– Steve Hitchen
On Monday the 2018 Wings Awards for the general aviation community are open for nominations. This is the fourth year the Australian Division of the Royal Aeronautical Society and Australian Flying have run the awards, and they are getting more popular and more competitive with each year. As a member of the judging panel, I find it sometimes hard to chose one candidate over another one. The Wings Awards have brought to the surface the undercurrent of people who spend so much of their lives committed to the cause of general aviation; whether they be members of aero clubs, owners of flying schools or simply just flying instructors who get so much joy out of launching people on their aviation careers. How do you choose one over the other? Remarkably, there has never been a candidate put forward that didn't deserve to win, but there have been over the years too many submissions that didn't deserve to win. If you nominate this year (and we hope you will), pay attention to the criteria and address everything. That's how you get a winner. Go to the Wings Awards page on the Australian Flying website and start preparing your nomination sooner rather than later.
Although Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus) has released six-monthly figures showing a lot of green columns, it hasn't quelled rumour, almost expectation, that they are on the brink of insolvency. RAAus has said they will be in a solid cash position at the end of the financial year, and will return a small surplus. A result like that doesn't summon the liquidators, so unless some seriously bad management happens between now and then, the rumours of pending insolvency are unlikely to come true. First of all, RAAus doesn't need to turn a huge profit to stay alive. The company articles brand RAAus as a not-for-profit company, and if they did end the year with a massive cash surplus the outcry that the fees and charges are too high could be heard from Mars. Secondly, insolvency infers a lack of cash to pay your creditors, and with RAAus predicting $650K on hand at the end of June, they shouldn't have any trouble paying the gas bill. RAAus will probably always walk a financial tight-rope as a not-for-profit company, but good cash reserves and a surplus are necessary to cover the extraordinary expenses that you know are going to happen sooner or later. None of this sounds like insolvency to me.
CASA is calling for feedback to the report into the review of CAO 48.1 fatigue rules. According to the report, the fatigue rules are in need of an overhaul and made 24 recommendations to do so. But if you want to supply feedback, you'll have to sharpen your pencil pretty quickly; they've given us only until 17 April to get it in: less than a month. Feedback is via the consultation hub on the CASA website.
CASA has apparently written to DAMEs telling them they can issue Class 2 medical certificates on the spot if they wish to do so from 3 April this year. This is something that was promised years ago, and half delivered via the DAME2 program. The outstanding matter, is the $75 processing fee that CASA has levied for several years. Surely if CASA doesn't issue the cert anymore there is less processing to do for them, which should significantly reduce, or even eliminate that fee. When I asked the question of CASA earlier this year, the reply could be best summed up as "Umm ..." Apparently there has been no clarification, but the DAME letter does drop a hint that the fee is likely to change.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch