The Last Minute Hitch: 22 September 2017
– Steve Hitchen
Aircraft manufacturers today talk a lot about niche marketing; making an aeroplane to fill a specific role to carve market share away from other airframes that don't do that job quite as well. Back in the late 1950s, the Pilatus PC-6 Porter went one better: it created its own niche. Until then, the aviation world really didn't know what could be done with a single turbo-prop engine mounted in the nose of a high-wing aeroplane. The Porter would go on to a career of getting into landing strips other aeroplanes couldn't, of delivering daily supplies, relief material and cargo to isolated communites high in the Andes, the Himalaya, the Owen Stanleys and even on the flatest plains of Africa. It operated as an ambulance, air taxi, freighter, general carrier, and was particularly suited to parachute ops. The Porter really was the great connector. The PC-6 served also in the defence forces and law enforcement agencies of 30 countries, including Australia. With Pilatus ceasing production from 2019, the daddy of all turbine off-airport aircraft will disappear from the list of new-build options, but it will still be seen around the ragged airstrips of the world for many years yet.
There is a unique optimism drifting around the chambers of Canberra at the moment; unique because it seems to be shared by nearly all associations and lobby groups that have been badgering away to get reform thrust through. Even some of those that have been pillars of pessimism seem to have smiles cracking at the corners of their mouths. Regardless of how many times morale has risen to be belted down again by apathy in the capital, it was always a tug-of-war between the sceptics and the optimists as to the state of the industry. It seems that two meetings held this month are driving the sunny dispositions of lobbyists, both of which were rated progressive, constructive and having a "good vibe". But is this really the dawn of a new attitude within CASA, or is Shane Carmody just a very good illusionist? Like CEOs before him, Carmody has promised a sunset on the reform program and told the industry how important consultation is. Doing this has become a petard that has seen more than one CEO hoisted on in the past, and the persistent failure to deliver on promises is largely to blame for industry disengagement en masse. Things are a-changing according to TAAAF Chairman Greg Russell, and that is an opinion to take with a tonne of salt, because Russell is not the sort of person to be fooled by sleight of hand. Although I am not yet ready to herald the beginning of the revolution, this is encouraging.
But I am not a disciple of the theory that general aviation's malaise is all CASA's fault. There are other viruses infecting us as well, and one of those is a lack of young people walking through flying school doors. You have only to look at group pics of fly-aways and aero clubs and it is immediately apparent that most, if not all, of the people are over 40 or even higher. It's a real issue for the industry, and its good to see that AOPA Australia, courtesy of Dick Smith, has put together some initiatives to get young people excited about aviation. AOPA's tour bus is a big undertaking, but is exactly the sort of innovation we need to bring aviation to the youth of Australia. When they go to air shows, they are no doubt very keen on watching the aeroplanes in front of them, but this bus will give them the chance to actually do something; to participate and be a part rather than just sit on the airside fence and wish they could play too. But I worry for this. Yes, DS did provide start-up capital, but a coach of this type costs money to keep on the road, and if it is to perform the function for which it was conceived, it needs to be plying the highways and freeways, not parked behind the AOPA hangar at Bankstown. It is going to need a lot of support from the entire aviation industry to keep it rolling and viable.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch