Yes, six. Seems that someone broke into a hangar in Aeri Club Alt Camp of Vallmoll (Tarragona-Catalunya-Spain) and stole six Rotax engines. Three were 100hp, 3 were 80hp.
Bad enough that the engines were stolen, worse that they were simply hacked from the airframes, so considerable damage was done. Also, some instrumentation was stolen.
It’s unlikely that they’ll get to Australia, but just in case, here are the engine numbers:
5645830 – 5645618 – 4407737 – 4410669 – 4406796 – 5643909
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Popular Lismore pilot, Wayne Fisher died on Sunday in an accident at Lismore airport.
He was believed to be test flying an RV12 on its’ maiden flight, when the aircraft stalled into the ground from a low level. He was killed on impact.
Wayne was a highly experienced and skilled pilot who was well-known in the Northern Rivers and SE Queensland areas.
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Two men, believed to be enroute Avalon had a heavy arrival, courtesy of power lines, at a schoolyard near Ballarat, Vic.
Don’t believe the news.com.au article; the “Cessna” looks awfully like a Savanna to me. (D’oh!)
Good to see that the tough little Savanna had them arriving in one piece, though.
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paul mckeownDDSAA general meeting summary‘Morning all. Another email from Michael Monck, shown below without modification.
I have attached several documents which Michael sent to me as attachments in his email. I have also made some comments of my own, at the very bottom of this post.
Letter from Michael Monck…
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Hi all,
Let me begin (again) with an apology. It has been a number of weeks since the general meeting and I am sure you have been waiting for some sort of ‘debrief’. I was hoping to have a audio recording of the events to post by now but have had no luck on this front. Furthermore, catching up on work has taken some considerable time over this period and I have unfortunately not gotten around to providing a summary until now so I apologise for taking this long.
I have only included people on this list that responded to me in the past (and have removed the email addresses of those who requested removal) to avoid annoying people. I had a comment from the secretary accusing me of hacking into the RA-Aus computer system to get email addresses and infuriating a lot of people. I’m sure that many more people were infuriated by not being able to fly their aircraft but to avoid irritating anyone else I thought it best to cut down the list. Feel free to pass this on to anyone who you think might be interested and let them know to contact me if they would like to be added to my list.
The meeting went well although not as well as we had hoped. As we said there was no intention to remove the board or even any individuals, the meeting was always intended to open up a dialogue between the board and the membership and establish a line of communication that should have existed well before now. While this happened, I still feel we have some way to go before the board recognises that those who are asking questions are not detractors, they are simply members that are concerned and interested in the affairs of the association.
The morning began with a challenge from the floor on the subject of who chairs the meeting. While the constitution clearly states that the president will preside over all meetings, general meetings included, many people in the room felt that the president could not effectively chair the meeting as he, and other board members, were the topic of the meeting. A motion was put forward from the floor to this effect and was refused by the president who stated that the constitution is clear and we must abide by it. When his position of president was questioned (due to his resignation some months earlier) he clearly stated that he was the president and that would remain so until someone chose to take him to court.
It’s worth noting here that the question around his position stems from his resignation and subsequent withdrawal. He resigned and then a day or two later withdrew his resignation, his resignation also applied to his position as a member representative. His letter was clear that he resigned immediately and so the position was left vacant once the email was delivered. The constitution (the one that the same president said we must all abide by) provides guidance in this situation. The only way a member representative can be appointed is through a vote from the membership. Given that no poll was conducted the question of whether the position is still vacant and the members have been refused this right to reinstate him is one that goes unanswered.
I must stress at this point that the board has sought legal advice on this and the meeting was assured that everything was being conducted appropriately. We were not given access to this advice (advice that was paid for with member funds) and had to simply suck it up and live with it. It’s even more interesting that when the rest of the board (those who acted to accept the withdrawal of the resignation) were asked if they had seen the advice a significant number of them indicated that they had not. It seems that our board were not even privy to the goings on of the association.
