The President
Mr Eugene Reid and Board.
Australian Ultra light
Dear Sirs,
I understand that at your recent Annual Dinner you had as guests and speakers our AOPA President Mr Chris McKeown and VP Bill Hamilton.
No doubt there was a bit of electioneering by them as you would naturally expect.
You may also be aware that there is a fairly vigorous election in progress with the prospect of a completely new Board.
I am part of a "Team" being led by Marjorie Pagani, who have been assembled and nominated to take AOPA forward in a more proactive and harmonious manner than heretofore.
You should be aware that Mr McKeown and Mr Hamilton are not members of this “Team” and that we do not share ALL of their views.
As we believe that there is a strong likelihood that we will represent the majority on the Board and that we will be wishing to rapidly establish a strong relationship with your organisation we feel that it is important that you fully understand our position.
I do not know if you or your members have been following the progress of the AOPA Elections thread on the PPRuNe internet Forum and the many issues raised and debated.
PPRuNe offered the use of their Forum in the absence of availability of the AOPA Forum for the time being.
If you have the time to go through it, there is the usual to and fro, some dross but also some enlightening material
We wish to assure you that there has been much active discussion amongst us and a sincere desire amongst our “Team” to invite other organisations such as the AUF, SAA, HAA, AWPA and ASFA on board as special interest groups and natural allies. All of this representation will feed back to the board. We are committed to having the voice of the members represented on the various aviation committees and CASA bodies.
We must to respond to a letter recently published by Director Bill Hamilton. This letter goes to the heart of the differences between the direction for AOPA to which we aspire, and that of the ‘old guard’: Bill says;
“AOPA is signalling that all effective political action is at an end and “negotiating” with CASA will solve our problems, because of CASA’s newfound “respect” for AOPA proposed ‘negotiators’ (i.e. AOPA represents no further barrier to CASA action).
In this he refers to our “Team”.
There is a view amongst the general aviation fraternity that CASA has “shut its doors” to the association because of the ‘attack’ method.
We do not believe, as Bill seems to, that “negotiation” necessarily means “capitulation”.
Open dialogue, round-table discussions, and of course, heated debate from time to time, are healthy and progressive tools.
Attempting to negotiate compromises is the first step – overt political action lurks always as the back up.
We want to re-open the channels of communication.
We wish to assure you that we do not share Bill Hamilton’s view of the world.
We also wish to advise that we have already had some significant dialogue with the Regulator in relation to some fundamentally important matters that will become clear over the next few months. At their request, without we might add; “attack” or “capitulation”. No kicking down doors, just calm, reasoned dialogue.
We are also concerned that there is a post in this AOPA election debate that may have not gone unnoticed by you and contains what is represented to be a copy of an email from the current President, McKeown, expressing his “views” on “lighties and bushies” which has the potential to generate great and unnecessary mistrust between our organisations.
If you click on this URL it will take you direct to the post.
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...&pagenumber=13
We do not know if Mr McKeown is aware that it has been published here, but to this date has not chosen to deny the emails content or existence, to his and the considerable detriment of AOPA.
To be certain that there is no misunderstanding in the matter; we wish to absolutely and unequivocally disassociate ourselves from Mr McKeowns’ view purported to be expressed in relation to “lighties and bushies”.
This may be a view that he personally holds, but is not the view of the “Team” or we believe the membership at large.
They are now and always will be the very backbone; strength and raison d’etre of this organisation and with the AUF represent the vast majority of aviators, in this country whose interests we both represent.
We would direct your attention to this Fridays “Australian Aviation” section, wherein we believe, that their will be some editorial comment that you might find interesting.
We have also placed an advertisement directing you to a website containing a more detailed explanation of our views and agenda.
We look forward to the results of the election and hope that we may see you at the AGM to introduce ourselves and share ideas on how we may act together to advance our mutual concerns.
Sincerely,
Gary Gaunt
Tel 08 93863514
Mob 0417 958 312
Email:
[email protected]
This letter has been sent direct to Mr Reid and his Board.