[Peetwo]

Update: Dick on a roll - (just add OzEsauce)

Dick backs Pauline - "Match made in heaven"


Courtesy the Daily Telegraph... :

Update: Via AOPA thread & Oz Flying.

Tuesday, 6th December 2016
 
PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release
 
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) of Australia to work with Queensland Senator, Ms Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and all sides of politics to develop general aviation reform policy.
 
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) of Australia welcomes interest from all sides of politics with regard to the important issue of general aviation reform, understanding how important it is for the country’s political leaders to have a clear and concise understanding of the challenges facing our industry.
 
The AOPA Australia confirms that it will work with Queensland Senator, Ms Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party and all other sides of politics to develop a general aviation reform policy framework that can serve to arrest the serious decline of the general aviation industry.
 
The AOPA Australia has recently highlighted to government, that over the past 10 years;
 

• General aviation pilot numbers have declined by 34% (loss of 8,000+ from the industry)
  
• General aviation fuel sales have declined by 35%
  
• Number of general aviation aircraft not flying has increased by over 50% (over 3,000+ aircraft parked)
  

 
The AOPA Australia has called on the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Mr Darren Chester, to;
 

• Amend the Civil Aviation Act so as to require the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to foster and develop aviation, so as to provide growth and opportunity for all Australians
  
• End the wasteful +$300 million taxpayer funded CASA regulatory reform program
  
• Harmonise our regulations to that of the world’s most successful aviation marketplace, the United States and their Federal Aviation Regulations (US FAR).
  

 
The AOPA Australia promotes the following core regulatory values;
 

• Only regulate where necessary
  
• Deregulate everywhere we can
  
• Reduce cost to industry
  
• Create a vibrant and dynamic general aviation industry for all Australians
  

 
Yours Sincerely,
 
BENJAMIN MORGAN
Executive Director - Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) 
 

&..

Tuesday, 6th December 2016

 
PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release
 
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) of Australia commences work on Minister Chester’s review into General Aviation Decline.
 
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) of Australia this week met with representatives of the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) to commence work on Minister Chester’s, review into general aviation decline – the first of a number of meetings planned.
 
Leading the BITRE review team is Director of Aviation Statistics, Mr Glenn Malam, who provided AOPA Australia with government data that confirms graphs released by AOPA Australia in August 2016, showcasing the serious decline in general aviation over the past 10 years, including;
 

• General aviation pilot numbers have declined by 34% (loss of 8,000+ from the industry)
  
• General aviation fuel sales have declined by 35%
  
• Number of general aviation aircraft not flying has increased by over 50% (over 3,000+ aircraft parked)
  

 
The AOPA Australia has put forward a range of valuable feedback during the first meeting, which included;
 

• Amend the Civil Aviation Act so that the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is required to foster general aviation industry growth and development
  
• Adopt and harmonise to the world’s most successful general aviation regulatory framework, the United States Federal Aviation Regulations
  
• Extend the ADS-B install deadline to 2021 without restriction to both commercial and private operators
  
• Remove unique Australian aging-aircraft requirements (ie. Cessna SIDs)
  
• Remove the unnecessary ASIC requirement for general aviation users
  
• Immediately implement Class 2 Medical Reform to re-introduce thousands of GA pilots to flying
  
• Remove unreasonable industry charges and fees for interactions with the safety regulator
  

 
The AOPA Australia also confirmed its stance on aviation regulatory management;
 

• Only regulate where necessary
  
• Deregulate everywhere we can
  
• Reduce cost to industry
  
• Create a vibrant and dynamic general aviation industry for all Australians
  

 
The BITRE team have until 30th June of 2017 to complete their review and will shortly commence interviewing general aviation business operators seeking to understand the industry’s view with regard to general aviation decline.
 
The AOPA Australia welcomes aircraft owners, pilots and general aviation business operators who would like to provide direct input to this important review to contact the AOPA Australia office by telephone
on: (02) 9791 9099 to register your interest in participating.
 
