually branch out all over Australia. However, the going has not been easy and, despite their good work, they have been unable to break out of the Sydney basin to any extent. It is not their fault; all volunteer groups start small and grow with regular inputs of community support and enthusiasm. I doubt there was a lack of enthusiasm.

A well-trained, functioning and properly supported Civil Air Patrol would do wonders for Australia. It would only be a few years after that would we all be wondering how we ever got along without it.

May your gauges always be in the green,

Hitch