Whats your Story
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: The Last Resort
Age: 52
Posts: 154
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Whats your Story
Stories about Australian bush aviation.
In a past life I went to uni and obtained a Journalism degree but couldn't stomach the idiots and so decided to change careers and got involved in aviation. Now I feel there is a desperate need for some objective reporting on what is happening to the industry in language that the general public can understand. Call me foolish but if we want to survive as an industry we need to re engage the public in the romance that was once aviation.
I am looking for contacts and leads for people who want their story told, whether it be a tale of injustice or success, or indeed a lament. I understand how dopey journalists are when it comes to this industry and we need to start getting the real facts out there. Change can only occur from decisions made in the court of public opinion and their effect on politicians.
If you have a story idea please contact me or post here
In a past life I went to uni and obtained a Journalism degree but couldn't stomach the idiots and so decided to change careers and got involved in aviation. Now I feel there is a desperate need for some objective reporting on what is happening to the industry in language that the general public can understand. Call me foolish but if we want to survive as an industry we need to re engage the public in the romance that was once aviation.
I am looking for contacts and leads for people who want their story told, whether it be a tale of injustice or success, or indeed a lament. I understand how dopey journalists are when it comes to this industry and we need to start getting the real facts out there. Change can only occur from decisions made in the court of public opinion and their effect on politicians.
If you have a story idea please contact me or post here
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Sydney, NSW Australia
Posts: 163
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Seasons Greetings "1".
Many of us have diverse backgrounds and we may have done a range of different things in past lives. Most of use enjoy our privacy and anonymity without a need to boastfully share such information with the wider community.
I think it is sad that you have "desperate" "feelings" about this or any other industry. Feelings, unsupported and alone, have very little to do with objective thought. Perhaps your university course didn't inform you as to the very real differences in the mixed methapors you have chosen to employ.
You also chose to use the words "dopey" and "foolish" Oh well, perhaps confession is after all good for the soul!
P.S. It is quite a flattering handle you have chosen, even if it isn't quite original as I think there may be one or two other would be dopplegangers running around these threads.
The Oracle
Many of us have diverse backgrounds and we may have done a range of different things in past lives. Most of use enjoy our privacy and anonymity without a need to boastfully share such information with the wider community.
I think it is sad that you have "desperate" "feelings" about this or any other industry. Feelings, unsupported and alone, have very little to do with objective thought. Perhaps your university course didn't inform you as to the very real differences in the mixed methapors you have chosen to employ.
You also chose to use the words "dopey" and "foolish" Oh well, perhaps confession is after all good for the soul!
P.S. It is quite a flattering handle you have chosen, even if it isn't quite original as I think there may be one or two other would be dopplegangers running around these threads.
The Oracle
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: The Last Resort
Age: 52
Posts: 154
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Very Helpful
Thanks for your helpful post. I didn't mean to sound boastful and for this I apologise. For what its worth I think a university degree is worth very little in the real world. I just think its sad where GA is going, its demise is indisputable. I would like to try and convey what's happening to others outside the industry. As for the handle I have used this handle on many websites for many years, no attempt to copy yours. I think your post says more about you than me.
I think the word you are looking for, Oracle1, is AIRMINDEDNESS. This word pops up quite regularly during those romantic times between the two world wars. Somehow, that romance is missing. There is nothing romantic about squeezing yourself into an aluminium tube with at least a hundred bogans who would otherwise travel by express coach. Compare airline travel from the fifties and sixties to now. Airlines are cheaper by a long stretch, hence, the attraction to those of the lower socio-economic decile.
What is the romance that is GA? That, is the question!
My time would have been when all those PA31s and 402s and 404s were brand spanking new...yet, there was something sinister about GA. Too many kids with fresh minted CPLs from Cessnock prepared to sell their soles for hours to get that airline job...what about enjoying the job that was GA? One good instructor/mate said to me...no way am I going to sit right seat for ten years waiting for a command...and promptly joins ATC. Job security? He had self funded, self educated at Redcliffe and done the hard yards and I thought had got there.
I could think of nothing better than going wheels up out over Deception Bay turning toward Bribie on a coastal route to Maryborough via Double Island Point..to me, to have that as a job and be paid for it? It wouldn't get any better.A sparkling Sun dancing on the marching sets of waves to your right. Low and fast past the ochres and whites and reds and browns of the coloured sands to your left...four wheel drives parked above the tide, their occupants slinging lines alongside a gutter in the pounding surf..turn their faces upwards and you are there at the end of their gaze...cursing your noise or wondering what it would be like?....romance! Do you forget the dollars in those moments?
Sell the job, Oracle1! Once you start talking cost, you are lost!
Resume own navigation...
What is the romance that is GA? That, is the question!
My time would have been when all those PA31s and 402s and 404s were brand spanking new...yet, there was something sinister about GA. Too many kids with fresh minted CPLs from Cessnock prepared to sell their soles for hours to get that airline job...what about enjoying the job that was GA? One good instructor/mate said to me...no way am I going to sit right seat for ten years waiting for a command...and promptly joins ATC. Job security? He had self funded, self educated at Redcliffe and done the hard yards and I thought had got there.
I could think of nothing better than going wheels up out over Deception Bay turning toward Bribie on a coastal route to Maryborough via Double Island Point..to me, to have that as a job and be paid for it? It wouldn't get any better.A sparkling Sun dancing on the marching sets of waves to your right. Low and fast past the ochres and whites and reds and browns of the coloured sands to your left...four wheel drives parked above the tide, their occupants slinging lines alongside a gutter in the pounding surf..turn their faces upwards and you are there at the end of their gaze...cursing your noise or wondering what it would be like?....romance! Do you forget the dollars in those moments?
Sell the job, Oracle1! Once you start talking cost, you are lost!
Resume own navigation...
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sydney
Age: 60
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Don't be put off by the cranky, the unfriendly and the snarly...
Well good on you Oracle1 for your initiative. You're absolutely right that we need to re-engage the public about what GA really means for Australian society (to then get politicians more interested). That so much of this country was developed and expanded courtesy of GA (in all its forms) is all but forgotten in the race to close our GA airports, increase regulation and sap the life out of so many of our GA operators who continue to struggle. The average punter walking the streets of our capital cities and travelling to & from their suburban abodes knows almost nothing of how important GA is to people in the bush, to mining & resources, to tourism, to law enforcement, medical and community services. In fact, I would expect an economist with a serious understanding of sociology and a holistic triple-bottom-line type of approach to measuring the input GA makes to the Australian economy could bring a whole lot more understanding through a well published study (imagine someone with communication skills like Alan Kohler on the ABC...there's a story to be told of the economic importance of GA in this country). Sadly though, I don't think any such investigation has ever been done or an appropriate study published as it would need to be funded and paid for by someone, and no one has their hand up for that.
One of the great challenges this industry faces is the (often) cranky, pissed off, "who the hell are you?", cynical and generally worn out participants one has to engage with. The Oracle's response to you is about as clichéd and stereotypical a response as any other poor ones I've seen. That you've put your thoughts here onto a new thread only to be basically castigated for having the gall to attempt such a thing is just par for the course in Australian aviation.
The Oracle, you said
Is it really necessary to respond to Oracle1 in such an unsympathetic and discouraging manner? So he's used a few words like "desperate" that could be considered to be fairly strong, but maybe Oracle1 actually has the skills and capabilities (not to mention desire) to get something pretty good going. Goodness knows we need it.
(OZBUS your description of the sun dancing on the waves is marvellous. That's the stuff Oracle1 needs to grab hold of and create desire in the imagination of younger people who may want to get into flying as a career....there are still kids out there dreaming and what a travesty it is if we don't support them).
Come on guys what we need is encouragement of people that want to improve things; not treating people with their hand up with such disdain. You can do so much better The Oracle, with all your experience (not that I know what it is but like most on here probably substantial) there must be some great stories you can provide and I'm sure Oracle1 would work around whatever privacy requirements you have.
Ren
One of the great challenges this industry faces is the (often) cranky, pissed off, "who the hell are you?", cynical and generally worn out participants one has to engage with. The Oracle's response to you is about as clichéd and stereotypical a response as any other poor ones I've seen. That you've put your thoughts here onto a new thread only to be basically castigated for having the gall to attempt such a thing is just par for the course in Australian aviation.
The Oracle, you said
I think it is sad that you have "desperate" "feelings" about this or any other industry. Feelings, unsupported and alone, have very little to do with objective thought. Perhaps your university course didn't inform you as to the very real differences in the mixed methapors you have chosen to employ.
(OZBUS your description of the sun dancing on the waves is marvellous. That's the stuff Oracle1 needs to grab hold of and create desire in the imagination of younger people who may want to get into flying as a career....there are still kids out there dreaming and what a travesty it is if we don't support them).
Come on guys what we need is encouragement of people that want to improve things; not treating people with their hand up with such disdain. You can do so much better The Oracle, with all your experience (not that I know what it is but like most on here probably substantial) there must be some great stories you can provide and I'm sure Oracle1 would work around whatever privacy requirements you have.
Ren
Last edited by RenegadeMan; 29th Dec 2012 at 09:05.