Best regards,
 
BENJAMIN MORGAN
Executive Director – Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)

 
&.. from Oz Flying:

Senator Pauline Hanson. AOPA has committed to helping her develop an aviation policy. (composite image)

We'll work with Hanson: AOPA
6 December 2016


Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...qyXV25i.99

Then back to Sandy... : #75

In as I recall 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. No one foresaw that event, triggered as it was by obvious truth. Truth was, and remains 'is', that prosperity and fairness do not derive from super government. It is remarkable that two hundred years have passed since the most of the North Americans overturned the notion that rights are not the perogative of the Crown, i.e. Government. They decided that all power resides in the people, not derived from one exalted person or the oligarchs. This self evident truism has still to take on in Australia. Obvious truth is that general aviation in Australia has suffered grievously from very poor governance. Those of us having watched this slow motion disaster remain appalled at the lack of responsible government action to correct this blot on the life of the nation, let alone the numerous injustices perpetrated on so many individuals.

The likes of Ben Morgan and the Board of AOPA, Dick Smith, Ken Cannane of AMROBA, Phil Hirst, TAAAF and numerous others to inspire reform are working in the interests of Australia. I am hopeful that all the pet theories, the various individual ideas are now coalesced into the one true direction.

With increasing publicity, eg Dick and One Nation, our message of freedom of action, simple rules like road rules, can cause a great burst of GA activity to the benefit of all aviators and the general community. Aerial transport, employment, education, manufacturing, training, airports (private property on landside please) and many other facets of general aviation stand to grow and benefit the whole country.

We would & should support AOPA and whomever stands for our freedom, freedom to exercise our right to fly. The biggest lie, and we are guilty of allowing it, that it is a government given privilege to fly. This must be a priority, to express that to fly is our right, not a government (Crown) privilege.

Via the Oz today:

Smith gifts $1m to charity
12:00amSIMON KING
Dick Smith will give $1mn to charity out of frustration with his plan to recreate a historic air race.

...Such is Mr Smith’s disappointment that he will give the $1m he had earmarked for the air race — which would have used electric planes in the recreation to spark a new round of innovation — to the Rotary Australia Benevolent ­Society.

“I’m incredibly disappointed,” he told The Australian.

In 1919, Australian prime minister Billy Hughes offered £10,000 to the first aircrew to reach Darwin from London.

“Back in 1919, people had no idea the planes that were used in World War I could actually do long distances,” Mr Smith said.

“Billy Hughes came up with the original idea and it was the start of long-distance air travel.

“I thought wouldn’t it be great if 100 years later we did it with electrically powered planes.

“It would be all about inno­vation because electrically powered aircraft can do about 300 nautical miles (now) and you need about 500. It would mean you have three years to extend the boundaries; innovate to get better storage. Which would help every bit of alternative energy.”

Mr Smith said he encountered the same problem in all his aviation dealings with government: “Nobody makes a decision.”

He said he had mentioned the project directly to Malcolm Turnbull and then wrote to the Minister for Innovation, Greg Hunt. “I can’t even remember his name he’s so dynamic — but I wrote to him and he didn’t commit himself to anything.

“At one stage they said, ‘What do you want?’ and I said, ‘It would be great if you match the money but you don’t have to, just come with some enthusiasm for it’. But I got nothing.”

Mr Smith said the aviation community had been overwhelmingly supportive of the idea. “But no doubt the minister would have been advised, ‘Oh minister small planes crash, I wouldn’t suggest you get involved with this.’

“They are so risk-averse and so politically correct — even with Dick Smith on side putting the money in, they couldn’t bring themselves to support it.

“So I’m giving a breakfast talk ... at the Rotary Club of Wahroonga and then I’ll hand $1m to them.”

Yesterday, a spokesman for Mr Hunt maintained that his department’s lack of involvement was a financial issue: “We respect his initiative, but the government can’t fund every proposal for using taxpayer’s money,” the spokesman said.

“We’d be very happy for Mr Smith to provide his own funds rather than calling on taxpaying Australian families There is no barrier to Mr Smith paying for this himself.”...

...The donation is part of more than $4.1m Mr Smith is giving to charities and organisations from the sale of his Cessna Citation aircraft. He sold the plane in disgust at ever-increasing maintenance costs caused, he said, by years of industry mismanagement by both major political parties through the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. “Every time you blink, CASA comes up with a more expensive equipment to be fitted to your plane,” he said....

MTF...P2