The meeting moved on to discuss other topics and of course the registration debacle was one of these topics. To my way of thinking the executive simply passed the buck by saying that the problems arose well before they were appointed and therefore they weren’t responsible. This was followed by them saying sorry. It was clear from the secretary’s letter prior to the meeting that this was the way he felt and that they should be left alone to do their work and we should move one. It does raise the question though – if the problems existed prior to their appointment then the same could be said of the Tech Manager that commenced in April 2012 and was terminated later that same year. The executive alluded to deficiencies on his part and that he was responsible for his actions…
A notable question from the floor came when someone asked who instructed the staff to tell members that a computer glitch was holding up the registration process (despite there being no such glitch). Both the president and secretary denied knowledge of this instruction. The floor was then asked for a show of hands reflecting who, of those present, had received this advice. Several members raised their hands. Again, more questions remain…
Discussion around legal actions against the association also took place. We were told that we weren’t allowed to know what was going on and that the insurance company was handling everything. We weren’t even allowed to know what actions were being taken against RA-Aus (aside from being told that no Ibis owners had informed RA-Aus that they were considering legal action against RA-Aus) and were even informed that we were not allowed to know what our insurance covers! So we, as members, are expected to fly around the country side taking on all sorts of risk and yet are not allowed to know which of those risks we may be liable for. Furthermore, we don’t know whether we are sufficiently insured against risks as an association. That said, it was pointed out that we have a considerable reserve of cash in the bank and that this would be used to pay out any existing cases. This is despite the treasurer presenting a set of accounts with absolutely no provisions for such payments being included. Some significant questions still remain in my mind…
The meeting moved on and several motions were put forward. Geoff Kidd put a significant motion forward to begin a path of change which was followed with a motion to engage professional help in doing this. Both of these motions are, if followed through with, steps towards making RA-Aus a sustainable association well into the future. My hope is that the board takes these seriously and reacts in a more proactive manner than they did when they received the first audit results at the end of 2012. My concern is that they won’t. I have offered, both verbally and in written form, to provide assistance where my expertise may be useful (see my attached email) and have not even received an acknowledgement of my email let alone a request for help.
NatFly is approaching and we will be raising some more questions at the general meeting to be held over that weekend. I urge you to come along if you can (if not for the meeting then simply for the flying – it’s a great weekend and a real showpiece for our association) and voice your opinions. To my way of thinking this is a turning point in the history of our association and we should do everything we can to make sure we take the right road. At no point during the February meeting was it necessary to exercise the use of proxy’s as none of the motions put forward were contested by anyone in the room, however, I urge you to consider your vote at the NatFly meeting and to use it in a way that will reflect your wishes and views going forward.
To finish off I would like you to take a look at a couple of other attachments to this email. They are other people’s views of the meeting proceedings and I hope they will help you to form an opinion on the general flavour of the meeting. I am trying to present a balanced view of proceedings and one way to do this is to provide all sides. Unfortunately, at this time the only summary I have seen from a board member is the one from Ed Herring, it would be nice to have more communication from other board members but at this stage I have not seen anything so I can’t provide it here. If there is more communication from other board members that I have missed then I would be happy to forward it to others if you provide it to me.
As always, feel free to get in touch with me and have a chat. My phone number is 0419 244 794 or you can write to me via return email. And of course – send this email to other interested people!
Cheers,
Michael.
See attachments, below.
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Comment by admin…
Many of you will be familiar with George Orwell’s nightmarish vision of a post-apocalyptic world run by bureaucrats, “1984″.
One of the endearing terms used by Orwell in the book was the notion of the “unperson”, a person who had existed, no longer existed, or never existed at all. By using this term, a person could be effectively expunged from reality, assigned to a shadow world where everyday concepts are no more than ambiguous wordplay.
It seems to me that Mr Runciman, the president who was, then wasn’t, now is again, (quite illegally in my opinion), could easily be regarded as the “unpresident”.
The hold be has on the position he occupies is in complete contradiction to his stated desire that the Constitution be followed correctly.
