Perhaps worth a thought in today’s anti GA world

[xair2]

Unfortunately all aspects of GA are viewed as a minority sport / recreation, so our influence on the ‘political scene’ appears very small both in politicians, media and public mindsets.

Whereas if one takes in contrast the ‘Caravan Club’ they always underscore any statements with comments like ‘ representing 1 million members’ (some of this number do not own caravans and family members are counted in as well!!). For those who may not know, The Caravan Club happens to be made up from all caravanning aspects, from trailer tents to huge motor homes and every type of caravan in between.

Sadly until GA has a mouthpiece that speaks uniformly and speaks out for all aspects of GA, from the Parachutist to the chap in is own Private Jet and including ‘plane spotters’. Such a GA Group could underline / backup any statement to the public, meda, or politician with 'representing the interests of ****** members' or some other appropriate tagline signifying participant numbers involved. Sadly in today’s world it’s all about numbers, because numbers mean votes and votes mean political clout.

To paraphrase something from last century,

When they came for the Parachutists I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Parachutists,
When they came for the Gliders I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Glider Pilot,
When they came for the Para Gliders I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Para Glider,
When they came for the Farmstrips I didn’t speak up because I didn’t fly from a Farmstrip,
When they came for the Microlights I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Microlight Pilot,
When they came for the Spotters I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Spotter,
When they came for the Single Engine Aircraft I didn’t speak up because I didn’t fly Single Engine,
Etc, etc, etc
So when they came for ME there was no one left to speak up for ME!!!

[gasax]

You mean something like this?
"The G A Alliance is a group of organisations representing, as far as possible, all UK General Aviation (GA), and Sports and Recreational Aviation interests (S&RA). Its objective is to co-operate and consult with government departments and other relevant organisations to support and progress these interests.

The G A Alliance was formed specifically to address airspace issues and matters of common concern to GA and S&RA. Activities are progressed with the agreement of member representatives through facilitation. Our objective in representation is to establish a joint common position which all members are content to sign up to recognising that the various sectors will also often wish to present their own specific position and arguments in many consultation and Aviation forums."

What it does not say is that AOPA insist on rowing their own boat - and usually in a different direction - see recent issues on training from unlicensed airfields.

But it is coming at last, see also in an EASA context European Airsports.

[chrisN]

And, on planning and certain other matters: The General Aviation Awareness Council

"The GAAC is the most representative UK body in General Aviation and is recognised as such by Government, the CAA and others to be the organisation that speaks for General Aviation on planning and environmental issues and we intend to widen our ‘awareness’ campaign to other issues where there is consensus."

(AOPA is a member of this one – in fact one of the founding member associations.)

The General Aviation Awareness Council (http://www.gaac.co.uk)

Chris N.

[beatnik]

And there lies the rub...

In just 2 replies we now have 3 organisations (AOPA, GA Alliance and GAAC) which all purport to support the GA cause, are all vying for our support, attention and subscriptions, but probably have slightly different political and social agendas and/or priorities.

Do we support all three - or pick one? Are there more?

It's all seems a bit like when Martin Luther broke away from the Catholic Church - we now have many Protestant, Evangelical, Ecumenical splinter religions all purporting to worship the same deity - but are divided by definition.

[Squeegee Longtail]

But surely the point is that we are not a united group of like-minded people.
Bizjet boys (pilots & owners) don't consider themsleves part of the smaller amateur scene, and therefore don't need to help support it.
Glider pilots/ microlighters etc don't need the larger licensed airfields with all the regs to go with running them and therefore don't need to support them.
VFR guys don't need the IFR availability and therefore don't need to support keeping it available to them.

etc etc etc.

Obviously these are generalisations, and there will no doubt be literally 'tens' of people who disagree, but we are not united, fact. AOPA et al each have their own agendas, just as we pilots/owners/enthusiasts do.

Anyway, that's the problem - anyone have the solution? :)

[gasax]

Certainly the various interests do have differing focii and agendas. However look at the recent removal of overflight restrictions for permit aircraft. Inspite of different interests the various parties overcame their differnce and got a positive result.

The GA Alliance is based on the same principles. Perhaps what we really need is organisations like AOPA to be a bit more honest and simply admit they are a trade lobbying body when push comes to shove?

At the end of the day BGA, LAA and BMAA have fairly clear objectives. So do the smaller organisations such as PPL/IR. The cameleon often appears to be AOPA.