[Peetwo]

More to follow – probable. There's a 'buzz' going around that a heavy duty RAOz doyen has departed the fix. Could get really ugly out there – that's it from the rumour mill.

Via AOPA Oz on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/AOPAaustralia/posts/

RAAUS CEO MR MICHAEL LINKE RESIGNS

Announced to members of the Recreational Aviation Australia Limited, 4th September 2020:

Some six years ago, Michael Linke joined our organisation to help us address some significant challenges that we faced at the time. These included a number of matters ranging from internal and procedural deficiencies through to relationship issues with the regulator and substantial financial problems that were threatening the viability of RAAus. Today, much of this has been addressed and we are on the cusp of accessing new privileges and transitioning to the new CASR Part 149 framework.

Michael has now been presented with a new opportunity outside of RAAus to further challenge himself and test his skills and knowledge in a new environment with new people. In some ways this is a sad day for RAAus as we will miss the steady approach that Michael has shown through the years but at the same time we also understand that this desire to grow both personally and professionally means that he has to explore his options. To this end, he has accepted a new position in a national organisation with responsibilities that extend beyond those he currently has at RAAus and will commence in his role towards the end of this year.

The staff and board at RAAus would like to pass on their thanks to Michael for the effort and energy he has put in during his time with us and are very appreciative of the turnaround that he has led and the stable organisation he will be leaving behind. Thank you Michael.

Whilst we are sad to see Michael leave we are also presented with new opportunities moving forward and will be starting the search for a new person to lead our management team through the next 5+ years and help guide us through the next set of challenges we face in that period. We anticipate that we will be putting a call out to members and the broader industry in the coming weeks to begin a dialogue with suitably skilled people to fill the gap that Michael will leave behind.

We wish Michael the best in his new endeavours and are very much looking forward to what the future brings for him and RAAus. We will have more news for members soon.

Michael Monck
Chairman

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Some comments - 

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Nicholas Christie Michael, you have caused so much distress for so many people in the aviation industry in Australia. You are not an aviator. You have never understood what it is to be one. And you don’t understand or care about any other sectors or how they interact with ultralight class aircraft.

You have run the RAA without regard for the average member or the other sectors of the industry. You have bullied and unrepentantly barged your way through with scant regard for others and the while cozying up to the regulator in a sickening sycophantic attempt to gain traction.

RAAus is a part of our Broader aviation industry and cannot exist alone or inside a bubble. It has a place, certainly. But the way that you have run the ‘company’ has been to the detriment of members and to the benefit of the few.

I wish you well personally and from a health perspective, but I will watch you walk away from that place knowing that the sight of your back will be one that provides me and many RAAus members a great deal of relief, rather than happiness, or anything else positive.

Relief is certainly not the legacy that I would aspire to when leaving a position of responsibility from a member based organisation like RAAus.

Accountability, pursuit of the truth, and gaining the genuine trust of members is absolutely key in any member-based organisation like RAAus.

But, Mr Linke, you failed me and many others in our industry so often, and so grossly.

Now the challenge will be bringing these positive virtues to some of the remaining members of the board who share your vision and are just as culpable.

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Lorraine MacGillivray I have never met Linke, and I am glad that I haven’t because I don’t like being in the company of self serving individuals that in my view run an organization like a little boys club. Not to mention I would have been far from polite.

What happened and is happening with the Bristell based on the evidence we have is nothing but a vendetta. We have been working on this since the beginning of this year. RAAus provided no support to BRM Aero. In fact they have been active in trying to discredit the aircraft. I mean the latest in my view is they put an article about the spinning of the Brumby high wing and on the next page write a story on the Bristell B8 in Sport Pilot based on no information no discussion with manufacturer or the importer and make it sound like it is falling short I would suggest under some false premise that they care about the Bristell.

The request for additional compliance data requested by CASA was on the back of a flight test done at Latrobe Valley in 2017. This was initiated by RAAus, this flight test was done to replicate the Clyde accident. They did not even use the same configured aircraft, different wing span different prop. Like comparing apples and pears. And for those not aware the Clyde accident was found by the Victorian State Coroner that the Bristell was not at fault. Darren Barnfield was at Latrobe we are told assuming a position of authority. This flight test was missing many things that would gain it any credibility at all. And I have it on authority from within RAAus they are already trying to cover this up. This less than professional flight test report made its way to CASA and Mick Poole emailed the report to the importer and clearly used it as the basis for asking the manufacturer for additional data to prove compliance. No one would accept all the information the manufacturer had provided. The Bristell completed in excess of 260 formally recorded spins during its testing. The manufacturer certified that the aircraft complies under the self certification that CASA are supposed to accept. CASA have stated they are not satisfied. But neither RAA or CASA have been able to provide evidence of why they are not satisfied. The evidence and information that I am in possession of will embarrass a lot of people and hopefully Linke going will be the beginning. In my opinion anyone decent sitting idle should speak up or get out before the cards start falling and they will.

The Bristell I would suggest is too good for some I think that would have an interest in it being discredited. That has been told to me as well.

This is far from over and I will not stop until it and those involved are exposed.

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Ric Wilson Now to clean up the rest of GA and our airline cousins.

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MTF...P2