Four failed audits are enough. When are those responsible for the mess going to fall on their swords?
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Links:
email to SR
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Here’s something a little different… the Carter Copter.
Very versatile, VTOL, and fast. Who else wants one?
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Hi All,
Published below as received is an email I received from Michael Monck this morning which concerns all members of the RAAus. I encourage you to read it and take action as you see fit.
Please read…
Hi,
Let me begin by apologising for this unannounced email. You may or may not be aware that Recreational Aviation Australia (RA-Aus) is experiencing some of the most troublesome times in its life hence this email. I have compiled a list of email addresses from various sources and I hope that by you forwarding it to your contacts we can present a balanced view of the current issues to most members.
I am, like you, a member of the association that is passionate about flying. I began flying in the early 1990’s and hold a PPL with various endorsements along with my RA-Aus pilot certificate, also with various endorsements. I also hold professional qualifications and have experience in running large and small organisations including not for profits such as RA-Aus. I believe that while this does not make me an authority figure on all matters related to RA-Aus it does give me some credibility and some perspective on the current state of affairs.
My main concern is the interests of our members and the protection of their rights to fly. Over the past couple of months these rights have been threatened with many aircraft being grounded to due RA-Aus’ authority to register aircraft being revoked for a period of time by CASA. No one is really clear on the extent of this problem as cold hard facts have not been presented by our current member representatives. All we have is vague statements published on the website such as “the piles continue to diminish” coupled with comments like “if I give you his report I won’t be accused of telling porkies”. Both these statements can be read at http://www.raa.asn.au/2013/01/registration-update-29-01-2013-2/.
It is this disregard for members that worries me. When pressed for information board members have informed me that they do not have access to certain pieces of information or that I am not allowed to see such pieces of information. Worse still, in some instances my requests have simply been ignored. One such request relates to our obligations to CASA which are covered in the Deed of Agreement between them and RA-Aus. On 18 January 2013 I wrote to several board members requesting a copy of this so I could inform myself of what is required by our association. Several board members replied that they were not aware of the document and had not been privy to its contents and I was informed that Steve Runciman had taken it on himself to provide me with the information on that same weekend. Some 12 days later (30 January 2013) I followed up with Steve directly and am yet to receive an acknowledgement of my email let alone a meaningful reply.
Not only is it concerning that Steve has failed to respond to my request (both directly and via other board members) it is worrying that RA-Aus has no system in place to ensure board members are made aware of RA-Aus’ responsibilities towards CASA. This is despite a publication by CASA themselves giving direction in relation to this specific document. They have published a handbook for organisations such as RA-Aus to help them guide their operations and it contains a checklist that specifically mentions the Deed of Agreement (this doc is available at http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_93439) and still, RA-Aus has not communicated these requirements to incoming board members.
Furthermore, the board seems unaware of its other duties and responsibilities. Paul Middleton recently wrote to members on behalf of the entire board in relation to the upcoming general meeting. In this letter he makes mention of a number of things. The most pressing issue of aircraft registrations features heavily and he states that CASA conducted an audit in November 2011 that highlighted some issues. He then goes on to say that a follow up audit was conducted in October/November 2012 (this is the time when aircraft groundings began occurring). What he fails to mention is that there were additional follow up audits in between these dates and RA-Aus had repeatedly failed, under the stewardship of this current board, to rectify the identified problems. Given the mixed messages received from the board (through conversations I have had personally) I decided to contact CASA directly and spoke to Rob Glenn in the Sport Aviation section. He informs me that the audits are part of a regular program of inspections that CASA imposes on all Recreational Aviation Administration Organisations and RA-Aus was made aware of this well in advance.
