– Steve Hitchen
CASA has expanded their scholarship scheme to now include safety managers. This is part of their new philosophy of spending money on aviation in appropriate places and a deeper engagement with the industry. That is sort of a volte-face from a regulator that was set up more than 25 years ago charged with keeping its distance from the aviation industry. We've all seen how that went. So although scholarships and sponsorships are fringe issues, they're a indication that CASA is prepared to put itself out there. That is a sign of good changes to come; some previous management teams would not have engaged to the depth the current one has. For those that have been beaten up a bit by CASA in the past, this is nothing to salve their wounds, and if we are going to talk straight down the line, those wounds are unlikely to ever heal. All we can do in encourage the regulator in the right direction to ensure there is less beating-up and more understanding coming from Aviation House in the future.
Try this: walk into an aero club bar or flying school ops room and loudly ask the question "Where is Australia's home of aviation?" You're almost guaranteed to get either a series of unknowning glances or five or six different answers. No one location leaps out, except maybe Point Cook where the Australian Flying Corps and the Australian Aero Club were both founded. Or you may get some votes for Temora where the museum has built a home for flying warbirds, and, of course, Avalon. But one place is starting to emerge with a solid claim to the title: Albion Park, NSW. Not far from where Lawrence Hargrave flew his boxkites, Shellharbour Airport has since become home to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS), the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame (AAHOF) and Wings over Illawarra (WOI), the biggest air show held annually in this country. They are three very firm pillars underneath the case for Albion Park to be recognised as the home of aviation. But even so, it's missing once critical factor: general aviation. GA hasn't really thrown its arms around any of these institutions, which continues to frustrate the likes of Mark Bright at Bright Events, who has been tirelessly working to get GA to front up to Wings over Illawarra in numbers. Conceding that weather hasn't helped across several events, many of the GA community just don't put WOI on their calendar because it is seen as a show for the public. That is true, but to a great extent, so is Oshkosh. This year Bright Events has put on under-wing camping and a bar and social set purely for general aviation. There is no doubt they want people to come, but sometimes wanting isn't enough. Shellharbour can make a great home for aviation in Australia, if we embrace the idea and head home for the big party in November.
Nominations for the 2023 CASA Wings Awards close in one month on 26 October. For those that haven't got their submissions sorted yet, there is concern for concentration, but not alarm. Winning nominations all have one thing in common: they address the criteria as set down by the Australian Division of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). This take some thinking and a bit of work, but I can tell you that any nomination that hasn't adequately match the criteria hasn't ever won. If you need some help working through things, by all means contact us and we'll step you through the requirements. Start out by reading the criteria on the website, then take it from there.
You'll get two LMHs and e-Newsletters this week: today and Friday. The double-header is to get us back onto the Friday schedule that the GA community tells me they like and, indeed, rely on. Thanks for your understanding whilst we navigated AusFly and some public holidays. See you Friday.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch