Presidents Blog
Well this was nearly a “Missed Approach” but after getting nearly 40 issues out on time the occasional “go around” should be acceptable if not inevitable.
We are now into spring and looking out the window at Nelson we have sunshine and good flying conditions so I may just keep this short. Shaun Gilbertson organised another great flying onto the snow-farm at short notice last weekend. Some great photos on the web and blue sky all over. Some of you did not get the email that went out the day before and we have discussed this at the Exec meeting on the Monday after. To make sure you get the notifications you must go into the website, go to your personal settings and make sure you have ticked the boxes to receive email notifications.
- Log on to www.AOPA.co.nz (You will need your email address and password) If you have forgotten your password follow the instructions on your screen to reset it.
- Under the blue “Member access” button on LH side click the second one down “Personal settings”. This takes you to your personal settings page
- Under Email Notifications “Click here”
- Make sure all boxes are ticked. (we don’t bombard you with advertising as commercial people do not have access to our database)
- Then click “Update Email Notifications” and the job is done.
- Don’t forget step 5
This is not something we normally do but if you really, really get confused send Mary Bruce an email and she will help.
The election.
Can anyone tell me why National and Labour don’t form a coalition with the best of both given Ministerial jobs (selected by an employment agency) and just get on with it? In my experience over the past few years it does not really matter who the Minister is as it is the permanent bureaucrats who just change their briefings to suit the new Minister.
It affects the Aviation community as we have new rules we want signed off (2 yearly ARA) but that won’t happen until we have the new Government. If Winston takes a month to decide we are another month down the track then it will be Christmas.
On a positive note ACAG (The Aviation Community Advisory Group) has made some serious progress in our dealings with CAA. We have made the point on lack communication, CAA have responded positively and we see changes already. Early engagement with ACAG is the goal.
The drive for a “Basic National Aviation Infrastructure” (no acronym yet) is growing momentum. The Airports Association are coming out in full song for their members. Have a look at www.flylocal.nz
I want that to go further as there are more like 30 airports/airfields that would benefit from being identified as National Infrastructure. On Friday, I gave an address to the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAES) and put this project as a priority for Aviation. I am not having a go at Airways Ltd because if I was the CEO I would probably do the same to maximise the profits. However, it is a State-Owned Enterprise charged with returning a dividend to the shareholder which is the Government. They pay a dividend of around $9 million per year, paid out of tax paid profits. That goes into the consolidated fund and not back to aviation. There is no mandate to return anything to the Aviation Infrastructure.
My beef is the removal of Instrument Flight Procedures (IFP) from small regional airfields because the big airlines do not fly there and the airfields cannot afford to provide the $5K per approach per year to maintain them. Using my airfield number of 30, with 2 approaches each would cost $300K per year. The Airports Assn say the cost of one road bridge would do what they want. These are not big numbers but we need to change the system so the Government puts back some of our payments into the system. It is not a subsidy we are being taxed and getting no benefit from the tax we pay. Remember those using Mogas pay road tax as well.
Kaikoura showed the stupidity of not having an IFP in place when the earthquake hit. Commercial flights were severely hindered getting in to support the rescue operation. Whitianga lost its IFP so that now there is nothing on the Coromandel for getting below cloud. You cannot blame Airways Ltd, they are charged with making a profit unlike NavCanada who are a "not for profit organisation" who’s fees are not only dropping but they are paying back $60 million to their customers this year. We need a change in the charter of Airways Ltd they are a great Air Traffic Management provider and the operation is first class. It was pointed out to me that the Government also gets some pretty big dividends from aviation by way of airports it jointly owns and tourists that use the facilities.
Here is a link to the presentation on our website in case you are interested.
www.aopa.co.nz/page.php?id=185
It was really informing the audience about the NZ Aviation Federation and what we do as a collective group of aviation organisations.
So that is the Short (almost Missed) Approach this month.
Remember to check out the member benefits page on the website as we have some good deals if you take advantage of them.
Fly safely and keep your fuel tanks full. (with discounted Z of course)
Ian Andrews
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