Interestingly, Paul also mentions that “the majority of the current board is NOT the board who were in position at the time the current registration problems arose” before saying that their primary interest lies in rectifying the problems. While I admire this approach and am openly appreciative of their efforts I do not accept this as a reason for ignoring their responsibilities. Firstly, through a freedom of information request to the ACT Government agency that administers bodies like RA-Aus I have a copy of all annual returns lodged since 2008. These documents reveal that Paul Middleton, Eugene Reid, David Caban, Myles Breitkreutz, John McKeown, Rod Birrell and Steve Runciman have all been on the board in some capacity since 17 September 2010 or earlier. This well and truly counters Pauls argument and shows the majority of the board have, in fact, been there during this entire saga, more than twelve months before the first audit Paul refers to in his letter. Indeed Eugene Reid and Paul Middleton both appear on returns well before this date making them even more culpable.
This raises a few questions. How long does a board member have to be in that position before they accept responsibility? And is it really acceptable to mislead the membership like this? On the latter topic the law says no.
In the most recent letter the board has made statements such as those highlighted above that are clearly contrary to fact, I can only imagine this is to protect their reputation and/or position on the board. RA-Aus is subject to parts of the Corporations Act and this Act clearly states that it is a criminal offence to act dishonestly as a member of a board:
A director or other officer of a corporation commits an offence if they:
(a) are reckless; or
(b) are intentionally dishonest;
and fail to exercise their powers and discharge their duties:
(c) in good faith in the best interests of the corporation; or
(d) for a proper purpose.
It also states that they must not act in a way that sees them gain advantage (note that it does not limit advantage to financial gain):
A director, secretary, other officer or employee of a corporation must not improperly use their position to:
(a) gain an advantage for themselves or someone else; or
(b) cause detriment to the corporation.
It is also worth noting that our constitution says:
No business other than that specified in the notice convening a general meeting shall be transacted at the meeting…
That said, Paul has said in his letter “will be not only for the purpose of dealing with the issues that the requisitioning Members have raised, but also to give all Members the opportunity to come to a meeting where the Board will go into all of the matters of concern to you and to us Board Members.” Another apparent disregard for the rules, laws and regulations that govern our association.
While I do not necessarily believe this board is acting in a sinister manner on purpose the recent series of events does suggest to me that they are out of their depth. Withholding information from certain board members, not following due process, not effectively discharging their duties, etc. is a problem. At best they have committed minor civil infractions, at worst they may have committed criminal acts.
What’s more, when people have tried to inform them that their actions are unconstitutional the responses are quite telling. In a reply to an email outlining that a proposed motion by Gavin Thobavin might be a misguided attempt to strip the rights granted to members under the constitution Gavin wrote “Well aren’t you scary????? I have had real tough men try to intimidate me before and you fall well short of them I can tell you.” Perhaps this was provoked by the initial email? This is the words dealing with the unconstitutional topic, I’ll let you decide – “It’s unconstitutional in that it attempts to change the constitution without using the mechanisms that the constitution and the ACT act specify. Fluffy words that seek to deflect from the truth change none of that.” Hardly provocative I would have thought.
RA-Aus is an organisation of more than 9,000 financial members (not the 13,000 the board told you at the AGM, not the 13,000 they published in job ads, etc.) and there are more than 3,000 aircraft on the register. Revenues have exceeded $2m for several years now. The problems I have highlighted above are threatening the effective operation of OUR association, they threaten our privileges in relation to flying, and they have already affected the incomes and livelihoods of many people we know on a personal level due to their inability to register aircraft. It’s time your voice and opinion was heard.
I have attached a proxy form to this email for you to use. I urge you to fill it in and give it to a member that you know who is attending. You can appoint your local board member as your proxy but they may have to recuse themselves from voting on issues relating to board performance so be wary of doing this. Find one of your local club members whose views align with yours and that is attending the meeting. Speak up and have your voice heard. I have mentioned a few things in this email but there is much much more that has gone unsaid. It is important that you inform yourself and let your views be known.
Even if you disagree with the facts I have outlined above, speak up against me as this is a democracy and we all have a right to be heard.
If you don’t know someone that is going there are some members (including myself) that would be willing to represent your views if they align with ours:
Andrew Saywell, 18Bluewater Place Sapphire Beach NSW 2450, member# 015361 (mob 0414 962 648)
David Isaac, 22 Railway Crescent, Lisarow NSW 2250, member #025205 (mob 0412 221 469)
Don Ramsay, 49/1 King Street, Newcastle NSW 2300, member # 026026
Trevor Bange phone: 0429 378 370 (SQLD)
Chas Priebbenow phone: 0407 133 621 (SQLD)
Carol Richards (get details from Carol by PM) (NSW)
Michael Monck, 3 McInnes St, Weston ACT 2611 Member # 022861 (mob 0419 244794)
I urge you to contact one of these members or someone else you know and be represented.
If you’d like to email your proxy I have set up an email address (raaus@internode.on.net) that you can email a scanned copy to. Given that your proxy must be received by the secretary 24 hours in advance I would also suggest you send it directly to him at nsw1@raa.asn.au as well as the general office address at admin@raa.asn.au).
I should note that there is no intention to remove the board and leave the association without any form of leadership. The prime intention of this general meeting is to break the silence from the board, gain some insights as to what is going on and then, based on what is learned, work out a way forward. I’m not promising that no board members will be removed/resign but your association will not left without a board. Nor will it be taken over by a bunch of rogues as has been suggested by others.
Please, fill in your proxy form, appoint your chosen proxy and send the form to the above email addresses.
I’m hoping that we can all go flying well into the future knowing that our association is being governed with our interests at heart in an effective manner for many years to come.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Cheers,
Mick.
RA-Aus Proxy form – 2012
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“Kilcoy Boy” John Gilpin has recently returned from a trip to the US.
John bought a car and a Kolb on a trailer, then did 40,000 kilometers around the States. Everywhere that looked nice, he’d put the Kolb together and go for a fly. Take a look at his blog here: http://jgwalkaboutusa.blogspot.com.au/
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Yep, a room with a view. Speaks for itself, I guess.
Click on the image to see it writ large….
Room with a View
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Anyone want to fly with a Russian airline?
Think about this if you’re ever tempted…
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Sad news from the Lockyer Valley with the loss of Terry Kronk when his engine failed on takeoff from Emu Gully. Martin Hone, long-time friend of Terry’s, tells the story:
You would have heard by now of the latest accident here in SEQ when fellow Airpark lot owner and aviation identity Terry Kronk went down in his own-built Mustang replica when the engine failed during take off from Emu Gully.. We had been preparing a number of aircraft to fly over to the nearby Toowoomba Airport for a celebration of the city’s 100 anniversary.
Terry Kronk inpects his Mustang at Gatton Airpark
Two days prior, we had been filming the aircraft on the Thursday, some of which I posted on Youtube the next day, unedited. Little did we know what was to happen. At this stage it points to a PSRU (redrive) failure, an area that has been an issue from day one. Terry was a very skilled pilot, but no one could have saved it on this day.
I don’t know what your thoughts are but Terry was a very understated person, so many probably aren’t aware of his achievements in the amateur-built sport aircraft arena, including the V8 Spitfire, radial Focke-Wolf, V8 Mustang plus the yet to be finished radial Bearcat and twin V12 powered Mosquito replicas.
This is a link to the video I posted on Youtube Friday – feel free to use it as it may give those interested in his life some insight, however limited.
Below is an email I received yesterday from a friend in Perth, that had visited with us the week previous. Sums it up pretty well.
Marty
What sad news to receive – you must both be devastated. It was surreal to receive your message so soon after meeting Terry and sharing a meal together only a few short days ago. The quality of his work and vision were (and remain) an inspiration to me. It is indeed a great loss to Terry’s family, friends, community and aviation in general.
I feel blessed and honoured to have met him and have shared photos and video of the beautiful P51 widely with friends and family since my return home. I have a renewed sense of how precious life is, and an enduring wonder at what people who choose to live out large and audacious dreams can do.
I honour Terry’s memory and legacy by building quality and style into my own aircraft and by refusing to live small.
Mike
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